Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton’s "The Double Image" is a poignant exploration of motherhood, mental illness, and the enduring scars left by generational trauma. The poem, written in seven sections, traverses the emotional landscape of the speaker’s relationship with her daughter and her own mother, capturing the complexities of guilt, love, and the search for identity.

In the opening section, the speaker reflects on her past, specifically her attempts at suicide and the years she was separated from her daughter. The poem begins with a stark declaration of the speaker's age—thirty—juxtaposed against the innocence and youth of her daughter, who is only four. This contrast sets the stage for the poem’s central theme: the dissonance between the speaker’s internal turmoil and the innocence of her child. The imagery of "yellow leaves" falling "flat and washed" in the winter rain evokes a sense of decay and loss, mirroring the speaker’s feelings of guilt for the times she was absent from her daughter’s life. The speaker’s admission that she "chose two times / to kill [herself]" reveals the depth of her despair, which is further emphasized by her belief that "ugly angels" blamed her for her daughter’s suffering.

The second section shifts focus to the speaker’s relationship with her own mother. After recovering from her mental illness, the speaker moves in with her mother, but their relationship is fraught with unresolved tension. The mother’s inability to forgive the speaker for her suicide attempts is encapsulated in the line, "I cannot forgive your suicide, my mother said." The repetition of "They had my portrait done instead" serves as a haunting refrain, symbolizing the way both the speaker and her mother use outward appearances to mask their internal pain. The portrait becomes a metaphor for the constructed identities that both women maintain, even as their relationship deteriorates.

In the third section, the speaker describes the summer spent with her mother, a time marked by attempts to reconnect and make amends. The portrait is once again a central image, symbolizing the distance between the speaker and her mother. The mother’s illness, which she believes was caused by the speaker’s suicide attempt, adds another layer of guilt to the speaker’s already burdened conscience. The line "They carved her sweet hills out / and still I couldn’t answer" is a powerful expression of the speaker’s helplessness in the face of her mother’s suffering.

The fourth section deals with the aftermath of the mother’s illness. The speaker, still grappling with her own mental health issues, undergoes a second suicide attempt, further straining her relationship with her daughter. The reference to the "sealed hotel" where she tries to take her life again highlights the cyclical nature of her despair. The speaker’s self-perception as a "childless bride" underscores her feelings of failure as a mother, a theme that recurs throughout the poem.

In the fifth section, the speaker recounts her gradual recovery and attempts to rebuild her life. The image of the "foxes’ snare" from her childhood symbolizes the traps of her past that she continues to struggle against. The visit to Gloucester with her daughter brings back memories of her own childhood, particularly the red hills that remind her of the "dry red fur fox coat" she wore as a child. This image ties back to the theme of generational trauma, as the speaker reflects on how her mother’s death and her own struggles with mental illness have shaped her relationship with her daughter.

The sixth section returns to the theme of the double image, as the speaker contemplates the portraits of herself and her mother that hang on opposite walls. The "foxes’ snare" reappears as a symbol of the traps that the speaker and her mother were caught in, unable to escape their respective roles. The final line of this section, "I rot on the wall, my own / Dorian Gray," is a powerful indictment of the way the speaker has internalized her mother’s expectations and guilt, leading to her own sense of self-destruction.

The seventh and final section brings the poem full circle, as the speaker reflects on her daughter’s return to her life. The image of the daughter clutching the picture of a rabbit symbolizes the fragile bond between mother and child, a bond that has been tested by the speaker’s mental illness and the years of separation. The speaker’s admission that she "needed" her daughter, not just for companionship but as a way to "find [herself]," speaks to the central tension of the poem: the desire for connection and the fear of being overwhelmed by guilt and self-doubt.

"The Double Image" is a deeply personal and introspective poem that captures the complex interplay of love, guilt, and identity within the context of a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Sexton’s use of vivid imagery and recurring motifs, such as the portraits, the foxes’ snare, and the double image of mother and daughter, underscores the poem’s exploration of the ways in which past traumas continue to shape the present. The poem is a powerful meditation on the challenges of reconciling one’s inner turmoil with the demands of motherhood and the enduring impact of generational pain.

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