Essay on Anne Sexton: The American Poet Who Changed the Literary Landscape

Anne Sexton, one of the greatest American poets, was born in November 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts. She lived mainly in Bolton while she was growing up. Sexton studied at the Rogers Hall in Lowell, starting in 1945 (Gale, 2018). However, three years later, she got married to Alfred Muller Sexton. They lived together with her husband until 1970 when they filed for a divorce and went separate ways. By then, Sexton had two children, Linda Gray Sexton and Joyce Sexton (Gale, 2018). Sexton is primarily famous for composing the highly personal poems reflecting on her life and seems more of her own confession verses. Her greatness in poetry and arts is evident through her winning the Pulitzer Prize back in 1967. Additionally, 12 years into poetry made Sexton earn the status at the Royal Society of Literature as well as being the first feminine participant of the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (Gale, 2018). Most of her poetry works are centered across the sensitive themes of her attempted suicides, her struggle and lengthy battle with depression as well as personal intimacy. Amongst his most celebrated works is Cinderella, a poem that she composed in 1971. The paper examines the transformations and impact of Cinderella on readers, drawing attention to my personal experience.

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Cinderella is a poem that dissects and presents Grimm's Tales in a unique manner that entails iron and imagery. One of the most significant points addressed by Sexton in the poem is the relevance and importance of marriage and children to women as they chose to enter into a marriage. Through the poem, readers relate to Sexton's marital life since much of her writing was a reflection of her personal experience (Sexton, 2016). The poem refers mostly to women, though it serves as a critical baseline for understanding the desires of married women. Through the poem, a reader can learn that kindness in a marriage setting is critically essential. Kindness is evident in the poem through the actions and expectations of women in marriage. In this poem, Sexton addresses the unions of Americans in the 1970s (Sexton, 2016).

A critical analysis and dissection of the poem reveal that Sexton's intention in the poem is to present a juxtaposition of good and evil, especially in marriage life, as well as the general life. Through the poem, the readers get to understand the values that are essential in a marriage that makes life worthy, especially when people try to tolerate one another. Therefore, reading the poem, I undergo a series of personal transformation where I learn the virtues of forgiveness to avoid more confrontation not only in my future marital life but also in my relationship with other people. There are several instances in the poem where Sexton seems to address bad things or intent, ruining the pure hearts of people. By reading the poem, a person becomes changed in that they develop critical and analytical personalities that are essential in the identification of things that might ruin interpersonal relationships and the hearts of people.

Conclusion

Sexton, in some way, seems to address the importance of luck and how it can bring about significant changes in a person's life. Luck is central in the narrative of the Americans when Sexton composed the poem. She uses what seems more of a satire when addressing the concept of rags-to-riches. I believe that riches are the results of hard work in life. However, after reading the poem, and how Sexton satirizes the idea, I tend to agree with her in some way about over-emphasis on this theme. Overall, Sexton's use of the Grimm's Fairy Tale and some symbolic elements such as the glass slippers in the poem Cinderella is critical in connecting the poem to the ways of life (Sexton, 2016).

References

Sexton, A. (2016). Transformations: Poems. Open Road Media.

Gale, C. (2018). A Study Guide for Anne Sexton's"I Remember." Gale, Cengage Learning.