"An Obsessive Combination of Ontological Inscape, Trickery and Love" by Anne Sexton

The first time I read this clever poem by Anne Sexton, I was thoroughly confused as to what it was talking about. After reading it again several times, discussing it aloud, and searching some of the words in a dictionary, I soon discovered that this poem was one about the writer’s strong connection with words. The writer has a very playful tone and truly admires words, their meanings and has a very unique writing process. The title itself seemed so complex that I was afraid to even make a guess at what the writer was saying right away. As I looked up the word “Ontological”, I found out that its definition is “the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such; metaphysical”. The words “inscape, trickery and love” are all aspects of writing that are effective in creating outstanding poetry. The writer plays on each of these aspects throughout the poem including when she inscapes her love of changing letters and contexts. She takes “a word like ‘writes’ down tiers of tries until its secret rites”, tricking readers as she plays with words and their meanings. She rearranges the letters of words to make different words, making them fit into a different context. Sexton’s love shows through her writing when she reveals her passion for words, big and small, as she tries to describe her amazement when she turns “RATS” into “STAR”. She becomes excited and greatly surprised at what words she can produce by switching around the letters of one word into another. As I said previously, I was greatly confused the first time I read this short poem; however, I've realized how a writer can be so passionate about his or her writing and how they have to think when coming up with the words and sentences to make their poetry unique to them.