Anne Sexton was a well-loved confessional poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1967. The winning collection, Live or Die, is commonly considered to be her best. Her poetry engages with themes of depression, relationships, and suicide and is regularly read alongside her fellow confessional poets Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell.
‘Rowing’ by Anne Sexton is a moving and unforgettable poem about depression. It was written two years before Sexton took her life in 1974.
A story, a story!
(Let it go. Let it come.)
I was stamped out like a Plymouth fender
into this world.
‘Red Roses’ by Anne Sexton is a story of child abuse told by a narrator, but with the vernacular, that represents the emotions and thoughts of the child undergoing the abuse.
Tommy is three and when he's bad
his mother dances with him.
She puts on the record,
"Red Roses for a Blue Lady"
In ‘The Rowing Endeth,’ Anne Sexton reminds us that life’s challenges, though unpredictable, hold moments of unexpected joy.
I’m mooring my rowboat
at the dock of the island called God.
This dock is made in the shape of a fish
and there are many boats moored
‘The Abortion’ by Anne Sexton is a harrowing and highly thoughtful account of a journey home from a pregnancy termination that explores complex emotions.
Somebody who should have been born
is gone.
Just as the earth puckered its mouth,
each bud puffing out from its knot,
I changed my shoes, and then drove south.
‘In Celebration of My Uterus’ by Anne Sexton is an uplifting poem about the meaning of womanhood. The poem explores Sexton’s perspective on feminine identity.
Sweet weight,
in celebration of the woman I am
and of the soul of the woman I am
and of the central creature and its delight
‘Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward’ showcases the heartbreaking moment a mother is separated from her child as she is too unwell.
Child, the current of your breath is six days long.
You lie, a small knuckle on my white bed;
lie, fisted like a snail, so small and strong
‘Pain for a Daughter’ by Anne Sexton is about a mother’s internal conversations while witnessing her daughter’s metamorphosis into a young adult.
Blind with love, my daughter
has cried nightly for horses,
those long-necked marchers and churners
that she has mastered, any and all...
In ‘All My Pretty Ones,’ Sexton weaves familial history, loss, and forgiveness into vivid tapestries, exploring complexities with haunting imagery and deep emotion.
Father, this year’s jinx rides us apart
where you followed our mother to her cold slumber;
a second shock boiling its stone to your heart,
leaving me here to shuffle and disencumber
‘Wanting to Die’ by Anne Sexton is a poem about the poet’s desire to take her own life. It was written close to ten years before she committed suicide.
Since you ask, most days I cannot remember.
I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage.
Then the almost unnameable lust returns.
In ‘45 Mercy Street,’ the speaker’s nostalgic search for home transforms into a poignant journey, exploring lost memories, longing, and self-discovery.
In my dream,
drilling into the marrow
of my entire bone,
my real dream,
‘After Auschwitz’ by Anne Sexton explores the poet’s emotional reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust and her plea to God to hear her.
Let man never again raise his teacup.
Let man never again write a book.
Let man never again put on his shoe.
Let man never again raise his eyes,
‘Cinderella’ by Anne Sexton is a retelling of the classic fairy tale of Cinderella from a contemporary and feminist perspective.
You always read about it:
the plumber with the twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
‘Courage’ by Anne Sexton conveys the different ways in which a person can show courage, ranging from the seemingly insignificant to the much more heroic.
It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
‘For My Lover Returning To His Wife’ by Anne Sexton compares the relationship the speaker has with her lover and that which he has with his wife.
She is all there.
She was melted carefully down for you
and cast up from your childhood,
cast up from your one hundred favorite aggies.
‘From the Garden’ by Anne Sexton is a peaceful poem in which the speaker describes how beneficial it is to spend time in nature.
Come, my beloved,
consider the lilies.
We are of little faith.
We talk too much.
support@poemanalysis.com
Poem Solutions Limited
Company no: 10883994
United Kingdom
Access Poetry PDF Guides
for this Poem
Complete Poetry PDF Guide
Perfect Offline Resource
Covers Everything You Need to Know
One-pager 'snapshot' PDF
Great Offline Resource
Gateway to deeper understanding
870+ Reviews
