Essay on Anne Sexton and her Poetry
It is known that literature plays an important role in the life of any individual as it reflects the writer’s thoughts and ideas and links them to the real life. Besides, literature plays a significant role in the individual’s development, because in most cases, reading forms the major concepts about the world and the society (Kelen 23). The reader’s philosophical ideas and thoughts, which are produced in the result of reading, are transformed into the ideology that can influence the individual’s actions and social behavior. Poetry is considered to be a form of literary art which is based on the use of some aesthetic qualities of language to reveal the meaning. Contemporary poetry is closely connected with reality and discusses the major social issues, such as love and hatred, life and death, friendship and interpersonal relationships, etc. Of course, in most cases the major characters in poetic works are ordinary people with their joy and grief, feelings and emotions, etc. Christopher Kelen states that “poetry, as a continuity in efforts to acknowledge the power of words in themselves, manages to short-circuit a transcendent wish to stand the world out of words” (151).
One of the well-known contemporary poets is Anne Sexton, an American poet of the 20th century whose poetic works are remarkable for her highly personal and open-hearted confessions. It is known that in her poetry, Anne Sexton discusses such themes as interpersonal relationships, love and hatred, the state of depression and its impact on life, and even intimacy and suicidal tendencies (Middlebrook 17).
A poetess who is not afraid to share her feelings and emotions deserves respect and admiration, although many of her poetic works are met with severe criticism. The major goal of this argumentative researched paper is to conduct research on Anne Sexton’s poetic works and to evaluate her poetry paying special attention to the major themes, images, techniques, and social issues revealed in her poetic works. Besides, it is necessary to discuss some literary critical treatments on the author.
It is known that Sexton’s works include poetry, prose and children’s books. The well-known poetic works written by Anne Sexton are her early works To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960), The Starry Night (1961), All My Pretty Ones (1962), Live or Die (1966), Love Poems (1969) and some other poetic works. The poetic works of late period include Transformations (1971), The Book of Folly (1972), The Death Notebooks (1974), The Awful Rowing Toward God (1975), 45 Mercy Street (1976). The children’s books include Eggs of Things (1963), More Eggs of Things (1964), Joey and the Birthday Present (1974), The Wizard’s Tears (1975).
THE MAJOR THEMES IN ANNE SEXTON’S POETRY
The major themes revealed by the author in her poetic works are closely connected with her life, her fate, her feelings and emotions, her psychological state and her problems. Sexton’s poems about life and death, menstruation and alcoholism, depression and lesbianism attract attentions of thousands of readers due to their deep meaning and philosophic ideas that make everybody ponder over his or her life in this world (Middlebrook 23). Many themes in the poetry of Anne Sexton are closely connected with some facts from her biography. For example, it is known that Anne Sexton was unhappy in her life. The birth of her children had negative impact on her psychological state. She had severe depression. Although she was treated, she failed to heal her mental illness. It is known that Anne Sexton fought constantly against severe form of depression and constant anxiety, but she lost faith in better life when she committed suicide at age 46. Of course, such themes as depression, death, sufferings cause negative feelings and make the readers ponder over their own life and psychological state (Ostriker 53).
THE MAJOR TECHNIQUES IN THE POETRY OF ANNE SEXTON
The major literary techniques used by Anne Sexton in her poetic works make her poetry unique and individual. It is known that Anne Sexton’s poetry is considered to be a contemporary literature. The term Postmodernism refers to the literature of the period of the late 20th century. The author uses such literary devices as alliteration, metaphors, irony, comparison, hyperbole, imagery, onomatopoeia, epithets, repetition, rhetoric questions, etc. As most of Anne Sexton’s themes are closely connected with death and depression, many critics have found that she uses “the compressed language” which makes her writing style apolitical and metaphorical what creates the effect of depression. The use of literary techniques helps the poet to connect with her readers. Anne Sexton also liked to change her poems’ structure and rather often she used free verse. For example, in the poems from the collection Live or Die, Anne Sexton effectively uses free verse and special rhyme scheme. It is found that she wrote her poetic works in free verse during the second and the third stages of her poetic career (Ostriker 40).
It is known that Anne Sexton’s early poems are preoccupied with form and technique. The poetess uses the tightly constrained metrical forms, which are demonstrated in her poetry collections To Bedlam and Part Way Back and All My Pretty Ones. Bedside, Anne Sexton is well known for her unique imagery, which is often centered on the human body and the household. According to Freud, “the essential ars poetica lies in the technique of overcoming the feeling of repulsion in us which is undoubtedly connected with the barriers that rise between each single ego and the others” (McClatchy 23). Anne Sexton as a modernist poet is focused on such defense mechanisms as “repression, displacement, suppression, screen memories, condensation, projection, and so on”. These psychological techniques have the so called “rhetorical analogues”, which include paradox and ambiguity, allusion and ellipsis and some other “tensions” that can be related to the neurotic symptoms (McClatchy 39). In order to write with more directness and greater honesty towards her own experiences and practices, Anne Sexton, as a true confessional poet, tries to avoid those poetic techniques which re-depress her poetry. Anne Sexton turns toward open forms in her poetry.
