Anne Sexton

An important figure in the Confessionalist movement of poetry, Anne Sexton (1928-1974) wrote extremely dark and personal poetry about her life. She grew up and spent most of her adulthood in Massachusetts, and studied at Boston University with Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath. Plath and Sexton remained friends for the remainder of Plath's life. She was married in 1948, and had two children. In October 1974, she lost her fight with her mental illness, and committed suicide.

Anne Sexton, unlike her counterpart Sylvia Plath, received many accolades for her work during her life. Sexton was the first female member of the honor society Phi Beta Kappa. In 1967, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book Live or Die.

Her struggle with depression, relationships with her children and husband, and her suicidal tendencies were common subjects of her poems. Sexton's poetry is widely remembered for dealing with issues particular to women (like abortion and menstruation) before it was common to do so.


 * Live or Die (1966)
 * Transformations (1971)
 * 45 Mercy Street (1975)


 * Abusive Parents During sessions with her psychologist that involved hypnotism to reveal repressed memories, Sexton claimed to remember being abused as a child, though her mother always denied those claims.
 * Linda Gray Sexton, Anne's daughter, recounted times when she was abused by her mother in her autobiography.
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Fairy Tale: Her book of poetry Transformations is a series of poems that are adaptations of famous fairy tales, including "Cinderella" and "Briar Rose".
 * Mad Artist: Suffered from mental illness her entire life, spent some time in a mental hospital, and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Since she's a confessional poet, this comes through a lot in her poetry.
 * Poor Man's Substitute: Arguably, Sexton for Sylvia Plath.