Anne Sexton 's Her Kind

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

Anne Sexton was a poet and a woman, but most importantly, she was an outcast. Subjected to nervous breakdowns and admitted to a neuropsychiatry hospital, Sexton must have been all too familiar with the staring eyes and the judging minds of the public. Just being a woman in today's world often can be enough to degrade a person in the public's eye, let alone being labeled as a crazy woman. But Anne Sexton did not let society remain unchallenged in its views. She voiced a different opinion of women through poetry. In Anne Sexton's "Her Kind" the speaker of the poem embraces society's negative stereotype of modern, liberated women and transforms it into a positive image. Two voices, the voice of

In “Wanting To Die”, Anne Sexton illustrates vividly an analogy that compares one’s desire to commit suicide and drug addiction. Though this poem may initially seem to revolve around the themes of death and suicide, there are several examples in the poem that can be referenced to drug addiction and the intentions of the drug user. In general, the tone of this poem is luridly depressing as it produces an imagery that is painstakingly dark and morbid. It encapsulates the reader within the mind of the suicidal thinker through specific personifications of suicide and death. Sexton also utilizes metaphors and similes in this poem to describe how suicide conducts a mind of its own which engages in

The tone of Anne Sexton’s poem is quiet with an intense sense of story, emotion, and imagery. The journey through

During this time, women were often looked at as less than men in reference to intelligence, capability, and overall strength. Reading this work from the perspective of a woman during that time presents an interesting thought, which is the importance of self-expression. Later on as the wife continues to get worse, she expresses again of her desire to write to ease her mind and pain, “I think sometimes that I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve me the press of ideas and rest me” (420). Had the perspective been altered in any way, the readers would not have discovered the same message because the other character is a man, and men were free to express themselves however they wished. Women were limited, which is why the point of view used developed this central

Anne Sexton was an American poet born on November 9th, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts and raised in Weston. Her family was successful economically wise and Sexton was raised in a middle-class environment; however, Sexton’s relationship with her parents were extremely strained and perhaps abusive; her father was an alcoholic. It was suggested that Sexton may have been sexually abused by her parents and felt that they were hostile to her. As such, Sexton sought refuge in her close relationship with Anne Dingley, her maiden great-aunt, as an escape from her broken family, which further lead to Sexton’s traumatization after Dingley’s mental collapse and subsequent hospitalization. After the birth of her first child in 1953, Sexton

Anne Sexton believed that the most interesting poetry was written out of personal experience. Everything she had been through, her hospitalization, her affairs, her insanity, the loss of her parents, and great-aunt, gave her things to write about. She uses poetry as one of her outlet. She writes out her problems. Her writing was a part of her therapy.

Carter plays into the Gothic genre by stressing the transgression of female characters through juxtaposing the Countess’s darkness, strength and complexity with the child’s lightness, weakness and simplicity. The binary opposition of the two female protagonists highlights the vignette’s didactic purpose; to reflect one of Carter’s fundamental feminist belief that anyone regardless of any disposition including gender can be both literally and figuratively strong, powerful and at

Anne Sexton’s poem ‘Her Kind’ deals with the nature of a woman’s role in society and the alienation that that can bring. The 1950s perceived women as domestic and they were often expected to conform to the role of the housewife. Sexton constructs this idea of a woman with multiple personalities expected to conform to societal rules and norms yet is unable or unwilling to detain herself to these limitations. Throughout, Sexton confesses her role as a woman breaking the mould from societal expectations.

The 2016 election saw the most successful woman candidate and this was the exact transcendence of gender roles that Sexton aimed to inspire in her poetry. Never before had a woman made it that far with a major party in our presidential elections. Looking at all precedent and the male dominance in our government, Hillary Clinton was told that she did not belong in politics. Despite this she rose above the typical role of women, she has made progress for women over many many years. This is the same as Sexton’s figurative abandonment of her body.

Anne Sexton suffered greatly from depression and made it clear to her readers that it was no secret. She was a strong woman and played several roles during her lifetime. Anne was a daughter, wife, mother, and an isolated poet. ‘Her Kind’ was a poem written by Anne in the sixties and is filled with symbolism; taking her readers on a journey through many identity shifts. The first stanza has ‘I’ in it repeatedly, allowing her readers to grasp the fact that she is the poet and the speaker.

Most of us accept the stories we were told as children were false, or at least romanticized. At some point, the illusion was shattered, and Santa, the Easter Bunny and Cinderella were characters we fondly remembered. But although we recognized these figures and legends as illusions, we held on to many of the sentiments the stories, without questioning their application to adult life. Anne Sexton often uses these innocent, childlike images juxtaposed with cynical but more realistic situations in order show that the lessons society teaches children, ones that children retain as adults, are illusions that do not properly illustrate the corrupt, violent world we actually live in.

Every author, poet, playwright has a subtle message that they would like present to their audience. It may be a lifelong struggle that they have put into words, or a multiple page book that took a lifetime to write. A poet by the name of Anne Sexton sought out to challenge society’s views of women by writing “Her Kind”. A poet, a playwright, and an author of children’s books, Anne Sexton writes about the conflicts of a social outcast living in modern times. She voices the hardships she faces through three different speakers in her poem. At the end of the poem, the woman is not ashamed nor afraid of whom she is and is ready to die in peace. In Anne Sexton’s poem “Her Kind”, the main idea the speaker is depicting is the multiple stereotypes placed on a woman, by society. Sexton’s vivid use of imagery paints a picture of the witch, house wife, and mother cliché, while also implying the poem is autobiographical as Sexton went through her own personal struggles during her life.

In the story of The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter attacks the conventional gender roles of women. The conventional Gothic plot revolves around pursuit. A young heroine’s virtuous virginity, purity and innocence is sexually threatened. Thus, what Carter does in “The Bloody Chamber” is redefine female desire and sexuality which are rendered passive and repressed through traditional Gothic texts. Where the mother exemplifies the heroic woman, the “girl” is the traditional damsel in distress. Maria Makinen’s assessment of Carters feminine characters is both truthful and incorrect. Carter uses traditional female stereotypes as well as her unique women to make a contrast between these perceptions of women.

Jane Austen, is one woman who has undoubtably proven her worth as not just a woman, but a writer, thinker, and human being. The females characters within her famous novels reflect her high standards for women. They are great examples of smart, complex, and witty individuals, who defy a world that constantly diminishes their value to their appearance and gives them limited opportunities for improvement. Unfortunately, to acquire that power, Austen’s female characters