Helen Vendler discusses the techniques used by Anne Sexton in her poetry. She notices a lot of interesting things concerning her writing style and shares her views in the article Malevolent Flippancy. Helen Vendler states that Anne Sexton “looked, usually in vain, for ways to stabilize her poems outside her increasingly precarious self” (Vendler 23). She uses a lot of different images “based one sequence on horoscope readings, another on the remarks of her therapist “Doctor Y,” another on the life of Jesus, another on the Psalms, another on beasts” (Vendler 42). The fork tales, which are included in her poetry collection Transformations, are of great interest for the readers. The tales as Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, the Frog Prince, Briar Rose, Hansel and Gretel, and some others reveal a lot of new images. Helen Vendler states that Sexton’s poems are based on repetitions: “She had an instinct for reiteration; she wanted to say something five times instead of once” (Vendler 72). It is noticed that Anne Sexton’s favorite figure of speech she effectively uses in her poetry is anaphora, where several lines begin with one and the same phrase, “a figure which causes, more often than not, diffuseness and spreading of effect rather than concentration of intensity”:
…I will conquer myself.
I will dig up the pride.
I will take scissors (Sexton 175).
Most of her tales match the author’s infantile fantasy and help to reveal her talent as a satirist.
SOCIAL ISSUES DISCUSSED IN ANNE SEXTON’S POETIC WORKS
Anne Sexton reveals many important social issues in her poetic works. She knew that her readers would understand her feelings and emotions and would be able to use her experience in their lives. It is found that as a rule, many of Anne Sexton’s readers have been female. That is why she had a special appeal for them and tried to choose those themes that were close to them and that were interesting for them. She discusses such social issues as the right to abortion, healthcare issues, interpersonal relations, family relations, domestic violence and depression.
POETRY ANALYSIS
Anne Sexton’s poetry has its specific characteristics which make her poetic works unique. Practically all her poems bear the impress of her depression, sadness and anxiety. In order to have some idea of Anne Sexton’s poetry, it is necessary to analyze some of her outstanding poems. The poems Abortion, The Truth the Death Know and Angels of the Love Affair can help to understand the nature of writing of this contemporary poetess, her philosophic ideas, her world view and to find the so called touch with reality.
Poem Abortion
The poem Abortion is one of well-known poems written by Anne Sexton. The author tries to discuss one of the most important and at the same time controversial issues – the issue on the right to abortion. This poem has already been discussed by a number of critics. Anne Sexton uses abrupt language in order to comment on the negative side of abortion. One of the lines in this poem is repeated several times: “Somebody who should have been born/ is gone”. Anne as a woman who once had to make a decision on abortion, now shares her experience, her feelings and emotions with others. The readers can feel her changing mood, her anxieties and her fears. The major goal of the author is to make readers ponder over the process of abortion. She wants readers to know how she felt in that situation. The author uses description of nature in order to show her feelings, “Just as the earth puckered its mouth, / each bud puffing out from its knot” (2-3). Her numerous observations tell the readers about her sadness and regret. Anne Sexton concludes, “yes, woman, such logic will lead to loss without death / or say what you meant, you coward…this baby that I bleed” (22-23).
Poem The Truth the Dead Know
The poem The Truth the Dead Know is a rather gloomy poem written by Anne Sexton in 1962. The author writes about her parents who died and whom she misses so much. This poetic work renders a feeling of sadness, which is created by Sexton’s sufferings. Almost each line in this poem shows her sufferings with the loss of her parents who died in the same year – 1959. The first lines of the poem The Truth the Dead Know represent a person who cannot accept the death of her parents. The author says: “Gone, I say and walk from church, / refusing the stiff procession to the grave” (1-2). These lines prove the fact that Anne Sexton refuses to go to the burial ground in order to see her last parent buried. The readers have an opportunity to learn what she feels and how greatly she is suffering. She says, “letting the dead ride alone in the hearse. / It is June. I am tired of being brave”(3-4). Anne Sexton is tired of being brave because now she is alone in this world as she lost her parents, the dearest people in her life. It is clear that she was brave enough when she attended the funerals of her mother several months ago, but now the woman is really worn out with her sorrows. This poem is really one of the most emotional poems as it tells about real event that can occur in the life of any person. The poem is rather poignant. The major message is to show human suffering and mourning. It is possible to conclude that this poem touches one of the common problems for human beings – the loss of the dearest people. It is found that the mourning may recede, but the pain will remain.
