An interpretation of the poetry of Anne Sexton

Anne Gray Harvey was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1928. After attending one year of college, she eloped and married Alfred "Kayo" Sexton at the age of nineteen. They had their first daughter in 1953, and shortly after, in 1954, Anne Sexton was diagnosed with postpartum depression. Sexton was soon admitted to Westwood Lodge, a neuropsychiatric hospital. One year later, after the birth of her second daughter, she suffered a second breakdown and returned to the hospital. Her children then went to live with her husband's parents. That same year, on her birthday, she made her first attempt at suicide.

Shortly after her first attempt, her doctor encouraged her to pursue her interest in poetry as a way to open up and let many of her feelings reach the surface. It was that talent, her passion for writing that gave Sexton the courage to live with her depression for as long as she did. Nevertheless, in 1974 at the age of 46, Anne Harvey Sexton gave up, ending her successful writing career and losing her lifelong fight against depression.

Because of her constant feelings of unhappiness and misery, Sexton's writing revolved aro

In the final stanza, we are left with an understanding of one's will to die and why life isn't always most favorable. In a sense, "Wanting to Die" is just another suicide attempt. Of course, no matter what the final stanza implies, we are satisfied in being given an explanation of the desire to die, written in a way so that others can relate to and try to understand where Anne Sexton was coming from.

To conclude the discussion of "Suicide Note," it is important to once again consider the use of "I" in the poem. The majority of Sexton's poems contain the first person perspective, possibly to infer that she is indeed the persona of her poetry. However, she also uses different perspectives in other poems, such as the different points of view in "Her Kind." Nevertheless, "Suicide Note," whether an actual suicidal letter or just another poem explaining the longing for death, is indeed an important poem to read when analyzing and gaining further understanding of the writing of Anne Sexton.

Simile isn't as prominent in "Her Kind" as it is in many of Sexton's other poems because the organization of personas doesn't allow for many other elements to stand out. However, she does use metaphors in describing the three points of view in each of the three stanzas. For example, in the second stanza she "fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves". Sexton could be comparing worms and elves in the woods to her husband and children at home. Altogether, the collaboration of different repetitions and metaphors in this poem helps us gain a better understanding of the message that Sexton is trying to demonstrate - that she understands what it's like to be "her kind".

und death, dying, and suicide. Despite such dreary subjects, she was able to write quite a few effective poems throughout her life. In order to analyze the most important elements of poetry in Sexton's writing, I chose four poems from The Complete Poems: "The Starry Night", "Her Kind", "Suicide Note", and "Wanting to Die". The most important elements of poetry used by Sexton are her repetition of "I" and her many uses of simile and metaphor. Although she never neglects to incorporate other important elements such as symbolism, irony and rhyme, the two above stand out above the rest and help develop the true meaning of the poetry of Anne Sexton.

Symbolism is one of the most important elements of "The Starry Night". In Sexton's poem, she uses many symbols to help describe her feelings. The "black-haired tree" represents her because it is the only object noticed in the town, or rather, in society. She is visualizing the town and seeing herself there, being alone and gazing out into the sky. She also uses allusions to show how evil and tormented she feels. The poem reads, "The night boils with eleven stars." The eleven stars symbolize the eleven good Disciples of Christ, and she is the twelfth evil one, Judas. She also creates symbols when using personification because she portrays the power of th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Disciples Christ, Suicide Note, Starry Night, Anne Sexton, Night Vincent, Westwood Lodge, Harvey Sexton, Night Sexton's, Anne Sexton's, Note Die, suicide note, starry night, anne sexton, elements poetry, simile metaphor, poetry anne sexton, final stanza, indeed persona, die suicide, worms elves, lines stanza, using elements poetry,
Approximate Word count = 2020
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)