In the late 1950s, if you had walked into the Boston Center for Adult Education, you might have seen a woman who looked more like a Hollywood starlet than a literary revolutionary. She was tall, blue-eyed, and striking, often wearing flowers in her hair and impeccably applied makeup—a remnant of her brief career as a fashion model for Boston’s Hart Agency. This was Anne Sexton, a woman who would soon strip away the artifice of her social standing to become one of the most polarizing and powerful voices in American letters.
Anne Sexton did not start as a poet of the academy. She began writing at the suggestion of her therapist, Dr. Martin Orne, following a mental breakdown. For Sexton, the pen was not just a tool; it was a lifeline. She quickly found herself in a legendary poetry workshop at Boston University led by Robert Lowell, where she sat alongside fellow luminaries like Sylvia Plath and Maxine Kumin. While the literary world was still dominated by the detached, intellectual rigor of New Criticism, Sexton and her peers were forging something raw and radical: Confessional Poetry.
Sexton’s style was defined by its unflinching intimacy. She broke the silence on subjects that were strictly taboo in mid-century America—menstruation, abortion, addiction, and the fractured reality of the suburban housewife. In her iconic poem, 'Her Kind,' she adopted a persona that challenged every societal expectation of womanhood. She wrote:
'I have gone out, a possessed witch, haunting the black air, braver at night; dreaming evil, I have done my hitch over the plain houses, light by light: lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind. A woman like that is not a woman, quite. I have been her kind.'
Her first two books, 'To Bedlam and Part Way Back' and 'All My Pretty Ones,' established her as a master of tight, formal meter used to contain chaotic, emotional truths. However, it was her 1966 collection, 'Live or Die,' that secured her legacy, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In this work, she explored the razor-thin edge between the desire to exist and the pull toward the void. In 'Wanting to Die,' she articulated the specific, terrifying language of the suicidal mind:
'Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. Then the almost unnameable lust returns.'
Sexton was a poet of innovation. In 1971, she published 'Transformations,' a daring reimagining of Grimm’s fairy tales that stripped the stories of their Disney-fied gloss to reveal the dark, feminist subtexts beneath. She was also a performer who understood the theatricality of the poetic voice. In the late 1960s, she even fronted a chamber rock group called 'Anne Sexton and Her Kind,' which performed her poetry to a backdrop of jazz and rock music—a move that was decades ahead of the spoken-word movement.
Critical reception was, and remains, a battlefield. While many readers found her accessibility and honesty life-saving, some critics, like James Dickey, dismissed her work as 'outspoken soap opera.' Yet, Sexton remained undeterred, moving in her later years toward a more 'messy,' free-verse aesthetic that felt even more immediate and visceral. She sought a spiritual connection through her work, often seeing her struggle reflected in the art of others. In her poem 'The Starry Night,' inspired by Vincent van Gogh, she wrote:
'The town does not exist except where one black-haired tree slips up like a drowned woman into the hot sky. The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars. Oh starry starry night! This is how I want to die.'
If you are looking for a place to begin your journey with Anne Sexton, start with the poem 'Her Kind.' It is the definitive introduction to her use of the 'witch' persona—a way of reclaiming the parts of herself that society labeled 'mad' or 'other.' It is a poem of defiance, a signature piece that sets the stage for her entire body of work.
Anne Sexton’s life ended by her own hand in 1974, but her influence continues to vibrate through the voices of modern poets like Sharon Olds and Adrienne Rich. She taught us that the most private pains are often the most universal, and that by naming the darkness, we might, for a time, hold it control it.
Backgrounder Notes
As an expert researcher and library scientist, I have identified several key historical figures, literary movements, and cultural references in the article that would benefit from additional context. Here are the backgrounders for those concepts:
Robert Lowell (1917–1977) A towering figure in 20th-century American literature, Lowell was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose book Life Studies is often credited with ushering in the Confessional Poetry movement. He was a highly influential teacher at Boston University, where he mentored both Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath.
New Criticism This was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American universities from the 1940s through the 1960s. It insisted that a poem should be analyzed as a self-contained object, discouraging readers from looking at the author’s biography or the historical context to find meaning.
Confessional Poetry Emerging in the late 1950s, this style of poetry broke away from the detachment of New Criticism to focus on the "I." It utilized deeply personal, often shocking subject matter—such as trauma, mental illness, and domestic secrets—that had previously been considered "unpoetic" or taboo.
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) A contemporary of Sexton, Plath was a brilliant American poet and novelist whose posthumous collection Ariel became a landmark of 20th-century literature. Like Sexton, her work often explored the dark intersection of womanhood, creative genius, and clinical depression.
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry Established in 1917, this is one of the highest honors an American writer can receive, awarded annually for a distinguished volume of original verse. Sexton’s 1967 win for Live or Die solidified her transition from a "suburban housewife poet" to a major literary authority.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Originally compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century, these German folk stories were often violent and cautionary. Sexton’s interest in them centered on their dark, psychological archetypes, which she used to critique modern gender roles.
James Dickey (1923–1997) An influential American poet and novelist (best known for the novel Deliverance), Dickey represented the "muscular," traditionalist wing of American letters. His harsh critiques of Sexton reflected the era's significant pushback against women writing openly about their private and biological experiences.
Bedlam Referenced in Sexton’s first book title, "Bedlam" was the popular name for the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, one of the world's oldest institutions for the mentally ill. Over time, the word became a colloquial term used to describe any scene of uproar, confusion, or "madness."
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) A Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, Van Gogh is one of the most famous figures in art history, known for his expressive use of color and his tragic struggle with mental illness. Sexton felt a profound kinship with him, seeing his turbulent "Starry Night" as a visual representation of her own internal chaos.
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) A poet and leading feminist intellectual, Rich moved from writing formal, traditional verse to radical, politically charged poetry. Like Sexton, she used her work to dismantle the "myth of the happy housewife" and explore the complexities of female identity and social power.
Sources
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nd.eduhttps://mcgrath.nd.edu/assets/316755/biography_anne_sexton.pdf
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poets.orghttps://poets.org/poem/wanting-die
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wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sexton
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poets.orghttps://poets.org/poet/anne-sexton
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thingsthattalk.nethttps://thingsthattalk.net/en/t/ttt:TtEfnJ/stories/life-and-death-painting-and-poem/the-starry-night-a-poem
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ebsco.comhttps://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/starry-night-anne-sexton
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poetrysoup.comhttps://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poems/best/anne_sexton
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2rulesofwriting.comhttps://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/anne-sexton-this-is-how-i-want-to-die/
