Venus and the Ark

Venus and the Ark is a spoof because it is very similar to Noah and the Ark except it deals with issues of her time such as nuclear scare and space exploration.  The picture I got from reading the poem was two astronauts leaving earth in a rocket before the earth gets destroyed by the nuclear war.  The astronauts are trying to go to a distant planet and start a new life there. Unlike Noah and the Ark, Sexton makes her poem very dystopian and dark. Another issue of sexton’s time was women rights which make it seem like both the astronauts will be male. So even if the astronauts are successful in settling down, mankind will eventually meet its demise.