Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton's "August 17th" is a haunting reflection on the fragility of the human body and the inevitable decline that accompanies aging and illness. The poem contrasts the clinical detachment of hospitals with the speaker's visceral fear and denial of her own mortality, creating a powerful meditation on the intersection of health, decay, and the human experience.

The poem begins with a directive: "Good for visiting hospitals or charitable work. Take some time to attend to your health." This almost clinical advice introduces the poem with an air of practicality, as if the speaker is reminding herself of her duties or responsibilities. However, this instruction quickly gives way to a deeply personal and unsettling exploration of what it means to confront the realities of the body in a hospital setting—a place where the frailty and vulnerability of the human form are laid bare.

Sexton’s descriptions of bodies in the hospital are stark and disturbing. The bodies are "wrapped in elastic bands," "cased in wood," "crucified up onto their crutches," and "wearing rubber bags between their legs." These images evoke a sense of the body as an object, something that is manipulated, controlled, and ultimately reduced to its most basic functions. The repetition of "bodies" emphasizes the depersonalization that occurs in such a setting, where individuals are stripped of their identities and reduced to mere physical forms requiring medical attention.

The poem then shifts to the speaker's own home, where she observes a "six-year-old swimming in our aqua pool." This image of youthful vitality is immediately undercut by the speaker's inner voice, which cruelly reminds her that even this child will one day grow old and withered, with "tubes...in your nose / drinking up your dinner." The contrast between the innocent, carefree child and the inevitable decline that awaits them serves to highlight the speaker's preoccupation with aging and death.

In the hospital, the speaker repeatedly insists, "that is not my body, not my body." This refrain underscores her deep fear of identifying with the patients she observes, as if by refusing to see herself in them, she can somehow distance herself from the reality of aging and illness. She imagines herself instead as a "daisy girl / blowing in the wind like a piece of sun," a symbol of life, light, and freedom—far removed from the grim, mechanical world of the hospital. Yet even in this fantasy, the speaker cannot escape the harsh realities around her, as the daisy girl exists "on ward 7," surrounded by other patients and the inevitable march of time.

The poem's depiction of the hospital as a place where "nurses skip rope around [a blind man]" and "throw up little paper medicine cups" evokes a sense of surreal, almost grotesque absurdity. The nurses’ actions seem detached, as if they are merely playing a part in a routine that has become disconnected from the human suffering it is meant to alleviate. The bodies in the hospital are described as "made of synthetics" and "swaddled like dolls," further dehumanizing them and emphasizing the speaker's horror at the reduction of life to mere physicality.

Sexton’s imagery grows increasingly surreal and unsettling as the poem progresses. The "surgeon applies his gum" to the bodies, and each body is "fitted quickly into its ice-cream pack" before being "stitched up again for the long voyage back." These images evoke a sense of clinical detachment and industrial efficiency, as if the bodies are products on an assembly line, rather than human beings. The "long voyage back" could refer to the journey back to health or, more ominously, to the journey toward death, reinforcing the poem's themes of mortality and the inexorable decline of the body.

"August 17th" is a powerful and unsettling meditation on the human condition, exploring the fear, denial, and disquiet that accompany the recognition of our own mortality. Sexton’s use of vivid, often grotesque imagery highlights the tension between the desire to maintain a sense of identity and vitality, and the inevitable physical decline that comes with aging and illness. The poem captures the complex emotions that arise when we are confronted with the frailty of the body and the certainty of death, offering a poignant reflection on the human experience.

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