An Analysis Of Anne Sexton's 'Her Kind'

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In Anne Sexton’s poem “Her Kind” the speaker appears to be woman who is dealing with constant feelings overwhelming her as being an outcast. These feelings the speaker portrays throughout the poem causes the speaker to not to fit into the guidelines society expects and forces the speaker to become a poor misunderstood woman. However, upon further review the reader observes the speaker actually embracing the negative stereotype of liberated and modern women and transforms it into a positive image. All the while two voices throughout the poem, the voice of the speaker and the voice of society, dual about the issue of the stereotype in modern women. In the first stanza, the speaker begins herself as a witch by saying, "I have gone out a possessed witch" (Line 1). By describing herself as 'twelve-fingered" (Line 5), the speaker underlines her defect and label as a witch because twelve fingers are symbols used to show the speaker apart from society first chance it is given. Yet, the reader can understand that the …show more content…

The speaker claims to be a "survivor / where your flames still bite my thigh" (Lines 17-18). In other words, the speaker will not give up; rather, will survive being an outcast in the public's mind and will fight to exist in the community. "A woman like that is not ashamed to die" (Line 20), and a heretic often converts a prepared victim for the speaker’s beliefs. Whereas society sees the witch as a negative image, the speaker views as a positive achievement. Throughout Anne Sexton's poem, society’s voice duels with the speaker's voice until the speaker's opinion begins effective and unwavering to endure in the end. The poem's speaker greets the stereotype of the witch and uses the two dueling voices throughout the poem to show that the stereotype is actually a positive, strong image for women and that it does not serve the degrading purpose society meant for it to

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