Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton’s poem "That Day" captures the intensity of a fleeting moment of intimacy, blending it with a surreal sense of time and memory. The poem revolves around the speaker’s deep emotional and physical connection with a lover, juxtaposed against the mechanical, mundane presence of a typewriter, symbolizing the return to routine after an intense experience of love.

The poem opens with a stark image: "This is the desk I sit at / and this is the desk where I love you too much." The repetition of "this is" grounds the speaker in the present, yet the focus quickly shifts to the past, to "yesterday," when the lover's body occupied the space now filled by the typewriter. This transition from the physical presence of the lover to the cold, inanimate typewriter underscores the sense of loss and longing that pervades the poem. The typewriter, a tool for communication, contrasts sharply with the vivid, sensual memories of the lover, highlighting the gap between lived experience and its representation.

The description of the lover’s body as "a Greek chorus" suggests a collective, almost mythical presence, emphasizing the grandeur of the moment. The tongue, which the speaker fixates on, becomes a central image in the poem, symbolizing both physical desire and the power of speech. The tongue is described in various ways—"like a king making up rules as he goes," "like a cat lapping milk"—each metaphor layering the physical act of love with connotations of authority, tenderness, and instinct.

As the poem unfolds, Sexton delves deeper into the physicality of the experience, with the speaker’s hands exploring the lover’s body "down the backbone, down quick like a firepole." This imagery evokes a sense of urgency and descent into the core of the lover's being, where "diamond mines are buried and come forth to bury." The idea of diamonds, precious and hidden, contrasts with the notion of burial, suggesting that in love, there is both discovery and concealment, an excavation of what lies beneath the surface.

The poem’s climax is marked by the metaphor of a constructed monument, "complete within seconds," symbolizing the moment of orgasm, where the body becomes a site of creation and destruction. The speaker imagines a public celebration of this private act, with "The Press... looking for headlines" and a mayor cutting a ribbon, blending the personal with the public, the sacred with the profane. This exaggeration highlights the speaker’s sense of the significance of the moment, though it exists only in memory.

The transition from the grand to the intimate is abrupt but poignant as the speaker reflects on "the day of your face, / your face after love, close to the pillow, a lullaby." The description of the lover’s face, post-coitus, as a "lullaby" emphasizes the tenderness and vulnerability that follows the intensity of passion. The drawing of "little o's" and "I LOVE YOU" on the lover's body echoes the desire to mark, to claim, and to remember the lover, even as they drift into sleep.

The reference to Cape Cod and the Bourne Bridge ties the intimate memory to a specific place, grounding the dream in a tangible reality. Yet, the dreamlike quality of the moment remains, as the speaker wishes to "be pierced" and to "bring forth your born," yearning for a lasting connection, for something permanent to arise from the ephemeral encounter.

In the poem's closing lines, the speaker acknowledges the return to the present, to the typewriter that "sits before me," while love remains rooted in "yesterday." This temporal shift from the past to the present reinforces the transitory nature of the moment shared, now only accessible through memory and the act of writing. The typewriter, which once seemed a cold replacement for the lover, becomes a tool for preserving and reliving the passion of "that day."

Sexton’s "That Day" is a powerful exploration of the intersection between love, memory, and the creative process. The poem vividly captures the fleeting nature of intimacy and the longing to hold onto it, even as time moves inexorably forward. Through her use of rich, sensual imagery and the interplay between past and present, Sexton delves into the complexities of love and the human desire to immortalize moments of connection, even as they slip away.

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