Anne Sexton Wanting to Die

Everyone is vulnerable and susceptible to the usual heartbreak of life. Anne Sexton ' suicide was only one of many who desperately wanted to achieve an unrelenting wave of relief. For these existences, depression is like a war, you either win or die trying (Live or Die). "This is how I want to die"(). Anne Sexton is foretelling her battle with morbid sadness that continues to slowly consume, until the person drowns into a sea of burning anguish."....where one black-haired tree slips up

In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.

able to get rid of. At the end of the poem Sexton admits the thoughts of suicide are something you can never get rid of, “and yet she waits for me, year after year” (line 25). Sexton justifies the reasons for her suicide by saying that her thoughts and bad memories will never stop coming back because this has been happening for years and years now there is no going back for Sexton. She leaves us with the last stanza filled with unfinished things. This could be a metaphor for her life that is unfinished because of her death occurrence.

The poem Suicide Note, written by Janice Mirikitani (1987), talks about a young lady, who has studied in an Asian-American female college. The lady, unfortunately, committed suicide by jumping through her dormitory’s window. She left behind a note, citing reasons that led to her actions. After a critical analysis of the note, her parents were held responsible for her actions; they were pressurizing her to perform better in her exams. The poem, thus, describes the real feelings and the emotions of this young lady, who believes that committing suicide is the only option left to please her parents and to escape the enormous pressure placed on her. The persona uses voice in the poem to bring our attention to the sufferings she was going through, and that led to the devastating event. Voice in poetry is the strong words of a line, stanza or a page that creates a relationship between the audience and the persona. Voice can, therefore, be categorized as imagery, patterns of sounds created, rhythm, tone, and diction (Gahern 166). The following is a description of how the voice in Mirikitani’s suicide note helps the reader understand the persona’s reasoning.

I saw similarities in the poem “Wanting to Die” and the film Girl interrupted directed by James Mangold. Both characters see suicide as an act of escaping the pain of their lives. ‘Like carpenters they want to know which tools/they never ask why build.” Sexton’s use of simile is indicative of how she views death. She never asks her self why she is obsessed, she just allows herself to be that way. It is as if she has been hypnotised to never question her peculiar desires. She is not interested in receiving help as she just wants to know ‘what tools’ to use to in her attempt to escape life. At first I felt sorry the character didn’t want to help herself but came to understand that there was no point pitying her because she didn’t want to help

else is more important than fear. The poet of pain, Anne Sexton wrote “Courage.” Anne Sexton is known for her work as being “intensely personal” and as well turning “wounds into words.” As like the famous, controversial novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird” Atticus and his children have courage within the racist and close minded town of Maycomb. Sexton’s poem “Courage” shows that a person is born with it, and either that person learns to grow with it and live by it or let it suffocate from being weak and avoiding chances and risks. This poem gradually leads to an acceptance of death after a life of courageous moments.

In her poem “Wanting to Die”, Anne Sexton explains the feeling of suicidal ideation to an unnamed individual. Following the form of contemporary poets, she takes an incredibly taboo topic and discusses it in a conversational tone, thereby shocking the reader and forcing them to think about the issue in an unconventional way. The poem lacks a rhyme scheme and meter, although it is structured into three-line stanzas, and thus aligns with the free verse style of writing typical of contemporary poets. “Since you ask,” Anne Sexton opens her poem with these threes words, throwing the reader into the middle of a seemingly ordinary conversation (Sexton 1).

