"For the Year of the Insane" by Sexton

Another poem that caught my eye is, “For the Year of the Insane” by Anne Sexton. This poem is about a woman who appears to be praying to the Virgin Mary about the situation she is in. She holds tightly to her rosary and begins to beg for mercy. The character notes that she has not talked in a year and she is beginning to worry about her death. Also that she is being treated by a doctor and mentions how she seems to be locked in her own mind. She apparently has hope that the Virgin Mary will spare her of her torture but in the poem she says she is an unbeliever. One would think if she is an unbeliever than why would she prey. She does not believe that she is worth being saved and talks as if death has already taken her. She writes,

“In the mind there is a thin alley called death
and I move through it as
through water.
My body is useless.”

-Sexton

She feels that she does not belong where she is yet is scared to speak out. She does not ask for forgiveness or wish good things for others but only to be spared of this unpleasant situation she is in. In fear of everything she turns to religion to be set free even though she knows she does not deserve it. I honestly liked the fact she written it as a pray so we can have insight of what the unspeakable character is thinking and feeling.