The phrase “drums down” is alliteration that actually suggests the “d” of hard drumming.

The idea of these “ants” feeling this level of pain might be a way of communicating this depression is felt down into the smaller spaces of outer nature (other creatures). Why would it not be mirrored in our own?

When I read that the ants were “in great pain” I thought to myself I don’t even know if ants can feel pain. I then thought about other people who seem so bright and happy and how I’ve thought before that “they’re so happy they could never be sad or depressed” which is completely untrue. Sometimes the people I look at as incapable of being sad are the saddest ones in reality

Critics point to the idea of “disembodiment” the poet must have felt as a result of her depression.The ants here are literally presented as disembodied.

“They in line 7 refers to the ants that were the focus of the simile from line one. Now they are bringing to mind the idea of a grave and what it would look like. Anyone thinking “mounds?”

Does anyone else see that this poem has “turned” from the inside of lines 1-6 to the outside of a grave?

That little “oh” in line 7 is more than poetic. It seems to be a second thought or a verbal sort of epiphany. That the ants the poet is seeing DOES remind them of something. It’s a small word that is carrying a lot of weight here. Think about “Oh.” You have to exhale to create this sound. The O comes of rounding the mouth and blowing out through the H.

The words ‘humble’ and the phrase “so willing” makes me think that there is an acceptance of these feelings. I think this shows the length of the battle with depression for the author.

These few lines here about the grave (death) are interesting, as she calls the writing on the grave “awful”. Could she mean this specifically, since the writing is usually just a name and dates, or is there a deeper meaning?

The idea of the inside and outside is also found in this line wherein the body in the grave is laid bare to the elements (the rain). The stone rising above the grass becomes a sort of “window” to the live that had been lived.

Sexton’s assessment of depression as “boring” is interesting. How does she come to this summative assessment of the condition?

Every time I come back to this line, I keep thinking about how it comes after all of this introspective thinking about rain and ants and graves. And now this summary comment on depression.

Line 12 would be the turning point in the poem because it is when Sexton comes to a conclusion about depression. Throughout the poem the author compared ants to the depressive state by demonstrating how they are in pain. The author also explained how graves are able to be beat upon because they are laying there, rotting such as an individual with depression might do. After describing how one might feel with depression, Sexton comes to the conclusion that it is boring. People with depression tend to not do anything. They rot inside as the day passes and most likely let people walk all over them, such as ants do.

The poet writes, “I would DO better.” Is this different from “I might BE better?”

Do better than what?