Blog #3

Anne Sexton

(I think it helps to put a name to a face, it makes the writers seem more real)

Childhood:

 Anne Sexton had a very complex childhood to say the least. She was sexually and emotionally abused and only had one real source for love and comfort. Anne's Great Aunt Nana gave her support but sadly ended up in a mental institution. At the age of 19 she eloped which I found very unusual for women writers, as Tyra pointed out in class most woman writers from this time period were single. Due to the reality of not being able to have "both lives" meaning they couldn't write and have a marriage or family.  Sadly the elopement may have been the cause of her suicide attempt.

Poems:

I found it interesting that many of her poems had themes similar to what she experienced in her own life. For example familial dysfunction, sexuality and the erotics of suicide. Its remarkable that Anne had the confidence to write poems about orgasm and feel comfortable writing about such a thing.

My favorite poem of hers was Abortion:

For some people (including myself) Its hard for me to understand how someone would want to have a law regarding how to handle our own bodies under pregnancy (pro-life). Pro choice has always made more sense to me, meaning the woman has the choice at how she wants to handle her pregnancy. But this poem was pretty moving and had some strong points. For example the poem repeatedly stated; "Somebody who should have been born". This line really hits home, being denied to be born is a big deal, its hard thinking to yourself, what if my mom choose it wasn't the right time in her life to have me and got an abortion? Its definitely a hard pill to swallow.I thought it was interesting how she talked about having loss without death, which is a very controversial subject because are you "killing" the baby or is it simply science getting rid of the baby? the last line I found really powerful was ; "You coward, this baby that I bleed".