Anne Sexton: Why She Should Be Included in the Feminine Agenda

“Anne Sexton’s poetry tells stories that are immensely significant to mid-twentieth-century artistic and psychic life. Sexton understood her culture’s malaise through her own, [...] made explicit the intimacy of forces persistently treated as opposites by the society she lived in. —Diane Hume George

Anne Sexton, born Anne Gray Harvey in Newton, Massachusetts in 1928, was known for her intimately confessional poems that explore the dark sides of the human mind and the society in which she lived. She was a Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the most popular poets of the mid-twentieth century. Sexton grew up in Boston in a wealthy yet abusive family. Her poems, in her words a way of therapy, detailed her lifelong struggles with bipolar disorder, suicidal tendencies, and ongoing depression as a result of her childhood. Her path crossed with Sylvia Plath’s in a writing workshop hosted by famous poet Robert Lowell, and for months, the two spent their days together, building up a brief yet intense friendship. Interestingly, all three people in this narrative eventually went to the same hospital for psychiatric treatment. In 1974, Anne Sexton died of suicide at the age of 45.

Anne Sexton and her work should be included in the Feminine Agenda unit because of her blunt, unapologetic yet magnetically beautiful language; her unflinching exploration of themes such as mental illness, sexuality, and female empowerment; and her fascinating relationship with Sylvia Plath. Her stark honesty and fierceness in both literature and character are unsurpassed by any other writer in the unit, yet her writing has curious connections with that of Plath. By comparing and contrasting these two “confessional poets,” one would be able to glimpse the complex and tragic lives of female poets in mid-twentieth century America, bringing their understanding of the unit to a new level.

In arguably Sexton’s most famous poem, “Her Kind”, she boldly explores and fights against gender oppression in society by directly addressing the oppressor:

I have ridden in your cart, driver, waved my nude arms at villages going by,   learning the last bright routes, survivor    where your flames still bite my thigh and my ribs crack where your wheels wind. A woman like that is not ashamed to die. I have been her kind. (Poetry Foundation)

The speaker of the poem is a witch being hunted by a village. By giving strength to the speaker, Sexton empowers all the women who refuse to conform to societal norms, many of whom have been ostracized and even persecuted as “real witches.” The “driver” in the poem represents the oppressors in society who hold prejudice against women; the “flames” and “wheels” symbolize predatory masculinity and voices of inequality. Sexton’s candid language is demonstrated through words such as “nude,” “bite,” and “crack,” and phrases such as “waved my nude arms” and “flames still bite my thigh” create vivid imagery of a defiant woman fighting against social injustice and sexual predation. In the end, the “witch” is a “survivor” “not ashamed to die,” and Sexton’s own bravery and optimism towards feminism shines through in her confession: “I have been her kind.” This poem celebrates the strength and boldness of women without justifying the oddness they can possess; it brings out the ugliness of feminism the way an oppressive society sees it, then turns it into something triumphant. This is an element that has not been seen in the unit.

“ Sylvia's Death,” on the other hand, is a direct indication of her deep bond with Plath, an ode to Plath’s work and life—both beautiful and tragic—and perhaps her own:

Thief!— How did you crawl into,

crawl down alone into the death I wanted so badly and for so long,

the death we said we both outgrew, the one we wore on our skinny breasts,

the one we talked of so often each time we downed three extra-dry martinis in Boston, …

the death we drank to, the motives and then the quiet deed? (Poetry Foundation)

Again, Sexton’s straightforward language generates a sense of profound rawness and intrepidness in her writing, which is even more powerful when combined with the theme of death. The image of Plath “crawling” into death conveys her somber longing for an end to her life, but also Sexton’s feeling of betrayal, as she accuses Plath of being a “thief” who stole what she “wanted so badly and for so long.” To the two friends both suffering from severe depression, death seems like something they carry and share throughout life, but also a promise they keep to one another—that although they long for it, they would not touch it. Not only is the language of the poem deeply emotional and figurative, but it also fully demonstrates the depth of Sexton and Plath’s friendship, which is conducive to a better understanding of both poets’ work. “Sylvia’s Death” perfectly weaves together themes of depression, friendship, loss, and a sense of shared destiny.

By adding Anne Sexton into the curriculum, students will be introduced to a fierce and honest poet who tackles difficult themes more plainly and poignantly than any other writer of the unit. Her fascinating relationship with Sylvia Plath allows for meaningful comparisons, building students’ deeper engagement with the lives and works of both poets, and ultimately breaking the sense of detachment and irrelevance between the writers we learn about. With such an understanding of Sexton and Plath, we can then ask the questions: Are the lives of female artists of their time mostly destined to inescapable tragedies? If, in the end, both Sexton and Plath decided to take their own lives, then is poetry really therapy for those in need, or has it not done enough for the tormented poets? Sexton’s inclusion not only enriches the Female Agenda, but also challenges students to envision the larger picture of artistic life in mid-twentieth century America.

Works Cited

All Poetry. “Anne Sexton - Poems by the Famous Poet - All Poetry.” Allpoetry.com, allpoetry.com/Anne-Sexton. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Crowther, Gail. “On the Friendship and Rivalry of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.” Literary Hub, 28 Apr. 2021, lithub.com/on-the-friendship-and-rivalry-of-sylvia-plath-and-anne-sexton/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Poetry Foundation. “Her Kind.” Her Kind, 1981, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42560/her-kind. Accessed 13 December 2024.

Poetry Foundation. “Sylvia's Death.” Sylvia's Death, 1964, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=103&issue=4&page=12. Accessed 13 December 2024.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Anne Sexton.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sexton. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.