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http://dragonflyspoetryandprolixity.blogspot.com/2010/10/anne-sexton-black-art-addict.html  // "The //// joy that isn't shared dies young" - Anne Sexton // //Anne //  //Confessional poet, daughter, wife, mother //   //Traumatized, depressed, isolated, creative //   //Lover of her great Aunt Anna Dingley, affection, attention //   //Who believed life was hopless, death was the solution to her problems, poetry was a form of releasing her anger and depression //   //Who feared life itself, abandonment, abuse //   //Who wanted to escape her pain, end her life, to feel appreciated //   //Who gave the world amazing poetry, as much love as she could give to her family, up her own life //   //Who said "Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard" and "Even without wars, life is dangerous" //   //Sexton // Pulitzer Prize winner, Anne Sexton, who is well known for her Confessional poetry shedding light on "suicide and death", has left her mark on the world of poetry for her raw, "naked and painful" poems (Remembering Anne Sexton). Anne Sexton was born on November 9, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts. The daughter of Ralph Harvey and Mary Gray Staples, Anne was raised in a middle class environment; however, she was never completely satisfied with her life (Anne Sexton Biography - Anne Sexton Childhood, Life & Timeline). As a child, Anne was never fond of school - she was unable to stay focused on her school work and was considered extremely disobedient. Her home life was disfunctional and unstable; her father was an alcoholic and "her mother's literay aspirations had been frustrated by her family life" (Anne Sexton's Life). Often, Anne felt as though "her parents were hostile to her and feared they might abandon her" (Anne Sexton's Life). At age seventeen, Anne enrolled in Rogers Hall, a preparatory school for girls. Rogers Hall is where Anne began to write poetry. Sexton's childhood years helped influence her writing as her bitter resentment towards life emerged to the surface through her poems. Although Sexton's writing began at Rogers Hall Preparatory School, it was not until 1954, after suffering from recurring depression, that her poetry was brought to life as a theraputic way of expressing her suicidal thoughts. Feeling lonely and hopeless with her husband Kayo serving as a navel officer in the Korean War, as well the death of her great aunt Anna Dingley, who she loved and admired, left her traumatized. During this time, Anne also began to suffer from post-partum depression which led her to her "first psychiatric hospitalization and her first suicide attempt (Anne Sexton: A Brief Biography). At this time, Sexton sought help from psychiatrist Dr. Martin Orne, who encouraged her to resume writing poetry as a way to cope with her depression (Anne Sexton's Llife). Sexton said, "My analyst told me to write between our sessions about what I was feeling and thinking and dreaming" (Anne Sexton 1928-1974). As she began writing down her thoughts, the poetry that she created dealt with her raw feelings, emotional struggles and desires of death, which classified her as a confessional poet. Poems such as: "The Truth the Dead Know", "The Starry Night", and "Wanting to Die" are just a few of the pieces of work that Sexton created, expressing her deep, dark, depressing, and suicidal thoughts. Sexton's talented and creative ways of expressing her thoughts led her to receive many awards such as: The Audience Poetry Prize, "was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literaure in Great Britain" (About Anne Sexton), was named "Phi Beta Kappa poet at Harvard [and] accorded a number of honorary doctoral degrees" (About Anne Sexton), as well as the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Aditionally, Sexton is recognized for opening "the door not only for female poets, but for female issues. Sexton's writing included issues "about menstruation, abortion, masturbation, then adultery before such issues were even topics for discussion, helping redefine the boundaries of poetry" (The Biography of Anne Sexton - Life Story). Depression and suicidal thoughts led Anne Sexton to therapy - there, she met Dr. Matin Orne who was the encouragement that Sexton needed to express her thoughts onto paper, making her an award winning confessional poet.
 * Anne Sexton**  ** (November 9, 1928 - October 4, 1974) **

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//Wanting to Die// Anne Sexton

Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. Then the almost unnameable lust returns. Even then I have nothing against life. I know well the grass blades you mention,  the furniture you have placed under the sun. But suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know //which tools.//  They never ask //why build.// Twice I have so simply declared myself,  have possessed the enemy, eaten the enemy,   have taken on his craft, his magic. In this way, heavy and thoughtful,  warmer than oil or water,   I have rested, drooling at the mouth-hole. I did not think of my body at needle point. Even the cornea and the leftover urine were gone. Suicides have already betrayed the body. Still-born, they don’t always die,  but dazzled, they can’t forget a drug so sweet   that even children would look on and smile. To thrust all that life under your tongue!—  that, all by itself, becomes a passion. Death’s a sad bone; bruised, you’d say, and yet she waits for me, year after year, to so delicately undo an old wound,  to empty my breath from its bad prison. Balanced there, suicides sometimes meet,  raging at the fruit a pumped-up moon,   leaving the bread they mistook for a kiss, leaving the page of the book carelessly open,  something unsaid, the phone off the hook   and the love whatever it was, an infection. media type="youtube" key="UM6nWRXCQD8" height="374" width="460" align="center"

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//The Starry Night//  Anne Sexton      The town does not exist   except where one black-haired tree slips   up like a drowned woman into the hot sky. The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars. Oh starry starry night! This is how  I want to die. It moves. They are all alive. Even the moon bulges in its orange irons  to push children, like a god, from its eye. The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars. Oh starry starry night! This is how  I want to die: into that rushing beast of the night,  sucked up by that great dragon, to split   from my life with no flag,   no belly,   no cry.

http://www.goddesssophiawalker.com/wordpress/2011/01/31/ode-to-my-aunt-barbara-eckstrom/anne-sexton-thumb

As a confessional poet, Anne Sexton's poems primarily deal with thoughts of being lonely and confused, suicide, and death. Sexton's p oems, //Wanting to Die// and //The Starry Night//, are perfect examples of these emotions. In her poem, //Wanting to Die//, Anne writes "Since you ask, most days I cannont remember...". This stanza makes me feel as though Anne is walking in an unknown body - she is lost and cannot seem to find her way through life. The poem also states, "Even though I have nothing against life..." - I believe Anne is not angry with life itself, but she no longer has any desire to live. Also, Anne states in her poem, "But suicides have a special language...". Here, I feel as though Anne is saying how she respects suicide and feels as though it is okay for one to take his/her own life. Additionally, a literay critic of this poem states, " Some, Sexton appears to suggest, have little control over their own will and are driven almost lie an addiction" ( Poetry Analysis: Wanting to Die, by Anne Sexton - by InspiredWritingResearch - Helium). I believe this critic feels as though Anne's poem is suggesting that suicude over takes a person. Perhaps, suicidal thoughts may even corrupt a person. Sexton also states in her poem, "I have so simply declared myself, have possessed the enemy...have taken on his craft, his magic". I feel as though this symbolically describes how all of Anne's thoughts are suicide related. The same critic also states, " Sexton appears to want not only death, but death by suicide and even death alone is not enough - it must be complete annihilation" ( Poetry Analysis: Wanting to Die, by Anne Sexton - by InspiredWri tingResearch - Helium) - this theory is relevant in a majority of Sexton's poems. Sexton's poem, //A Starry Night//, also expresses these emotions. Another critic states, "The speaker emphasizes the theme of death in the poem", and that, "the only imagery is of death" (Richards, Rebekah). I feel as though this poem focuses on death and death alone. Sexton states repeatedly in this poem, "This is how I want to die". Additionally, she states that "death" will be her problem solver. Also in the stanza, "The town does not exist", I feel this suggests that Anne feels alone and abandoned. The same critic felt as though this same stanza "suggests the alienated or escaping status of the speaker" (Richards, Rebekah). The poems, //Wanting to Die// and //The Starry Night//, express Anne's lonliness and her own thoughts and ideas of suicide.  Sexton's poems can be compared to a self portrait created by a painter. Similar to a self portrait, Sexton's poems portray a portrait of her life and struggles. //Self in 1958 b//y Anne Sexton is an excellent example of this. I believe this poem was Anne's way of expressing her thoughts of the way people viewed her. I feel as though this piece of work describes the external Anne Sexton. In this poem, Anne states, "I am a plaster doll; I pose" - at one point in her life she was a model for a short period of time. I feel this excerpt suggests that Anne is not comfortable with the way people view her. Additionally, a critic stated, "There is a sense of being trained to pose as a showpiece..." ( Poetry Analysis:Anne Sexton's "Self in 1958"). Sexton's poem states, "I live in a doll's house." I believe that this infers that Anne felt people placed her into a picture perfect home, when in reality she was struggling with the decision of taking her own life. The same critic believes that this stanza suggests that "she is just a puppet who is controlled by The Hand"  ( Poetry Analysis:Anne Sexton's "Self in 1958"). Also, <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">Sexton wrote, "Someone plays with me, plants me in the all-electric kitchen" - I interpretted from this stanza that Anne feels trapped in her own life and needs to be the mother and wife that society expects her to be. The same critic stated that this poem "was penned by the forlorn and disgruntled Anne Sexton who caught herself in a state of identity crisis as she was imprisioned in her own domain-her home" <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> ( Poetry Analysis:Anne Sexton's "Self in 1958"). Although Anne titled her poem //Self in 1958,// she portrayed the Anne that poeple wanted her to be, rather than her true self - a woman who had struggles with life itself.

