Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton's poem "The Fury of Cocks" is a provocative exploration of sexuality, power, and the sacred within the mundane. The poem uses the imagery of cocks—both as a symbol of male sexuality and as an embodiment of divine or primal energy—to examine the complex dynamics between men and women, the oscillation between tenderness and aggression, and the way sexual acts can be both ordinary and transcendent.

The poem begins with an image of cocks "drooping over the breakfast plates," immediately contrasting the vitality and assertiveness typically associated with male sexuality with a scene of domesticity and weariness. The "angel-like" and "animal sad" cocks are depicted as vulnerable, folding in their "sad wing," which suggests a moment of quiet resignation or exhaustion following the previous night's sexual activity. The cocks, which were powerful and assertive "playing the banjo" the night before, now appear subdued, as if drained of their energy by the light of day.

Sexton juxtaposes the morning's "immense sun" and its "engines of amputation" with the cocks' previous night’s assertiveness, when "the cock knew its way home, / as stiff as a hammer, / battering in with all / its awful power." This imagery emphasizes the dual nature of male sexuality: it is both powerful and destructive, capable of asserting dominance and control, yet also susceptible to the natural rhythms of life, which bring it down from its heights.

The poem then shifts to a more intimate portrayal of the relationship between the sexes, with the line "She is the house. / He is the steeple." This metaphor suggests a traditional domestic arrangement, with the woman as the stable, nurturing force (the house) and the man as the spiritual or dominant presence (the steeple). However, Sexton complicates this traditional imagery by asserting that "When they fuck they are God. / When they break away they are God. / When they snore they are God." Here, the act of sex—and even the acts of separation and mundane bodily functions—are imbued with divinity. The repeated assertion that "they are God" suggests that within the union of man and woman, and within the everyday acts that follow, there is something sacred, a reflection of the divine.

The closing lines of the poem, "All the cocks of the world are God, / blooming, blooming, blooming / into the sweet blood of woman," bring the poem to a crescendo. The repetition of "blooming" evokes a sense of both life and death, creation and destruction, as male sexuality is portrayed as a force that both fertilizes and consumes. The "sweet blood of woman" serves as a powerful, almost sacrificial image, suggesting that women are the vessels for this divine act, experiencing both the creative and destructive aspects of male sexuality.

In "The Fury of Cocks," Anne Sexton challenges traditional notions of sexuality and gender by imbuing the sexual act with both sacred and violent connotations. The poem reflects on the dualities of power and vulnerability, tenderness and aggression, and the way these forces play out in the relationships between men and women. Through her use of vivid and sometimes unsettling imagery, Sexton explores the complexities of human sexuality, suggesting that it is a force that is at once divine, destructive, and profoundly human.

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