Anne Sexton's biography

Anne Sexton

It is inarguable that Anne Sexton's work was highly influenced by her own life, her family and women’s rights. Most of her poems relate to the lack of power that she has over life both as an individual and as a woman in general. Three poems could be a good example of Anne Sexton being a confessional poet: “The truth the dead know”, “The Moss of his skin” and “Her kind”.

Let us start with “The truth the dead know”. It is her father’s funeral. She expresses loss, she is depressed. She has difficulty to cope with his death, she is “refusing the stiff procession to the grave”. It is hard because her mother died three months ago. She cannot accept the death of her only left parent now, “it is June. I am tired of being brave”. So, Sexton is “letting the dead ride alone in the hearse” as she refuses to be victim of another loss.

She is not ready to accept her father’s death. “we drive to the Cape. I cultivate myself where the sun gutters from the sky” Sexton uses imagery to strengthen the meaning of the poem. “The sun gutters from the sky” indicates that she still wishes the death of her father to be unreal. Perhaps the sun guttering is a symbol of hope. However, she then says “ in another country people die”. Sexton realizes that even during this peaceful moment she is having, death is happening elsewhere. Perhaps it is an allusion to the Vietnam war, for this poem was written in 1962. Another example of Sexton using imagery to describe in a more powerful ways is in the third stanza “my darling, the wind falls in like stones / from the white hearted water”. In these two lines the wind could possibly be compared to death and the white hearted water, it being pure soul, represents human.

This metaphor shows that death can be unexpected, taking away innocents and loved ones. One cannot escape death, thus it is necessary to have desire to live and experience life to the fullest. Towards the end of the poem, Anne Sexton writes “they (the dead) are more like stones than the sea would be if it stopped”. This striking and truthful image indicates that the sea being at a calm state, still lives. However once dead, man never returns, he is gone forever.

“The moss of his skin” describes what a young girl is experiencing when buried alive with her deceased father. Lines such as “The black room took us / like a cave or a mouth / or an indoor belly” or “Allah will not see how I hold my daddy” tell us that a Muslim girl is going through this. However, knowing that Anne Sexton was sexually abused by her own father when she was a child, we may think that she is using this image to compare herself with the girl and to tell us what she personally experienced.

The poem is written in the first person which often shows confessional aspect. Even though the poem is written in a straightforward manner she speaks about herself through another character. This might be because it is hard for her to talk about what her father did to her. Perhaps she is ashamed although it is not her fault. For example she says “to sink from the eyes of mother which lets the reader understand that it is hard for her psychologically. Also Sexton is speaking through a vulnerable voice. Firstly, it is clear that the situation with her father is imposed on her from the start with the lines “it was only important / to smile and hold still”. Anne is inferior, she has to undergo her father's demands. Then, the lines “the black room took us / like a cave or a mouth / or an indoor belly” shows that Sexton is powerless and subject to the situation. Using “daddy” emphasizes her position of inferiority and vulnerability she is felling towards he father, as well as the line “his fat skull”. It is a grownup writing the poem, however it is described through the eyes of a child. By putting details such as “I held my breath”, “hair growing like a field or a shawl”, it makes the scene come to life, allowing the reader to relate to the dramatic situation.

Sexton's feelings towards her father are ambivalent. Because he sexually abused her, she is lost. Being her father, he should be someone she looks up to, he should be an example. But his actions have negative consequences; Anne Sexton is confused and mentally disturbed and needs help. Despite the abuse though, she feels that is is her duty as a daughter to protect her father (from death), thus the lines “to be folded up together / as if we were silk” and “I hold my daddy”. The term “daddy” showing a sign of inferiority can also be interpreted as affectionate.

Throughout the whole poem, Sexton expresses the conflicted love she has for her father. She tries to create distance by speaking through someone else and using words such as “him” and “my” but however links herself to him by using the first person (meaning it is her in the situation) and terms such as “we” and “together”.

In “Her kind”, Sexton uses dark and negative imagery in order to describe herself as a freak. She is convinced that she does not belong with the rest of the rest of the world and is ready to give up her life to no longer feel this physical as mental pain.

In the first stanza, Sexton does not consider herself as human. Through the description, it is clear that she sees herself as a witch. This is confirmed by the dark vocabulary she uses such as “witch”, “haunting”, “black hair”, “night”, “evil”,

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