Biography
List of Works
Sample
Poems
Inspired
Poems
Original
Poems
Bibliography
Presentation by Cody Bickler
Biography
Biography
Anne Sexton-A Journey through an American Literature Poet Wonder
“The joy that isn’t shared dies young” (Thinkexist.com).
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This quote by Anne Sexton herself gives a great demonstration on the challenging life
she lived. Mary and Ralph gave birth to Anne Sexton, the youngest of three, on
November 9, 1928 in Weston, Massachusetts (Uta.edu). Growing up, Anne was always
longing for attention. She witnessed her eldest sister become “daddy’s girl”. Her
other sister was considered the smart one and was the only one to go to college. Upon
turning 17, Sexton was sent to a preparatory school for girls in hopes of turning her
into a proper lady. It was here that her life of poetry began. Her mother, coming from
a family of writers, accused Sexton of plagiarism. She was unable to believe that her
daughter had the ability to write such wonderful poetry (Uta.edu). When she attended
the Garland school in Boston, she met Alfred Muller Sexton II or Kayo as he was known.
Sexton struggled with depression for many years of her life. In 1956, she had her first
attempted suicide, which failed. Her psychiatrist Dr. Martin helped guide her back into
a life of poetry. She enrolled in John Holmes poetry workshop. But she again
struggled with her depression and made her second attempted suicide in May of 1957,
which again failed (English.illinois.edu). Sexton continued to struggle with depression
and her place in life until the day she died.
Many of her poems were influenced by her life and the challenges she faced in it. She
led a very successful life as far as poetry went. The poem “Live or Die” best shows the
influence her life had in her poetry. Through her poetry she used her emotional
struggles to share with people through her poems. In 1962 she received the Levinson
Prize (English.illinois.edu). She also received the Shelley Memorial Prize in 1967
(English.illinois.edu). To Bedlam and Partway Back led to her being noticed nationally
(Uncp.edu). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London in
1965. In 1966, Live or Die won Sexton the Pulitzer Prize (Uta.edu). All of these awards
show the success one can have, even when facing tough emotional times like Sexton
experienced.
Biography
Biography
List of Works
Sample
Poems
Inspired
Poems
Original
Poems
Bibliography
With all the success Sexton had, it is a shame that she led such an
emotionally stressful life. She could have accomplished much more
than what she already had. She finally succeeded in her attempt of
suicide on October 4, 1974(Uta.edu). Just one day after her last
poetry reading, she went home and committed suicide in her garage
by consuming carbon monoxide poisoning (Uta.edu). Sexton felt this
was a proper stopping point for her in her life. Her life in poetry had
become a great success and she could not handle her difficult
personal life any longer. She will be remembered in American
literature forever. Her poems were mostly about the pain and
suffering life can bring. Many of her poems have touched the hearts
of people around the world. Her poems are real and that helps relate
them to people’s everyday life.
List of Works
Biography
“Cinderella”
“Courage”
List of Works
“The Abortion”
“Suicide Note”
Sample
Poems
“Wanting to Die”
“The Addict”
“Red Roses”
Inspired
Poems
“Young”
“My Friend, My Friend”
Original
Poems
“Despair”
“After Auschwitz”
“Live or Die”
Bibliography
“To Bedlam and Partway Back”
Analysis Poem
Biography
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Courage by Anne Sexton
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,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.
Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.
Later,
when you face old age and its natural
Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little
you did not do it with a banner,
ways,
you did it with only a hat to
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
comver your heart.
those you love will live in a fever of love,
You did not fondle the weakness inside you and you'll bargain with the calendar
though it was there.
and at the last moment
Your courage was a small coal
when death opens the back door
that you kept swallowing.
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.
