Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton’s poem "The Child Bearers" is a poignant meditation on the deep anxieties and powerlessness that accompany motherhood, especially in the face of the inevitabilities of life and death. The poem captures the fraught emotions of mothers who have brought their children into a world where danger and mortality loom large, expressing a shared fear that, despite their best efforts, they cannot protect their offspring from the forces that threaten them.

The poem begins with a direct address to "Jean," a fellow mother, setting an intimate tone that underscores the shared experience of motherhood and its attendant fears. Sexton immediately invokes the image of death, personified as a creature "flapping its awful wings" and "crawling up our nose," an image that is both grotesque and invasive. This imagery captures the omnipresence of death, how it lingers close to everyone, particularly those who are vulnerable or at risk, like children. The metaphor of wings suggests an inescapable force that suffocates and overwhelms, while the reference to the nose hints at the inevitability of death’s presence, something that enters our bodies and cannot be ignored.

Sexton then shifts her focus to the children, describing them as trembling "in their teen-age cribs," a phrase that juxtaposes the innocence of infancy with the precariousness of adolescence. The "cribs" here symbolize a place of supposed safety, but the reality is that these children are already exposed to the dangers of the world, whether it’s a thumb-sucking habit or a motorcycle—each symbolizing different stages of youthful recklessness or innocence. The mention of "stilbestrol cancer" passed on like "hemophilia" introduces a personal and specific fear, likely referencing the drug DES (diethylstilbestrol) that was given to pregnant women, which later proved to cause cancer in their children. This reference to inherited illness underscores the helplessness mothers feel when their love and care cannot prevent harm from reaching their children.

The poem’s tone is one of resignation as Sexton acknowledges that, as mothers, "crumpled, and flyspotted" by the wear and tear of raising children, they can now do "nothing but pray." This image of the mothers as worn down by their efforts evokes a sense of exhaustion and defeat, yet also a recognition of the limited power they have to influence their children’s fates as they grow older and more independent. The mention of praying suggests a reliance on something beyond human control, a plea to a higher power in the face of their own limitations.

Sexton then proposes a symbolic act of sending their children "in a large air net up to God," with signs marked "SPECIAL HANDLING" and "DO NOT STAPLE, FOLD OR MUTILATE!" This imagery conveys a desperate hope that their children might be kept safe if entrusted to divine care. The instructions on the package emphasize the fragility of these young lives, as well as the mothers' desire to protect them from any further harm. The idea of "special handling" speaks to the preciousness of their children, as well as the hope that God will intervene to ensure their safety.

However, Sexton’s tone remains skeptical and tinged with bitterness, as she expresses doubt that even this act will be enough to secure divine protection. She fears that "not even a muddled angel" will notice their plea, let alone God, who might not have time to "send down an eyedropper of prayer" for the mothers themselves. This conveys a profound sense of abandonment and despair, as if their worries and fears are too insignificant to be noticed by the divine. The phrase "the mothering thing of us" encapsulates the essence of their identity as mothers, defined by their concern and love for their children, but also by the overwhelming anxiety that accompanies it.

The poem closes with a powerful and haunting image of the mothers "dropping into the soup / and drown[ing] in the worry festering inside us." The "soup" symbolizes the overwhelming mix of emotions—fear, love, anxiety—that consumes them. The repetition of "lest our children go so fast / they go" emphasizes the fear of losing their children suddenly, without warning, to the dangers of the world. This final line captures the ultimate horror for any parent: the fear that their children will be taken from them before their time, a fear that is both irrational and all too real.

"The Child Bearers" is a deeply moving reflection on the vulnerabilities of motherhood and the existential dread that comes with the responsibility of bringing children into the world. Sexton masterfully conveys the emotional toll of these fears through vivid and often unsettling imagery, creating a poem that resonates with the universal experience of parental love and the constant fear of loss. The poem speaks to the helplessness that all parents feel in the face of forces beyond their control, and the desperate hope that their children might be spared from harm, even when it seems that hope is all they have left.

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