The Abortion by Anne Sexton
Analysis: "The Abortion" written by Anne Sexton explains her drive to and from getting an abortion. Sexton uses an ABA rhyme scheme and uses mostly imagery to portray her feelings towards getting and abortion and the anger of it all afterwards. "Its roads sunken in like a gray washboard; where, in truth, the ground cracks evilly, a dark socket from which the coal has poured", she explains her pain by expressing how the road, ground and coal seemed to look. It seems as though she believed that she had no other choice but to get an abortion because she states "its roads sunken in" which could be a reference to her. Sexton refers to her child as "the fullness that love began", which can also mean that she feels some type of remorse after having the procedure to abort the baby and that she was starting to love the child inside of her. Although after getting the abortion its seems as though Sexton's feeling's began to change. "Returning north, even the sky grew thin like a high window looking nowhere." This statement can conclude that Sexton may have felt lost and confused about what she had done as if it was a mistake. In the last stanza she calls herself a coward for what she had done, becoming aware of the situation. Throughout the poem Anne Sexton uses imagery to let readers experience her journey before and after the abortion and how she came to the realization of what she had done.
Literary Devices: Repetition: "Somebody who should have been born is gone." This statement is used throughout the poem to emphasize Sexton's loss and regret.
Personification: "Just as the earth puckered its mouth, each bud puffing out from its knot,.." Sexton gives the earth human characteristics by stating that the earth puckers its mouth, to compare to her pregnancy being unexpected and sudden.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/again-and-again-and-again/
Literary Devices: Repetition: "Somebody who should have been born is gone." This statement is used throughout the poem to emphasize Sexton's loss and regret.
Personification: "Just as the earth puckered its mouth, each bud puffing out from its knot,.." Sexton gives the earth human characteristics by stating that the earth puckers its mouth, to compare to her pregnancy being unexpected and sudden.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/again-and-again-and-again/