Speculating upon Sexton’s poem Words, it should be viewed as evoking a multitude of responses in readers; an American poet here puts a lot of effort into narrowing her attention on to a single focus – duality. In other words, the poem embodies itself as an excursus into why simple words should not be underestimated from the perspective a truly vital role they may play in people’s daily life. As Words progresses, it becomes apparent that Sexton intends to prompt the masses to peer deep into both emotions and concepts they usually subconsciously convey. Notably, the poem can be seen as part of campaign against thoughtless messages that people encapsulate with many of their words on a daily basis.
One cannot but give Sexton credit for inspiring the audience to reconsider the attitude towards what saying simple words may entail indeed. Sure enough, it is particularly about saying certain words that may greatly influence people’s perception decreasing the chances of identifying something unambiguously. As Sexton discloses, words should be referred to as having a two-fold nature in themselves; and while some do appear obvious, giving up the idea that alternative senses may be deliberately hidden from outside view does not make sense at all.
One has to know that Sexton’s Words manifests itself as a wake-up call for the public with great emphasis on a dire need to put an end to stereotypical thinking that persists today. Since the bulk of people often unconsciously hurt the others with words, Sexton makes an appeal to readers claiming that it is high time to reinterpret their sentiments towards which functions ordinary words carry out. To put the matter differently, the poet ascertains that qualifying words as probably the central driving force within the ongoing society would give the chance to change our life for better. Of course, Anne Sexton predominantly heralded for her personal poetry builds up some sort of an anecdotal warning in Words. Owing to a cautionary line (“be careful with words”) that the poem implies, the poet finely constitutes a platform for sticking to new habits and beliefs.
Contemplating upon Sexton’s Words, one cannot help but become aware that the poet devotes most of her time to offering valuable insights on how marvelous words actually are regardless of many hidden threats they pose to humanity. It is not an exaggeration to say that Sexton employs natural imagery in order to pinpoint the fact that words have penetrated every nook and cranny of everyday’s life. From Sexton’s perceptive, on the one hand, they may be “as trusty as the rock”, whereas, on the other, they occur as “the trees, the legs of summer”. By juxtaposing words with integral elements of nature, the poet succeeds in fostering the audience to pique interest in the inherent essence that language encompasses.
On the reverse side, however, Sexton pays special attention to a multitude of dangers that the imprudent use of words can lead to. Moving through this poem, it becomes evident that the significance of words cannot be understated; to put it in layman’s terms, their insidiousness is hard to exaggerate. The poet makes a stress on that people are likely to fall a prey to dangerous language. The thing is that being exposed to words can be a serious burden, and the reluctance to take their dangerous capabilities seriously will contribute negatively to the chances to free oneself from language-related constraints. On the whole, the poem deserves a strong recommendation, and reading it will definitely not be a waste of time.
