Venus and the Ark Spoof

I feel like Anne Sexton made it pretty obvious that her poem was supposed to be a spoof. A spoof is like an imitation of something, and Sexton imitated Noah's Ark and other biblical stories. There is lots of evidence in her poem to prove this. First off, the name Venus and the Ark just sounds like Noah's Ark. In the poem, the two male Ph.D.'s took animals to Venus. In Noah's Ark, Noah took one of every animal on the ark. Also, Anne Sexton wrote "on the seventh month", while in the Bible, it says "on the seventh day."This is a very famous quote referencing the creation of the world. I don't think Anne Sexton's spoof was meant to be humorous, but simply an imitation.

Venus and the Ark #3

One simple look at the title of this poem, "Venus and the Ark", is all you need to understand why Sexton calls her poem a spoof. The title makes reference to the biblical story of Noah's Ark. In the bible, humanity had However, God warned Noah of the impending disaster and told him to build an ark and use it to save his family as well as the animals. In this poem, Sexton tells the story of the Earth being destroyed by nuclear warfare. Two scientists have built a rocket to take animals, food, and dirt to Venus to give society a second chance. Sexton's poem and the biblical story are very similar tales of total destruction with the only hope remaining with a small portion of society.

Question 3 "Venus and the Ark"

Anne Sexton’s “Venus and the Ark” is a spoof of Noah’s Ark. In this modern retelling of the classic story, the ark is the missile that carries the “Ph.D’s” and the new Earth is Venus. Two scientist go on a mission to Venus, they are equipped with a variety of animals to preform experiments on. What they find is a habitable planet with no life. Due to this discovery, countries start to fight about the ownership of Venus. This war ends with the destruction of the Earth. The scientists eventually release the animals and they populate Venus. These animals are the only remnants of life on Earth that will remain after the two scientist perish.The two scientist cannot reproduce since they are both male. The ending of the story,”the new fruit drop” is a reference to Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. The “new fruit drop” is for telling that these new organisms will also make mistakes and that their world like the Earth will also end. 

"Venus and the Ark" Question Three

After reading the poem, I believe Sexton calls her poem a spoof because of how it satirizes the ignorance of humanity by referencing a part of the Bible. The second stanza of the poem describes how rival nations use nuclear weapons, which resulted in the destruction of life on Earth. In addition, the title is called “Venus and the Ark” which is similar to the story of Noah’s Ark from the Bible. In the Bible, all life was wiped out by God due to corruption and evil. In this poem, life is wiped out because of the same reason, except this time it was with nuclear weapons. In both situations, the animals all lived which shows how human beings, though intelligent, cannot maintain their existence due to their greedy nature.

Chad Edwards' Question 3

Just based off the title itself, it is easy to see why Anne Sexton calls this poem a spoof.  She does not want this to be a mystery to anyone who reads or listens to her poem, seeing as this is the first thing that she makes known to her audience in the recording, it is even said before the title.  The first stanza of the poem then goes on to talk about how this project was somewhat of a secret.  This is similar to how, in the Bible, though they were warned by Noah of the imposing flood, the people of Earth at the time felt so safe that Noah's Ark and its significance might as well have been a secret.  Just like in the Bible, many different animals and necessities are prepared and taken onto this metaphorical ark, and the vessel is launched, just before the impending disaster.  Sexton then goes on to confirm what was said before about the people of Earth not really caring about this ark to Venus.  She says in an almost sarcastic sort of tone, "And parades assembled/ the loud earth tellers spent/ all fifteen minutes on it, even/shortened their weather forecast."  Soon after the Earth is destroyed, though this time by man instead of God.  Finally after seven months have passed(analogous to the seven days that the dove is released for in Noah's Ark), the animals are released onto Venus where they can flourish, just like Noah and his family did in the Bible.  In the end, it seems that the roles have changed since Noah's Ark.  This time, man acts as God while the animals act as man.  After the Ark has landed the animals run off on their own, forgetting about the two men that saved them.


(( for some reason, the invitation to Chad's email did not work for him, so I'm posting this here until he gets it sorted out ))

Question Three

Anne Sexton’s fantastical science fiction story she manifests in the words of “Venus and the Ark” surprisingly isn’t one completely of her own creative genius. By effectively comparing her story to that of Biblical ones (Noah and the Ark, Garden of Eden), Ms. Sexton is able to bring something as ancient as the Bible and contemporize it to fit modern audiences. Cleverly a mix of science and religion is at play throughout the entire poem, with a futuristic landscape painting the story of the poem but yet having Biblical undertones just underneath the surface. These two usually conflicting topics working in harmony only adds to satirical approach Ms. Sexton took to the Bible as well as human nature. Masterfully harnessing the nature of spoof, the piece “Venus and the Ark” fits the criteria of one perfectly. 

Venus and the Ark question 3

The poem Venus and the Ark is a spoof of the Old Testament story of Noah's Ark.  Humanity had become corrupt so god sent a flood to wipe out everyone except for Noah's family and all the animals.  In the poem the two Ph.D's collect animals and take them to Venus like Noah took them onto the Ark.  Then humanity destroys itself like god did in the Old Testament.  Along with this allusion to the Bible it is a satire on human nature.  Sexton is showing that it is in human nature to fight and destroy.  Humans do not need a god to do that for them.  Not even what would possibly be the greatest discovery in all of human history, another life supporting planet, could stop the fighting.  She clearly has no faith in humanity and believes that someday we will eventually destroy ourselves.