Travel

“Crossing the Water” by Sylvia Plath (1975)

This poem belongs to Sylvia Plath’s book of poems by the same name. The poem shares the themes of travel, ambiguous identity, community, disembodiment, and disconnection. Plath, pejoratively coined “confessional poet” by contemporaries of her time, contended with these themes 40 years after Millay, highlighting that the female experience, as it connects to reaching beyond community and home, is tenuous and often remains in the abstract. Like Millay’s poem, “Crossing the Water” is short, and it has varied lines of syllabic length that produce an undercurrent rhythm.

“Housewife” by Anne Sexton (1962)

This poem belongs to Anne Sexton’s book of poems All My Pretty Ones. Like Plath, Sexton was also termed a “confessional poet” for airing the psychologically challenging times in her life, especially as they relate to womanhood, sexuality, motherhood, and marriage. They were contemporaries of another, both from Massachusetts. “Housewife” also contains similar themes 40 years after Millay. The focus is on establishing an identity in patriarchal culture that demands the servitude and subordination of women. Sexton’s poem is short and of varied syllabic lengths that produce rhythm, but there is no end-rhyme scheme.

“the lost women” by Lucille Clifton (1989)

This poem, published over 60 years after “Travel,” shares the themes of naming and identity for women as they exist in their communities and within the world. Clifton explores what access these lost women have and don’t have in the public sphere, especially compared to men. The focus is on the importance of knowing and naming so that women are not forgotten; their identity and struggle isn’t lost. This focus is especially important for women of color, and this poem provides an intersectional contrast to Millay’s speaker, who most likely was female and white.

In terms of structure, Clifton avoids formal convention. There is no meter or structure, and there is Clifton’s signature use of all lowercase, especially for proper nouns and pronouns. In contrast to Millay’s poem, there is a rejection of some grammar conventions and the limitations it brings on expression.