Margaret Atwood and Anne Sexton were two female poets in the mid-twentieth century. While both poets were writing around the same time period they wrote pieces in very different styles. Anne Sexton was one of the confessional poet of the 1950s and 60s. Sexton wrote primarily about death, gender and her own battle with depression, all of which were not commonly discussed in poetry before the Confessionalist movement. One of Sextons most well known poems is Her Kind. In this poem Sexton focuses on women and the way that they are perceived by society. Margaret Atwood wrote poetry, novels and other forms of literature mainly focusing on nature and social issues. Siren Song, a well known poem by Margaret focuses on the role that psychology plays in death and femininity. Margaret Atwoods Siren Song and Anne Sextons Her Kind have many similarities

The first poem I will analyse is “Wanting to Die.” From the onset of the poem the apparently nonchalant attitude Sexton holds towards suicide is strikingly clear. The opening “Since you ask” implies that she cares little for the subject and is only willing to discuss it due to the readers’ implied wants. The quotation also seems to show an apparently causal, possibly familiar relationship with the reader, unusual as the subject matter is often taboo. The ending of the sentence again reinforces this uncaring attitude as “most days I cannot remember” strongly implies that the subject is not important enough to even recall. This creates conflicting ideas for the reader as suicide is often discussed deliberately and briefly. Hearing it discussed

In the second stanza of the poem the poet presents the reader with a funeral setting. The mourners are all seated, and a service begins. The poet describes this service as being quite intense ("like a Drum (that) Kept beating—beating"). The intensity of the service causes the poet’s mind to go numb. The numbness represents the death of her mind.

The poetic composition, “Her Kind,” is Anne Sexton’s confessional, a devotion allowing female readers a keen awareness of the knowledge that they are not forsaken within a male dominated society. The conception, of the work of art, arrives years before its birth. Sexton’s psychiatrist, Orne, speaks to the poet, expressing that her poetry allows women to consider “there’s somebody else like [her and] they wouldn’t feel alone,” in other words, there are women who are her kind (Perez 25). Additionally, in a personal journal, Sexton notes, “Somebody sees me, and I see myself through them. Then it’s all gone, the whole world falls apart” (Perez 21). One can undeniably associate this journal entry with the verse “A woman like that is not a woman, quite” (Sexton 513). Furthermore, Sexton is a woman who wears countless masks, in her personal life, mimicking the masks of the women within “Her Kind”. Concluding, it is not a great mystery, taking Sexton’s personal life into account, how she is capable of ascribing herself to a witch, a housewife, and a martyr.

The conflict that is dramatized in this poem was between the speaker’s emotions: depression and euphoria. Throughout the entire poem on the surface, there was a depressing and solemn mood. She compares herself to a cat with nine lives and paints a picture of herself turning into a beast whenever she attempts suicide. Though that is the negative aspect of her self-destruction, she seems pleased with her actions saying “Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well”(43-45).

Further references to self-harm or methods of suicide can be seen in the quotation “To thirst all that life under your tongue” referencing the use of sleeping pills as a tool to commit suicide. This could link to an earlier point where Sexton talks about the different methods a person could use to commit suicide. The more serious tone of the poem continues with Sexton personifying her suicidal feelings saying “and yet she waits for me, year after year.” This personification of death is deeply unsettling due to the closeness Sexton seems to show to death, saying she has often come close to it. This could show that she has made several attempts on her own life. This idea can be reinforced when Sexton says death comes “undo an old wound” as it

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and Anne Sexton (1928-1974) both explored similar themes such as tone, structure, and symbolism. Many of their poems were cries for help, which resulted into metal illness, depression, and suicide. In 1958, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath met, and much to their surprise had a few things in common. They both were fascinated with death and suicide. Both Sexton’s and Plath’s poetry are considered as confessional poetry in which they were very honest, depressed, and had suicidal or homicidal tendencies. Sylvia and Anne’s views on what happened in their life and on independence, are what nearly separates them from other confessional poets. Sexton and Plath’s poetry range over a variety of topics such as death, suicide, rage, and mourning. They both utilize a convincing use of symbolism, deep image, metaphors, and soul-searching. Plath’s “The Colossus”, “Full Fathom Five”, “Daddy”, and Sexton’s “And one for My Dame” and “All My Pretty Ones”, are very enraged and different feminist perspectives, giving different views on the relationships with a father and a husband.

This is a powerful line as it states the idea of the poem and sets the scene for the audience. This line is the beginning of an extended metaphor.