#poetryforbeginners: Anne Sexton

Hello everyone and thank you for visiting my channel.

Please be sure to watch Brian's thoughts on Anne Sexton here:

Thank you so much for watching!

[tortoisedreams]

Well, this was lovely. Anne Sexton was a beautiful if troubled soul. The best biography I've read of anyone ever is Diane Middlebrook's bio of Anne Sexton. It's brilliant & for me a required re-read (rare for a bio). I'd love to see some consideration of her equally great contemporaries, Denise Levertov & Adrienne Rich who (along with Plath) all influenced & were aware of each other. Of course, the mother of them all was Emily D. With Sexton you may want to possibly consider trying to find her individual books (perhaps in a thrift shop or used-book store). She conceived of her books as genuine collections, of a piece, and (for me) are a much more rewarding read. I have trouble reading "collected" & "selected" groupings of poetry, though they're so convenient & great for looking up an individual poem. I have a lot of catching up to do on your archive. Off to watch Brian's video. Sorry sorry sorry to go on so long, but it's wonderful to see a video on Anne Sexton.

[JennieJohnston]

This Sexton poem is in one of my poetry notebooks of poems I love the best! Great choice. I feel like it speaks to the inner misfit in us all.

[gammaanteria]

Nice reading, Kelly! Viewing your video takes me back...I guess like many my age, I first became aware of Anne Sexton from the song "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel (he was at the height of music stardom back then) while in college. I became interested in learning more about her work and her life. The first job I held out of college was a one-year internship and her daughter, Linda Gray Sexton, had just published her memoir about her relationship with her mother (called "Searching for Mercy Street"). She was giving a book reading nearby, so I attended the reading. I was happy that I asked a question at Q&A that she responded was a thoughtful one (not wanting to embarrass myself :D), briefly met her afterwards. I should go back and re-read that memoir...from what I recall it was notable for being brutally honest and, as one might expect, her feelings towards her mother were conflicted and complex. Also, if I recall, at the end of the book she references "Her Kind"--envisioning meeting her mother as a witch, with all the mystery and power such a figure holds...

[laurawhichello]

"A woman like that is not a woman, quite." Wow, that resonated in more ways than I'd have expected. What a compelling poem!

[BookishTexan]

Jumped into a pool of black water is a great explanation of what it was like.
Great job reading and analyzing this poem. You took on a much tougher poem than I did.

[acruelreadersthesis]

I've always liked this poem. I love the recording of Anne Sexton reading it herself. Actually, there are a lot of recordings of her on YouTube. I think my favorite poem by her is "The Operation, " about getting surgery. Even though I've never had surgery, I think it's also sort of about how different generations interact with each other, because I think whatever she was having surgery for was something that her mother also had and which her mother died of. Would you mind if I joined you for Walt Whitman next month? 😁

[mikefrost]

Great reading! I agree with tortoise dreams' comment below: I would love to see you read Levertov and Rich. I mentioned, briefly, Anne Sexton's influence on Erica Jong's poetry in my video Fear of Feminism: The Poetry and Prose of Erica Jong. I think poets like Levertov, Rich, Anne Waldman, Jong, etc. are the generation of feminist poets that benefited by Plath and Sexton making public the discussion of women's mental heath in a society that tries to define what a "normal" woman is (and is "allowed" to do). Plath and Sexton may have saved lives. It is fascinating (as tortoise dreams alludes to) to study the trajectory of themes from early feminist poets like Emily Dickinson through today's active writers. As you say in this video, some issues still linger (and have real-world consequences), but the fight is not the same: the silence has been broken!

[joshmulema]

I am soon to read sexton, she has been i figure i always come back to. We have the same book as yours at our public library so i'll be off to read it, since stories seem to not catch me nowadays

[meghanthestorygirl]

It's so heartbreaking to find out that a poet or author you love had a tragic life!

[SamuelDaram]

A really good video on Anne Sexton. Kelly, I just subscribed to your channel. ( I created a new tag called 'A Poem for Every Agony' and I tagged you.)

[gracenurse]

@BooksI’mNotReading
I share your sorrow over Anne Sexton’s unhappy end. Yes, her life had deep sadness, but she also experienced intense joy. She loved her family, her work, celebration, music, friends, sex, laughing, praise (the Pulitzer Prize.) And she came so far from being a 1950s housewife who was literally paralyzed with fear and ashamed of her lack of education. It’s important to remember her entire life experience and not just its dark passages : ) She certainly *lived!*

[Nyledam]

I think Andreea from Infinite Text talked about how the confessional poets are an exception to the biography rule, so I think you are fine either way. ;) Loved this discussion and the very timely reference you made. It's really disturbing what's happening right now in a lot of US states - not that German is perfect when it comes to abortion... We have a conservative party in power after all.

[brian_nirvana]

her life was sad. He production was better than Van Goghs three years in *Arles. If I had 10 min to discuss Anne, I would site Her Kind too. It's like Babe Ruth's 60th home run. A milestone. Her suicide is unfortunate. I often wonder if she knew how unfortunate it was.