Analysis of “Courage” by Anne Sexton
Biography
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Original
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Bibliography
Anne Sexton has a unique yet efficient way of using imagery that relates to
the feelings of the reader in her poem “Courage”. Sexton describes courage
in the small struggles we overcome in life. In overcoming these struggles,
we mature and become better human beings. Her quote “When they called
you crybaby/ or poor or fatty or crazy/ and made you into an alien, / you
drank their acid/ and concealed it” in my opinion is one of her best
descriptions of courage. The way she said “you drank their acid/ and
concealed it” was completely unexpected and therefore was a great use of
imagery. As the poem continues on, the small struggles turn into large
struggles such as war. She feels as if war is a great way to demonstrate ones
courage. She uses a friend sacrificing their life in order to save you as the
demonstration. This is such a great act of courage that it in turn is not
courage, but rather it is love. This love is so natural that it becomes as
simple as shaving soap. The poem then continues with the courage being
passed along to ones child through the simple love that is shared between
them. The conclusion of the poem “Courage” by Anne Sexton explains the
courage one has when faced with death. They welcome and accept death to
take them with it. Her quote “and at the last moment/ when death opens
the back door/ you’ll put on your carpet slippers/ and stride out/” shows the
simple manner one can take in with death. They can put on their slippers
and stroll out with death as if it is just another ordinary day. This quote is a
great source of imagery because she makes dying seem like an event that
happens in a person’s everyday life. One can feel satisfied that it is the right
time to go and that they have the courage to feel safe that they are going to
a better place. Through Sexton’s description, we all can see the courage that
occurs in the smallest of ways throughout one’s life and the recurring cycle it
becomes through our children.
Intro Poem
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Original
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Bibliography
Anne Sexton’s poem “Young” talks about the thoughts that run through a young person’s head. This
poem can relate to everyone because we all were a young, curious child, overflowing with the ambition to
explore and dream. I enjoyed the lines “and I, in my brand new body,/ which was not a woman’s yet,/ told
the stars my questions/ and thought God could really see/ the heat and the painted light,/ elbows, knees,
dreams, goodnight.” It really showed the many thoughts that enter a child’s mind and the way she ended
the poem was as abrupt as a child’s thoughts.
Young by Anne Sexton
A thousand doors ago
when I was a lonely kid
in a big house with four
garages and it was summer
as long as I could remember,
I lay on the lawn at night,
clover wrinkling over me,
the wise stars bedding over me,
my mother's window a funnel
of yellow heat running out,
my father's window, half shut,
an eye where sleepers pass,
and the boards of the house
were smooth and white as wax
and probably a million leaves
sailed on their strange stalks
as the crickets ticked together
and I, in my brand new body,
which was not a woman's yet,
told the stars my questions
and thought God could really see
the heat and the painted light,
elbows, knees, dreams, goodnight.
Intro Poem
Biography
Anne Sexton’s poem “Wanting to Die” relates to the events that have occurred in her life. In the lines
“Twice I have so simply declared myself/ have possessed the enemy, eaten the enemy,/ have taken on his
craft, his magic” it describes the two previous times in her life that she attempted to commit suicide. I
think it is interesting how she can so openly talk about tragic events in her life as if she will never attempt
suicide again, when ironically her death is due to suicide.
List of Works
Wanting to Die by Anne Sexton
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Since you ask, most days I cannot remember.
I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage.
Then the almost unnamable lust returns.
Even then I have nothing against life.
I know well the grass blades you mention,
the furniture you have placed under the sun.
But suicides have a special language.
Like carpenters they want to know which tools.
They never ask why build.
Twice I have so simply declared myself,
have possessed the enemy, eaten the enemy,
have taken on his craft, his magic.
In this way, heavy and thoughtful,
warmer than oil or water,
I have rested, drooling at the mouth-hole.
I did not think of my body at needle point.
Even the cornea and the leftover urine were gone.
Suicides have already betrayed the body.
Still-born, they don't always die,
but dazzled, they can't forget a drug so sweet
that even children would look on and smile.
To thrust all that life under your tongue!-that, all by itself, becomes a passion.
Death's a sad Bone; bruised, you'd say,
and yet she waits for me, year after year,
to so delicately undo an old wound,
to empty my breath from its bad prison.
Balanced there, suicides sometimes meet,
raging at the fruit, a pumped-up moon,
leaving the bread they mistook for a kiss,
leaving the page of the book carelessly open,
something unsaid, the phone off the hook
and the love, whatever it was, an infection.
Inspired Poems
Biography
My Friend, My Friend by Anne Sexton
List of Works
Who will forgive me for the things I do?
With no special legend of God to refer to,
With my calm white pedigree, my yankee kin,
I think it would be better to be a Jew.
I forgive you for what you did not do.
I am impossibly guilty. Unlike you,
My Friend, I can not blame my origin
With no special legend or God to refer to.
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They wear The Crucifix as they are meant to do.
Why do their little crosses trouble you?
The effigies that I have made are genuine,
(I think it would be better to be a Jew).
Watching my mother slowly die I knew
My first release. I wish some ancient bugaboo
Followed me. But my sin is always my sin.
With no special legend or God to refer to.
