Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton’s poem "Going Gone" is a poignant and layered meditation on loss, separation, and the emotional toll of departure. The poem weaves together the imagery of physical departure with the emotional unraveling that accompanies it, capturing the sense of something, or someone, leaving for good—a journey that is both literal and symbolic. Through this exploration, Sexton delves into themes of mortality, memory, and the fragments of self that remain after someone or something significant has gone.

The poem opens with a vivid depiction of departure: "Over stone walls and barns, / miles from the black-eyed Susans, / over circus tents and moon rockets / you are going, going." These lines suggest a movement away from familiar, grounded places—stone walls, barns, fields of flowers—into the vastness and unknown represented by circus tents and moon rockets. The repetition of "going, going" underscores the inevitability and finality of this departure, a relentless progression toward something distant and irreversible.

The departure is deeply personal, as the speaker addresses the one who is leaving: "You who have inhabited me / in the deepest and most broken place, / are going, going." This individual is not just a passing acquaintance but someone who has been an integral part of the speaker’s life, someone who has touched the most vulnerable, "broken" parts of the speaker's being. The use of the word "inhabited" suggests an intimate, almost symbiotic relationship, one where the departing figure has been a significant presence within the speaker's inner world.

The poem then introduces the figure of "an old woman" who calls up to the departing traveler "from her deathbed deep in sores." This old woman is emblematic of wisdom, age, and the inevitability of death, resonating with archetypal figures such as the crone in mythology and fairy tales. She asks the traveler, "What do you keep of her?"—a question that forces a confrontation with what remains after someone has left. The old woman represents a kind of final judgment or reckoning, a moment where the essence of what has been lost is examined and understood.

The traveler, despite being "in a hurry," stops to open a small basket, revealing the "artifacts" of what has been taken or preserved. These are not ordinary objects but pieces of the speaker herself: "the tiger-striped eyes / that you have lately plucked," "your specialty, the lips," and "the two hands / that grip each other fiercely, / one being mine, one being yours." These body parts are symbolic of the deep connection between the speaker and the one who is leaving, representing the intimacy, the shared experiences, and the emotional bonds that have been severed by the departure.

The image of the hands "torn right off at the wrist bone / when you started in your / impossible going, gone" is particularly powerful. It conveys the violence and pain of separation, as if the act of leaving has physically dismembered the speaker, tearing apart the bond that once held them together. The phrase "impossible going, gone" reflects the paradox of the situation—the departure feels both inevitable and utterly unbearable, a contradiction that amplifies the emotional intensity of the poem.

As the traveler places the basket in the old woman's "hollow lap," she fondles these "artifacts" with the tenderness of a mother caressing a child's head, murmuring "Precious. Precious." This moment is both tragic and tender, as the old woman, who is herself on the brink of departure ("for she too / is making a trip"), recognizes the value of what has been lost. Her reaction, calling the remnants "precious," suggests that even in the face of loss and death, there is something of worth, something to be cherished and remembered.

The poem ends on a note of quiet resignation. The traveler is "glad" to have given these fragments to the old woman, perhaps finding solace in the knowledge that someone else acknowledges the significance of what has been lost. There is a sense of closure, albeit a painful one, as both the traveler and the old woman prepare to continue their respective journeys—one into the unknown future, the other toward the end of life.

"Going Gone" is a meditation on the nature of loss and the painful process of letting go. Sexton’s use of vivid imagery and symbolic language captures the physical and emotional fragmentation that occurs when something or someone deeply important leaves. The poem reflects on what remains after such a departure—the memories, the emotional scars, the remnants of a once-intimate connection—and the ways in which we come to terms with these remnants. Through this exploration, Sexton offers a powerful and moving reflection on the human experience of loss, memory, and the passage of time.

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