Religion in “With Mercy for the Greedy” Anonymous College

Anne Sextons confessional lyric poem, “With Mercy for the Greedy” (1962) displays many ways of how she interprets life around her. Sexton tries to believe in religion to have a sense of believing in something, mostly because of her friend “Ruth”, who urges her to go to a Catholic confessional. Sexton realizes that “Need is not quite belief” (19) when she tries to accept the cross given to her but cannot connect to the true meaning of the cross. Sexton cannot confide in the cross so she is constantly searching for something or someone to confide in without feeling judged. In this particular poem, it is hard to not see that her religion is writing poetry, writing is her confessional. A reason for feeling without hope could be because she cannot bring herself to finding the true meaning of religion like her friend Ruth does. Sexton is almost mocking faith in this poem, emphasizing that real earthly relationships are more important to her. She has a hard time understanding the true meaning of religion because God is not right there in front of her, whereas her friend Ruth is. She feels the need to be able to confide in someone that will give her feedback without judgement, she favors human connection.

The main reason why Sexton is...