Meaning in Poetry

Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton

AnneSexton2.jpg

Anne Sexton

Poetry is an ancient form of literature that has seen many forms of evolution since 1700 BCE. Its roots began in song and eventually made its way into paper. Both the Chinese and the West became important players in advancing it to the stage it is at today. Poetry began to be deep and profound and more than just a superficial combination of words. It's complexity is obvious and often times intimidating to the general reader.

The task of perfectly interpreting poetry often times seems insurmountable. There are often many competing theories and many of them have strong, valid arguments for their interpretation. Ostensibly, there is only one correct reading of each work, however, to refute this we can look no further than the different styles of presentation which the source of the poem, the author, offers us through multiple recitations of it. An example of this is Anne Sexton’s readings of Music Swims Back to Me. A superficial analysis of this poem would be a older woman finding herself in a nursing home where she reminisces about a better time in her life that was filled with music. While it is already possible to perform a close reading of this poem, inflection, intonation, and tone during its presentation speak volumes to its meaning. Anne Sexton shows us this because, despite rehearsing the same words, this story adopts different moods, and subsequently different meanings, when comparing her reading in 1959 and 1974.

At the time that the first reading came out poem was recorded, Anne Sexton was only thirty one years old. She prefaced the reading by providing the audience with context to this poem. At this point she already had multiple visits to the mental institute and she explains that her first line, “Wait Mister. Which way is home,” was written about her time there. While in the institution, she heard the same song playing on the radio every day and after her time there she bought the record for it. Sexton soon realized that the song allowed her to recollect experiences that she had otherwise forgotten. This explains the title of the poem Music Swims Back to Me. In a few years, we would find that this galvanized her into collaborating with a jazz-band to add music to her poems.

The first reading was relatively slow and Sexton’s voice was soft and had a high tone. There seemed to be a pleasant remembering of the past and even the lines that seem to be gloomy, such as “everyone here was crazy” and “the strangled cold of November,” seemed to be soothing instead of upsetting. This suggests to the listener that this poem is of a woman being moved by the memories that she associates with music, even though the memories weren’t necessarily at the best time of her life. This is further emphasized by the way in which she stresses “this music swims” where she puts an extra stress on swims and pauses before exclaiming “back to me.” In this way, music has the role of healing as well as reflecting.

The second reading provides a dichotomy to the first. It comes at a point in Anne Sexton’s life where depression seems to be overwhelming her and this reading actually came only a year before her killing herself. It shows in this version in every aspect. There is a completely different rhythm and each word sounds like a moan. It evokes a feeling of mourning and is an overall dull mood. There are no sharp pauses and every word flows into the other. The hopeful reminiscing in the first one turns into a loathing of her past. It seems like her memories were done onto her rather than an experience she could pleasantly remember. In this scenario, music is no longer a tool of hope and instead serves as an antagonist.

The contrast that we see between the two readings of the same poem by the same author provides evidence to the bigger picture of poetry. Just as the meaning of the work could change to the writer, the reader’s interpretation could resonate differently for each individual. In other words, the significance of the poem is dependent on what the reader takes away and there is no such thing as one correct interpretation.