Who will forgive me for the things I do?
To have your reasonable hurt to belong to
Might ease my trouble like liquor or aspirin.
I think it would be better to be a Jew.
And if I lie, I lie because I love you,
Because I am bothered by the things I do,
Because your hurt invades my calm white skin:
With no special legend or God to refer to,
I think it would be better to be a Jew.
Inspired Poems
Biography
What a Great Friend by Cody Bickler
Who will forgive me for the things I do?
With all the sins I have made
List of Works
All the lies I have told
And the people I hurt
Sample
Poems
One person stands above all
As if they have just won a game of King of The Hill
What a great friend
We laugh and play
Inspired
Poems
We push and fight
And won’t talk till night
No matter what is said
Original
Poems
Or what is done
I always know there is one person
Who will love and forgive me no matter what things I do
Bibliography
What a great friend
Inspired Poems
Biography
List of Works
Sample
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Inspired
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Original
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Red Roses by Anne Sexton
Tommy is three and when he's bad
his mother dances with him.
She puts on the record,
"Red Roses for a Blue Lady"
You fell, she said, just remember you fell.
and throws him across the room.
I fell, is all he told the doctors
Mind you,
in the big hospital. A nice lady came
she never laid a hand on him.
He gets red roses in different places, and asked him questions but because
the head, that time he was as sleepy ashea didn't want to be sent away he said, I
river,
fell.
the back, that time he was a broken He never said anything else although he
scarecrow,
the arm like a diamond had bitten it, could talk fine.
the leg, twisted like a licorice stick, He never told about the music
or how she'd sing and shout
all the dance they did together,
Blue Lady and Tommy.
holding him up and throwing him.
He pretends he is her ball.
He tries to fold up and bounce
but he squashes like fruit.
For he loves Blue Lady and the spots
of red roses he gives her
Inspired Poems
Biography
What a Dreadful Love by Cody Bickler
He didn’t want to be sent away
So he said he tripped
List of Works
Sample
Poems
Inspired
Poems
Bam!
But just simply smiles and shrugs at the lady
Ouch!
She wants to know the origin
Of these large bruises
What a dreadful love
He knows
That keeps this poor beaten child
But what a dreadful love
With this awful man
That keeps the truth away
He yells
But that won’t stop it
He cries
He pleads; No not the Belt!
Bibliography
Bolting from the clouds to the ground
He recalls the real cause
He screams
Original
Poems
It happens as fast as a strike of lightning
But that won’t stop it
The Door by Cody Bickler
Biography
The rusted brown hinge
Full of the bacteria
From all the different hands placed on it
List of Works
The fine smooth texture
The aching pain
And purple color
Sample
Poems
Brought with when you pinch your fingers
Open
Slam!
Inspired
Poems
Closes as abruptly as it opened
As if blown shut by the wind
Who’s that knocking?
Original
Poems
What new face will it bring?
Keep the door unlocked
To new beginnings
Bibliography
Standin’ in the Shoes by Cody Bickler
Biography
You weren’t born reading
Try to undo the damage
List of Works
Somebody did
Your father doesn’t know how to teach
Consider things from his point of view
Sample
Poems
Did you forget your lunch?
Inspired
Poems
Here’s a quarter, pay me back tomorrow
He’s a Cunningham
He’s a Cunningham
Nome, thank you ma’am
Original
Poems
Bibliography
He’s a Cunningham
Crash hit them hardest
You’re shamin’ him Miss
Startin’ off on the wrong foot, my dear
Consider things from his point of view
Boo?
His name’s Arthur
Is he crazy?
Is he dead?
Always spoke nicely to me
No matter what folks said he did
Consider things from his point of view
Bibliography
Biography
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/anne_sexto
n/poems
http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/as/bio1.html
List of Works
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/sexto
n/sexton_life.htm
http://www.poemhunter.com/annesexton/biography/
Sample
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Inspired
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Bibliography
http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/edit/
sexton.htm
http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/Anne_Sexton/
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.s
electism.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.t
hatsfloriduh.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.
womenlifestyle.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://poems
forever.yolasite.com
Bibliography
Biography
List of Works
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Inspired
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http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.houg
htonmifflinbooks.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://photo.goo
dreads.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://files.myop
era.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.stati
c.flickr.com
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http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.islan
dvacations.me/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/real_friends2.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.islandvacations.me
http://tips.webdesign10.com/flowers.html
Bibliography
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://regswatso
n.files.wordpress.com