Deserving Poets: Anne Sexton and Thesis

Total Length: 1892 words ( 6 double-spaced pages)

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At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.

I thought even the bones will do. (51-60)

These lines allow us to see the poet dealing with her anger and the final thought is equally powerful when the poet tells her father, " Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through" (110). The anger, unlike her father, lives and that might be the most agonizing aspect of the poem. There is no way for the poet to escape these emotions.

Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath are poetic geniuses that cut their fame and their lives short. While many would like to contend that neither poet would have been as popular had they lived, this is simply not the case. Their poetry stands alone because, ore than anything, it is real. Sexton and Plath were not ashamed of facing their feelings and presenting them in a realistic way. Both poets suffered from depression that forced them to view death in an unusual way. In fact, it could be said that they held death and dying in high regard.
Their fascination with death went beyond normal in that they imagined attaining it through suicide. This topic is one that both poets confront from a very personal level. Plath's suicide left Sexton feeling sorrowful and jealous as she watched her friend attain what she had always wanted. Both women expressed their womanhood through poetry with topics ranging from thoughts about their children to thoughts about men, fathers in particular. These poets no doubt gained notoriety when they committed suicide but their poetry had already captured an audience. Throughout the years, the poets are remembered for what they wrote more than how they died.

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