Poem Angels of the Love Affair
The poem Angels of the Love Affair written by Anne Saxton consists of six parts, and each part describes this or that angel. The author asks the readers: “Angels of the love affair, do you know that other, the dark one, that other me?” This question is a rhetoric question as the author does not answer it, but represents six characteristics of angels. The theme of this poem is focused on the Catholic-Christian framework. It is known that the later poems of Anne Saxton refer to religion and religious issues. There are a lot of intimate descriptions in this poem. The author is too open and honest with her readers when she informs them of her sexual feeling and when mentions her genitals. She writes, “I said, “The devil is down that festering hole.” / Then he bit me in the buttocks and took over my soul”(7-8). The author believes that her genitals are a gateway to the actions of devil and sin. This poem can be regarded as a conversation with several Angels. The poet mentions six angels: angel of fire and genitals, angel of clean sheets, angel of flight and sleigh bells, angel of hope and calendars, angel of blizzards and blackouts and angel of beach houses and picnics. It is found that each angel in the poem has its area of expertise. The poem is written in the form of a conversion, because Anne Sexton jumps from subject to subject in her monologue. As usually, the author shares her life experience with others. In this poem, the author recollects her childhood when she stole raspberry from the garden, her picnics and holidays, her state of depression, and even her sexual abuse experience (Jimison 70).
ANNE SEXTON’S CRITICISM
It is known that the poetry of Anne Sexton was widely discussed in the literary circles the United States. Jo Gill is one of those literary critics who expressed his own attitude to Anne Sexton’s works. In his article Textual Confessions: Narcissism in Anne Sexton’s Early Poetry, Jo Gill discusses how the radical and even avante garde styles of poetry influence the readers. The confessional poetry created by Anne Sexton has its individual characteristics. The author of the article states that “confessional poetry, a mode that was prominent in the United States in the 1960s and early 70s, has, over time, come to be regarded as a regrettable, aberrant, and momentary spasm in the development of that nation’s literature” (Gill 59). Moreover, Jo Gill is sure that language poetry can find truth in the art and Anne Sexton’s confessional poetry deals in narcissism. In the article, the author explains that many critics consider that the avante garde and confessional style cannot resist the narcissism that is inherent to subjectivity. Some elements of Anne Sexton’s writing style are rooted in the true nature of human psychology or in psychoanalysis. That is why Jo Gill states that one of the most important differences between the avante-garde poetry and confessional poetry is in the use of personal experience. Jo Gill argues that confessional poetry of Anne Sexton “persists in being read as an expressionist/realist mode” (Gill 62).
Besides, Jo Gill states that Anne Sexton’s poetry has enormous influence on the readers – the poetess causes her readers to be uncertain and even lost in the nature of her poetry. Some of Anne Sexton’s poems are introduce as intensely individual or personal. The use of stylistic devices, such as repetitions, metaphors, epithets, etc., helps the poetess to express her ideas more brightly. That is why Jo Gill supposes that Anne Sexton deals more closely in the avante-garde writing style by the so called “undermining processes” in her poetry (Gill 83).
In addition, there are a lot of other critical articles concerning Anne Sexton’s poetry that reveals her innermost feelings. For example, a Times Literary Supplement reviewer criticizes Anne Sexton’s poetry collection Live or Die of 1966 and states that most of Anne Sexton’s new poems are arrested, but “such naked psyche-baring makes demands which cannot always be met. Her confession may be good enough for the soul, but Sexton’s absolution is not the poet’s job” (Berry 21). The other literary critic added, “When Anne Sexton’s artistic control falters the recital of her grief and her misery becomes simply embarrassing, the repetitive material she uses starts to grow rather tedious, and the poetic gives way to the clinical and the confessional” (Berry 27). Many literary critics and reviewers raised such significant questions as if Anne Sexton’s poetry could be classified as confessional and if her poetic work demonstrated the so called artistic control which most critics considered as essential characteristics of good poetry.
In the Virginia Quarterly Review many literary critics argued that Anne Sexton was a talented poetess, but who was perhaps too honest in some situations: “Confession, while good for the soul, may become tiresome for the reader if not accompanied by the suggestion that something is being held back… In Live or Die Miss Sexton’s toughness approaches affectation. Like a drunk at a party who corners us with the story of his life,… the performance is less interesting the third time, despite the poet’s high level of technical competence” (Anne Sexton: Biography)
It is known that some critics consider that Anne Sexton’s dependence on alcohol negatively influence her poetic works, while other critics consider that Sexton’s poetic writing matured over time and became more bright and unique. It is found that “starting as a relatively conventional writer, she learned to roughen up her line … to use as an instrument against the politesse of language, politics, religion and sex” (Rothenberg & Joris 330).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that although Anne Sexton’s poetry is considered to be confessional and most of her poems are sincere, it is possible to learn much about woman’s feelings and emotions. Her poems can be used in psychotherapy as they reveal true human feelings and psychological experiences. The poetess discusses many social issues in her poetic works, tries to analyze her psychological state, struggles against depression and mental illness she suffered, wants to solve her personal problems, etc. Anne Sexton’s poems are worth reading and analyzing because they help to understand human nature, feelings and emotions.
