Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton's "The Civil War" is a powerful exploration of inner conflict, self-destruction, and the quest for spiritual wholeness. The poem delves into the fragmented psyche of the speaker, who is engaged in a fierce internal battle to reconcile the many fractured parts of herself and rebuild a cohesive, unified identity. Through vivid and often unsettling imagery, Sexton conveys the intense struggle of trying to piece together a shattered sense of self, while also grappling with complex and contradictory conceptions of God.

The poem opens with the stark admission, "I am torn in two," immediately setting the tone of division and internal strife. This line captures the essence of the speaker's condition—she is split, fragmented, at war with herself. However, the declaration that "I will conquer myself" introduces a note of determination and resolve. The speaker is not resigned to her state of division; instead, she is committed to overcoming it, to digging deep and reclaiming her sense of self. The imagery of "dig[ging] up the pride" suggests that pride, often seen as a negative trait, might be the very thing needed to fuel this internal battle and drive the speaker toward victory over her inner turmoil.

The speaker's plan for self-repair is methodical and aggressive: "I will take scissors / and cut out the beggar." The beggar here symbolizes a part of the self that is needy, perhaps desperate or unworthy, and the act of cutting it out with scissors is a metaphor for a painful but necessary excision. This is followed by the equally violent image of using a crowbar to "pry out the broken / pieces of God in me." The use of a crowbar, a tool associated with force and leverage, emphasizes the difficulty and effort required to extract these shattered divine elements. The idea that God within the speaker is broken and in pieces reflects a profound spiritual crisis, a sense of disconnection from the divine that must be addressed through intense, almost surgical, intervention.

The poem then shifts to a more contemplative tone as the speaker envisions putting God back together "just like a jigsaw puzzle." This metaphor underscores the complexity of the task at hand—reassembling God, and by extension, the self, is a meticulous and challenging process, requiring the patience and strategy of a "chess player." The reference to chess suggests that this is not a game of chance but one of skill and foresight, where each move must be carefully considered.

The speaker's description of God as being fragmented into "thousands" of pieces, dressed in various guises, further illustrates the multifaceted nature of the divine and the self. God appears "dressed up like a whore / in a slime of green algae," "like an old man / staggering out of His shoes," and "like a child, / all naked, / even without skin." These images are jarring and evocative, presenting God in forms that are degraded, vulnerable, and disintegrated. The image of God as a child "soft as an avocado when you peel it" is particularly striking, conveying both the tenderness and fragility of this aspect of the divine. Through these depictions, Sexton emphasizes the speaker's struggle to reconcile these conflicting and broken images of God within herself, each representing a different facet of her identity and spirituality.

Despite the overwhelming nature of this task, the speaker remains resolute: "But I will conquer them all / and build a whole nation of God / in me — but united." The use of the word "nation" suggests that the speaker envisions a vast and complex unity, where all the disparate pieces of God and self are brought together to form a cohesive whole. This act of unification is not just about spiritual healing but about creating a new identity, a "new soul" that is strong, unified, and resilient.

The final lines of the poem convey a sense of triumph and renewal: "dress it with skin / and then put on my shirt / and sing an anthem, / a song of myself." The act of dressing the newly unified soul with skin symbolizes the creation of a new, complete identity—one that is fully formed, protected, and ready to engage with the world. The reference to singing an "anthem" or "a song of myself" is a nod to Walt Whitman's famous poem "Song of Myself," suggesting that the speaker has reached a place of self-acceptance and celebration. The anthem represents a declaration of selfhood, a celebration of the hard-won unity and the reclaiming of the self after a period of intense internal conflict.

"The Civil War" is a profound exploration of the inner battles that define the human experience. Sexton masterfully captures the agony and determination involved in the process of self-reconstruction, using vivid imagery and metaphor to convey the complexities of spiritual and personal healing. The poem is both a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a powerful reflection on the challenges of reconciling the many fragmented parts of oneself in the pursuit of wholeness. Through her exploration of these themes, Sexton offers a vision of redemption that is hard-fought and deeply personal, rooted in the relentless pursuit of unity and self-understanding.

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