Anne Sexton

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Anne Sexton's life struggles and emotions as seen through her poetry. The author discusses Sexton's obsession with death in her works, leading up to her suicide in 1974. The paper looks at Sexton's poetic collections "Transformations", "Book of Folly", "The Awful Rowing Towards God" and "Live and Die".

From the Paper:

"In "45 Mercy Street," which was published after her suicide, Sexton refers to her life as "the clumsy calendar in which she lives." We realize here that the general confusion Sexton experienced in Sexton's short life is finally getting the better of her and her suicide may be imminent. She also mentions in her suicide note, which was also a poem published under the same name, that she has died before, "once in November, and once in June." This directness and ambiguity characterizes Sexton's poetry not as a type of genre or style, but as brutally honest and a true representation of her life."

More papers on Anne Sexton:

• Comparison Essay # 25457 : "Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath"
• Comparison Essay # 148396 : "Deserving Poets: Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath"
• Analytical Essay # 63698 : "Anne Sexton's "Rumpelstiltskin"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: