Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton’s “The Death of the Fathers: 4. Santa” is a poignant meditation on the loss of childhood innocence and the inevitable fading of familial rituals as time passes. Through the symbol of a Santa Claus suit, Sexton explores the transformation of a cherished figure of childhood into a relic of the past, revealing the underlying complexities of memory, tradition, and the passage of time.

The poem begins with a straightforward declaration: the Santa Claus suit, a theatrical costume purchased by the speaker's father before she was born, is dead. This suit, once imbued with the magic and mystery of Christmas, has now lost its vitality, becoming merely an object of the past. The suit's components—the white beard, the woolen hair that once tickled the speaker's neck—are described with a sense of nostalgia but also finality. The phrase "is dead" repeats like a refrain, underscoring the permanence of this loss.

Sexton then evokes vivid memories of her father's performance as Santa, bringing to life the joyful chaos he created in their home. The father, fully embodying the role, would ring a bronze cowbell, don a nose dusted with soot, and throw oranges around the living room, laughing with the hearty cheer of the North Pole's jolly old elf. These actions, however, are not merely a reenactment of the holiday tradition; they are imbued with a deeper emotional resonance. The mother, unafraid and affectionate, participates in this ritual, kissing and hugging the father, reinforcing the warmth and safety of the familial bond during the holidays.

The poem takes a darker turn when the speaker recalls the moment she ceased to believe in Santa Claus. This pivotal moment occurs when the father, playing Santa, is drunk. The magic of Santa is shattered as the speaker encounters the slurred speech and cocktail smell of her father, far removed from the saintly image of Saint Nick. The father’s inebriated declaration, "Well, thank God that's over!" marks the end of the speaker’s childhood belief in Santa, signaling a broader disillusionment with the myths of childhood and perhaps even with the father himself.

Despite this disillusionment, the tradition is revived when the speaker has children of her own. She becomes a co-conspirator with her father, helping him don the aged Santa suit for the next generation. This act of applying rouge and adjusting the yellowed beard is a tender yet bittersweet acknowledgment of the continuity of tradition, even as the original magic has faded. The ritual is now tinged with the awareness of its artifice, a performance maintained for the sake of the grandchildren.

The poem concludes with a sense of finality and loss. The “era closes,” and the once-cherished Santa figure becomes a memory, a "lost signalman wagging his lantern for the train that comes no more." This image of the signalman, a figure who once guided and directed but is now obsolete, encapsulates the poem’s meditation on the passage of time and the inevitable fading of traditions. The large children who now hang their stockings do so with the understanding that the magic of their childhood has passed, building a “black memorial” to a figure who has vanished into the past.

In “The Death of the Fathers: 4. Santa,” Sexton masterfully weaves together the personal and the universal, using the figure of Santa Claus to explore themes of memory, loss, and the erosion of childhood innocence. The poem captures the bittersweet nature of growing up, where the rituals that once held profound meaning gradually lose their significance, leaving only the echoes of what once was.

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