Anne Sexton Flashcards
What school of poetry is Anne Sexton typically though of as belonging to? Why is it particularly apt for her?
Confessional poetry; She was a lapsed Roman Catholic, so there are some elements of religious absolution in her poems.
What are some similarities between Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath?
- Both are considered “confessional” poets
- Both studied under Robert Lowell
- Both from Massachusetts
- Both committed suicide
- Both seem to suffer from postpartum depression
- Both were mothers
- Both explored the complex and restrictive status of women in the mid-20th century
- Both spent time in mental institutions
Who is Sexton commemorating in “The Truth the Dead Know”?
Her parents, who died 3 months apart in 1959
The Truth the Dead Know: What “happens” in this poem?
The poet, grieving, drives to the Cape for a change of scenery, hoping the sun and ocean will be a balm. She is with a companion, whose touch is really the thing that eases her grief. The speaker reflects that the dead are like stone, unable to feel the comfort of touch.
Little Girl…: What is the subject of this poem?
Sexton’s 11 year old daughter. Sexton contemplates her daughter’s burgeoning womanhood, concluding that women are born twice - once at their literal birth, and once when they grow from little girls into women. Sexton marvels that she has been present at both events in her daughter’s life.
Little Girl…: Famous line?
“What I want to say, Linda, is that women are born twice.”
Little Girl…: What kind of relationship with her body does Sexton advocate here?
A kind of trust. She urges her daughter to “let your body in” and that “there is nothing in your body that lies,” suggesting that, in the future, Linda should not be ashamed of her sexuality and should trust herself and her instincts.
Little Girl…: What does the poet say her daughter is like?
A garden
Her Kind: What is “happening” in this poem?
The Speaker describes a witch flying through the night sky, at home in a cozy woodland retreat, and finally being taken in a cart to be burned.
The poet says that she has been “her kind” - misunderstood, not “womanlike” enough, and not ashamed of who she is.
The witch is also “I” throughout.
What is confessional poetry?
- Poetry identified with the personal experiences of the poet
- Uses the first person “I”
- Rose to prominence in mid-20th century; Plath and Sexton are considered of this school
Why did Sexton start writing poetry?
At the suggestion of her therapist
Housewife: What is the conceit of this poem?
Sexton describes how when some women get married, they really marry their houses, not their husbands. The houses become an extension of themselves which they must spend all day tending to and cleaning.
Men are intruders in this space, pulled back into the house which is a maternal space. Sexton notes how the difference between men and women is that women ARE their mothers.
Which two poems consider the onset of womanhood?
“Little Girl…” and “Young.” In the first, Sexon considers her daughter’s blossoming womanhood, and in “Young” she thinks about her own “brand new body, which was not a woman’s yet.”
Which two poems are concerned with domestic spaces?
“Young” and “Housewife”
