Anne Sexton Research Paper

Anne Sexton was a very famous female writer, who helped to change the way people thought of women and people’s thoughts on depression, suicide, feminism, and many other topics. She wrote highly personal confessional poems alluding to her life and her tragic personal experiences in life. Anne Sexton was neglected by her parents as a child and was raised by her aunt after her parents died, but her aunt didn’t treat her much better which is evidence for her depression. She is well known for her more controversial topics she used in her writings. She is also well known for her writings focused on women and her themes of feminism in her writings. Anne Sexton was also a teacher and taught student’s poetry. She was a very famous and popular female
She taught confessional poetry to her students guiding them to write in the way Anne Sexton was famous for. “She can be seen as the only 20th century ‘major’ poet who began writing poetry natively” (Kathleen Ossip) She taught how to be original in your writing instead of following the ideas and concepts that everyone else is following at the time. She also taught against the idea that writing poetry was for men and not for women, because there were less successful women poets then men poets. “In Sextons poems there is a difference not only of gender but also of status or power between them, a difference that is taken for granted by the society at large but that Sexton’s poems highlight and destabilizes.” (Hedley,
“The wrapped package of Sextons poems, both sparkling and rotten, her life story, her letters and her comments in her poems form her work” (Ossip, Kathleen) Anne Sextons depression often came through in her poetry giving a darker sense and a deeper meaning to her work. “She struggled from serious depression that she was able to translate her pain eloquently into poetry is evidence of her great talent and courage” (Lewin, B.R.) As a teacher, her teaching style was also affected by her depression affecting what she taught and how she taught it to her student. Paula M. Salvio says that Anne Sexton was “A female teacher who suffered from addictions and mental illnesses.”