Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton's "Funnel" is a reflective poem that delves into the complexities of family legacy, memory, and the passage of time. Through the exploration of her great-grandfather's life and the lives of his descendants, Sexton grapples with the weight of inherited expectations, the fleeting nature of success, and the inevitable decline that accompanies the passage of generations. The poem is rich in imagery and tone, blending nostalgia with a sense of loss and contemplation.

The poem begins by recounting a family story, emphasizing its truthfulness: "The family story tells, and it was told true." This phrase sets the stage for a narrative steeped in family lore, highlighting the speaker’s connection to her ancestry. The great-grandfather is portrayed as a figure of immense capability and ambition, having "begat eight / genius children" and purchased "twelve almost new / grand pianos." The repetition of numbers—eight children, twelve pianos—underscores the great-grandfather’s grandiose approach to life, where even his cultural pursuits were done on a large scale.

The poem notes that the great-grandfather "left a considerable estate when he died," a testament to his success and the legacy he passed on to his children. These children, described as honoring their "separate arts," reflect the continuation of their father’s cultural and intellectual pursuits. However, despite their talents and the promise of their lineage, the speaker subtly hints at the limitations and decline that followed: "two became moderately famous," while others "married and fattened their delicate share / of wealth and brilliance." The use of the word "moderately" suggests that the children's successes, while noteworthy, did not entirely live up to the grandeur of their father’s achievements.

The sixth child, "a concert pianist," stands out with her "notable career" and unconventional demeanor—she "wore cropped hair and walked like a man." This image suggests a defiance of traditional gender roles, highlighting the individuality and strength that characterized some members of this family. Yet, the poem is tinged with a sense of loss and distance, as the speaker pieces together these details from "the hushed talk of the straight Maine clan." The distance between the speaker and these stories emphasizes the passage of time and the fading of these once-vivid lives into mere anecdotes.

One of the great-grandfather’s children "died a pinafore child," a poignant image that captures the tragedy of a life cut short, forever preserved in childhood. The speaker reflects on another relative, "one that wrote," sorting through his "odd books" and making "short marginal notes." This act of annotation suggests an attempt to connect with the past, to understand and make sense of the family’s legacy through the remnants left behind.

The poem then shifts to the speaker’s own relationship with this legacy. She has "come / to tidy a country graveyard for his sake," a symbolic gesture of respect and remembrance. The "ghost sound where it lies awake" evokes the lingering presence of the past, haunting yet elusive, as the speaker attempts to reconcile her place within this storied lineage.

The great-grandfather is affectionately remembered as a "Bunyan man," a reference to the larger-than-life folk hero Paul Bunyan, suggesting his outsized influence and ambition. His purchase of "one dozen grand pianos" is seen as fitting his "plan of culture," highlighting his dedication to the arts and his desire to leave a lasting mark. The grand scale on which he operated is further emphasized by the "seven arking houses" he built, one of which "still dominates its coastal edge of land." This house, a "square box," stands as a testament to his enduring influence, though now it is rented out "cheap in the summer musted air," reflecting the inevitable decline from grandeur to mundane utility.

The imagery of the house, with its "flat roof and rows of windows spying / through the mist," conjures a sense of desolation and decay. The piano inside, once a symbol of cultural refinement, now "wheezes bells of mildew," a metaphor for the fading glory of the past. The house, likened to a "shoe factory amid the spruce trees," further emphasizes the industrial, utilitarian transformation of what was once a place of elegance and culture.

In the final stanza, the speaker returns to the graveyard, where she "puzzles a bending gravestone for his sake." This act of questioning the "diminishing" of the family legacy reflects the speaker's struggle to understand the reduction of her great-grandfather’s immense achievements into mere memories. The phrase "feed a minimum / of children their careful slice of suburban cake" contrasts sharply with the grand ambitions of her ancestor, suggesting that the speaker's life, and the lives of those in her generation, have become more modest, more ordinary.

"Funnel" is a meditation on the passage of time and the ways in which family legacies are both preserved and diminished. Through her exploration of her great-grandfather's life and the lives of his descendants, Sexton reflects on the inevitability of decline, the struggle to honor the past, and the quiet, often unremarkable lives that follow the grand ambitions of previous generations. The poem captures the tension between the desire to maintain a connection to one’s roots and the recognition that, over time, even the most significant legacies can fade into obscurity.

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