Anne Sexton - 912 Words

Anne Sexton Michealangelo, perhaps the most gifted sculptor and painter of all times, once said that geniuses stand on the shoulders of other geniuses. As Michelangelo built upon the brilliance of his predecessors, Anne Sexton does the same in her collection of poems entitled Transformations. She renovated fairy tales as told by the Brothers Grimm by adding her own life experiences and view of contemporary culture, hammering away until she built an entirely new art form. Anne Sexton has had a notable effect upon the literary genre of fairy tales through this shocking transformation of classic tales. Anne Sexton was born in Newton, Massachusetts on November 9, 1928 to Ralph and Mary Gray Staples Harvey. Her life as a child and†¦show more content†¦Orne, M.D., Ph.D., her psychologist who encouraged her to write poetry as part of the psychological healing process (Middlebrook xiii-xviii). With this encouragement Anne published her first book of poetry, To Bedlam and Part Way Back, in 1960 (McCartan 2). The book was well received and marked the beginning of her rise to the top. 1967 another major year in Sexton’s career; she won the Pulitzer Prize for Live or Die. Transformations, her book of poetic fairy tales, was published later in 1971. On October 4, 1974, shortly after the release of Transformations, Anne could no longer stand the pressures of her existence and committed suicide. This biographical information is essential to understanding Anne Sexton’s influence on the fairy tale because her transformations of the Grimm Brother’s work rises out of her personal turmoil. Most of Sexton’s works before and after Transformations are of the confessional style, but through her poetic transformations of fairy tales, Sexton gives herself a more discrete outlet for her passions (Ostriker 255). Her biographer Diane Middlebrook notes that the poems were a way to place her struggles ‘in legend rather than personal history (37). The intensely metaphorical characters of Sexton’s fairy poetry are one example of this. For instance, Judith the cold and neglectful mother in Snow White surely represents Sexton’s own callous mother (Middlebrook 37). Sexton’s father is also recognizable in her work asShow MoreRelatedThemes Of Anne Sexton1069 Words   |  5 PagesThemes from Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Robert Hay den An Evaluation of themes from Mirror, Courage, Explorer, and Douglas During the 1900’s, a series of new poets came into existence. These poets brought about new themes and perspectives that manipulated the minds of humans all across the world. The poets that are in our study are Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Robert Hayden. These four poets wrote detailed, intricate poems that are packed full of a slew ofRead MoreSylvia Plath and Anne Sexton1240 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å" Confessional Poets† Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and Anne Sexton (1928-1974) both explored similar themes such as tone, structure, and symbolism. Many of their poems were cries for help, which resulted into metal illness, depression, and suicide. In 1958, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath met, and much to their surprise had a few things in common. They both were fascinated with death and suicide. Both Sexton’s and Plath’s poetryRead MoreThe Comparison and Contrast of Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath Essay example1646 Words   |  7 PagesComparison and Contrast of Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath The two poems, â€Å"And One for My Dame† by Anne Sexton and â€Å"Daddy† by Sylvia Plath, both explore similar themes through the use of literary elements such as structure, tone and symbolism. Structures in each poem are alike with length but differ with the actual form. The tone Plath conveys is negative one while Sexton’s is more neutral. The symbolism in â€Å"Daddy† was also negative with symbols of the devil but Sexton used a nursery rhyme as a symbolRead More Anne Sexton1732 Words   |  7 PagesSanta, the Easter Bunny and Cinderella were characters we fondly remembered. But although we recognized these figures and legends as illusions, we held on to many of the sentiments the stories, without questioning their application to adult life. Anne Sexton often uses these innocent, childlike images juxtaposed with cynical but more realistic situations in order show that the lessons society teaches children, ones that children retain as adults, are ill usions that do not properly illustrate the corruptRead MoreAnne Sexton2598 Words   |  11 PagesAnne Sexton believed that the most interesting poetry was written out of personal experience. Everything she had been through, her hospitalization, her affairs, her insanity, the loss of her parents, and great-aunt, gave her things to write about. She uses poetry as one of her outlet. She writes out her problems. Her writing was a part of her therapy. As a child, Anne Sexton had to be the center of attention, a demanding child (Self-Portrait in Letter 3). When Anne was younger, she thoughtRead MoreEssay On Anne Sexton891 Words   |  4 PagesContext: Anne Sexton was an American poet born on November 9th, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts and raised in Weston. Her family was successful economically wise and Sexton was raised in a middle-class environment; however, Sexton’s relationship with her parents were extremely strained and perhaps abusive; her father was an alcoholic. It was suggested that Sexton may have been sexually abused by her parents and felt that they were hostile to her. As such, Sexton sought refuge in her close relationshipRead MoreThe Confessional Style Of Poetry1009 Words   |  5 Pagesconfessional poet, Anne Sexton’s therapist instructed her to write poetry to help her with her anxiety and depression. She became one of the pioneers for confessional poetry. She is one of the most famous confessional poets because she spoke directly of her divorce, her type in the mental institute, and her thoughts of suicide. Eventually Sexton committed suicide but her poems are almost a time capsule of her time ba ttling with her mental illnesses. One interview explains what Sexton was like aroundRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Starry Night By Anna Sexton952 Words   |  4 Pages‘Starry Night’, by Anna Sexton, which was interpretation of a personal view for Van Gogh’s artwork, â€Å"Starry Night†. The prophetical nature of Anne Sexton s spiritual poetry, Starry Night, ensues the melancholy of humanity. The poem depicts Sexton s interpretation of the immense psychological suffering of a religious human being. By addressing, Van Gogh s work caught with a deep understanding of an emptiness of the soul and also the familiar warfare of his mental distresses. Sexton showcases the sharedRead MoreAnne Sexton : An American Poet1216 Words   |  5 PagesContext: Anne Sexton was an American poet born on November 9th, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts and raised in Weston. Her family was successful economically wise and Sexton was raised in a middle-class environment; however, Sexton’s relationship with her parents were extremely strained and perhaps abusive; her father was an alcoholic. It was suggested that Sexton may have been sexually abused by her parents and felt that they were hostile to her. As such, Sexton sought refuge in her close relationshipRead MoreMary Sexton s The Grimm Brothers And Anne Sexton948 Words   |  4 Pagesforgot to invite the twelfth wise woman. The twelfth wise woman enters the feast full of anger and cast a horrible spell on Briar Rose. This story of Briar Rose has evolved over time into two stories by different authors, the Grimm brothers and Anne Sexton. They each have different perspectives on the author’s past and the role of the father making. These differences make the fairy tale propose two dif ferent struggles of both social level and a broken family. Authors’ viewpoints are often shown