http://wheat4paradise.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/anne-sexton-the-tragedy-of-a-christ-haunted-soul/

<http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiKE5YAwJY/TKnefUaXInI/AAAAAAAACck/iLJ76sOlT60/s1600/Anne-sexton1.jpg>.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Although Anne Sexton was "an unlikely latecomer to poetry" (Sexton, Anne (Vol. 123) - Introduction ), her cutting edge confessional poems have etched her in history as one of the " most celebrated and tragic poets of the confessional school" (Sexton, Anne (Vol. 123) - Introduction ). Sexton is considered a significant literary figures due to her openness and willingness to bring to light topics of female issues, sexuality, and suicide through her poetry. Her poems are "distinguished for [their] stunning imagery, artistry, and remarkable cadences" (Sexton, Anne (Vol. 123) - Introduction ) by many critics. Sexton's main contribution to the poetry world was her ability to write honestly and graphically about topics that were never discussed openly during the 1960's. Her poetry " broke new ground by delivering prose that expressed [her] innermost dialog, with language that was provocative, and which veered away from romantic and standard forms of poetry" (Sexton, Anne). Sexton brought her own reality, with depression and suicide, onto paper for the world to see - "h er poetry challenged the myths and superficial values subscribed to by the social status quo, while expressing her fears, anger, and struggle against mental illness" (Sexton, Anne). Although Anne committed suicide at age 46, her legacy and contribution to the literary world will be etched in history forever.

__<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Works Cited __

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">"Anne Sexton: A Brief Biography." //The University of Texas at Arlington - UT Arlington - UTA//. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;"><http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/as/bio1.html>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">"Anne Sexton 1928-1974." //Poetry Foundation//. Web. 23 Apr. 2011. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/anne-sexton>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Jong, Erica. "Remembering Anne Sexton." //The New York Times//. The New York Times Company, 1997. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;"><http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/jong-sexton.html>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Kumin, Maxine. "About Anne Sexton." //Music Swims Back To Me...Anne Sexton on the WWW//. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. <http://toryn.tripod.com/anne.html>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">"Poetry Analysis:Anne Sexton's "Self in 1958"" //Find Health, Education, Science & Technology Articles, Reviews, How-To and Tech Tips At Bright Hub -// <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">//Apply To Be A Writer Today!//2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. <http://www.brighthub.com/arts/books/articles/105496.aspx>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">"Poetry Analysis: Wanting to Die, by Anne Sexton - by InspiredWritingResearch - Helium." //Helium - Where Knowledge Rules//. N.p., 2002-2011. Web. 24 <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Apr. 2011. <http://www.helium.com/items/1923939-free-poetry-analysis-of-wanting-to-die-by-anne-sexton-essay-paper>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Richards, Rebekah. "Analysis of Anne Sexton's "The Starry Night": Van Gogh’s Painting and Themes of Life, Death, Fire, Color, Power | Suite101.com." <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">//Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network//. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. <http://www.suite101.com/content/analysis-of-anne-sextons-the- <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">starry- <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">night-a196232>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">"Sexton, Anne." //Info:Main Page - New World Encyclopedia//. Web. 23 Apr. 2011. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Anne_Sexton>.

"Sexton, Anne (Vol. 123) - Introduction." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 123. Gale Cengage, 2000. eNotes.com. 2006. 23 Apr, 2011 <http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/sexton-anne-vol-123>.

<span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">"The Biography of Anne Sexton - Life Story." //PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine//. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. <span style="font: 16px/32px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;"><http://www.poemhunter.com/anne-sexton/biography/>.