Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Mr. Mine" by Anne Sexton is a complex and vivid exploration of control, creation, and the intricate relationship between the self and the other. The poem reflects Sexton's confessional style, where personal experiences and emotions are woven into a narrative that is both intimate and expansive. Here, the speaker describes a relationship with a man who seems to exert a significant amount of control and influence over her, symbolically constructing her identity and existence as if building a city.

The poem opens with an image of the man meticulously "numbering the blue veins / in my breast" and counting freckles, which immediately suggests an obsessive attention to detail. This act of numbering and categorizing can be seen as a metaphor for possession and control, where the speaker's body becomes a map that the man methodically charts. The reference to "ten freckles" adds a specific, almost clinical precision, further emphasizing the man’s need to define and claim ownership over the speaker.

Sexton describes the man as "an industrialist," which conveys his role as a builder or creator, but also hints at a more mechanical, impersonal aspect to his actions. The industrialist is someone who is driven by productivity and construction, and in this case, the "city of flesh" he is building represents the speaker herself. The use of the word "city" evokes a sense of grandeur and complexity, suggesting that the speaker's identity is being shaped, block by block, by this man's influence.

The poem takes a darker turn with the lines "he's been broken by iron, / by the blood, by the metal, by the triumphant / iron of his mother's death." These lines suggest that the man’s compulsion to build and control is rooted in his own trauma and loss. The "iron" symbolizes both the hardness and the inescapable reality of his mother’s death, which has left a profound impact on him. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, he "begins again," indicating a relentless drive to rebuild, to create order out of chaos, even if it means constructing another person’s identity.

As the poem progresses, the man's constructions become more elaborate and symbolic. The speaker describes how he "built me up" from "the glory of boards" and "molded me" from "the wonder of concrete." These materials, associated with traditional construction, symbolize the man’s attempt to create a stable and enduring version of the speaker. However, the artificiality of these materials also suggests that the identity being constructed is not entirely organic or natural but is instead something imposed upon the speaker.

The poem’s imagery of urban development continues with references to "six hundred street signs," a "museum," "ten blocks," and an "overpass." Each of these constructions corresponds to a different action or movement of the speaker, indicating that the man’s control extends to every aspect of her life, from the most mundane to the most significant. The "museum" built while she was "dancing" suggests that even moments of joy and freedom are cataloged and contained within his constructions.

The poem reaches a climax with the line, "I gave him flowers and he built an airport." This exchange highlights the imbalance in the relationship, where the speaker’s gestures of affection are met with grandiose, yet impersonal, constructions. The airport, a place of transit and departure, could symbolize the man’s anticipation of her leaving, or perhaps his need to always be in control, even of potential endings.

The final line, "Yet in my heart I am go children slow," introduces a poignant contrast between the man’s frenetic building and the speaker’s desire for something more organic and natural. The phrase "go children slow" suggests a yearning for simplicity, for a pace of life that is unhurried and genuine, in stark opposition to the man’s industrial, controlled world.

"Mr. Mine" is a powerful meditation on the ways in which identity and autonomy can be influenced, shaped, and even constructed by others. Sexton’s use of urban and industrial imagery to describe this process highlights the tension between the artificial and the natural, the constructed and the inherent. The poem ultimately leaves the reader with a sense of unease, as the speaker’s true self seems to be subsumed by the elaborate city that has been built around her.

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