Anne Sexton Analysis

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"Anne Sexton was so special in so many ways, she was so ordinary- and yet, Sexton was far from ordinary."(Talabay 1978) She was a open-ended, intuitive, confessional writer that towards the end turned more dark and demonic. Anne sexton growing up was never a religious type of person but more of a rebellious child trying every way possible to undermined her parents every chance she got. Anne 's poetry inspired many to step up and face who they really are while they still can, but even though Anne 's poetry was considered a perfect entity of words her life was less than perfect. Over the years Anne 's poetry showed her depression and mental state spiraling out of control, but yet she had enough reality to turn those thoughts in her head that
Anne 's "writing was both challenging and encouraging" (Claypool 2005) she mocked society even though she agreed with the cause but not the claims brought on by society. In the beginning Anne focused on the expectations of society and how ridiculous they seemed. Mid-life she mainly focused on woman 's rights and how men had owned society and everything involved in it including women. Her later work focused more on life and death and how religion played a role. Anne was known for her work being closely related to her life, her emotions, religious quest, and mostly for her feminism but the underlying theme of her work throughout her life was about society. The society views and pressures shows in Anne 's work even though the issue changed over time there was still an expectation of society and an overall view of right and
Growing up she felt smoothed by the high standards she was to perform, expected to succeed, and marry well. Anne rebelled in her childhood but this was suspected because her father Ralph was sexually abusive, and her mother was physically abusive. Anne 's rebellion lead her to be sent to Rogers Hall Boarding school when she was in her mid-teens, which afterwards from society and family expectations she married Alfred Sexton in 1948. In 1955 after the birth of her second child she sought help for depression because she was occasionally abusing her two young children, and was fully committed in 1956 for depression, anxiety, and hysteria. Her doctor encouraged her to write as a treatment to ease her issues. Anne won many awards and prizes including a " traveling fellowship, a ford foundation grant, Shelly award from the poetry society of America" (Claypool 2005). Her first volume called Bedlam and Part Way Back was published in 1959. Since Anne Sextons young child hood she had felt out casted in her own home which began her life of being at a disadvantage with mental illnesses. Anne 's was labeled a confessional poet because her extreme emotion that showed in her work and it was believed that she could put horrors to rest by getting out the truth. This followed her work throughout her life which began with the volume Transformations. Her emotions about society was still clear throughout her writing but the

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