Explication of Sextons “The Starry Night”, a painting by Vincent van Gough. Sexton and
Van Gough both seem to find deep meaning and respectability in the night sky. The
Setting of is the night sky above a town with emphasis on the details of the moon, sky, stars and clouds. Below, the sleepy village rests lifeless in the dark of night and does not receive the same attention as the sky. Sexton uses three stanzas containing similes, repetition, metaphors and alliteration to express her views of the painting. The first line states, “The town does not exist”, Sexton uses this line to represent the darkness of the specific night portrayed by the painting. The darkness is not the only meaning
I found in the first line, it also tells the reader where the poet’s attention will be focused, not with the town but with the sky. The combination of these two meanings set the mood for the entire poem. The only object other than the sky and its inhabitants is one lonely tree sticking up from the unseen hillside, casting a shadow upon the sky and blocking out the bright yellow, white and green glow projected by the stars and moon. The tree is described with the simile, “like an old women”, possibly because of its shape. The forth line says “The town is silent the night boils with eleven stars”, this line does not literally mean the eleven stars are boiling, but instead represents there vibrancy. The boiling of the stars could compare them to boiling water because of their different sizes, and the way they were painted makes them resemble bubbles. The first stanza is concluded with lines five and six, “Oh starry night! This is how I want to die’. This statement may signify Sextons respect for the night depicted by the painting and her willingness to die on a similar night. The second stanza is a detailed description of the sky. It starts with “It moves. They