History

Anne Sexton

1928-1974

Anne Sexton was born on November 9, 1928, in Newton, Massachusetts. Suffering from depression, she published her first book of poetry, To Bedlam and Part Way Back, in 1960. In 1967, she won the Pulitzer Prize and the Shelley Memorial Prize for her poetry collection Live or Die. She also published the book Transformations in 1971. Sexton committed suicide on October 4, 1974, in Weston, Massachusetts.

Anne Sexton put strong emotion and personal feelings behind her writings.  Her poems were used as a direct therapy for her mental illness.  She battled with severe mental illness much of her life and while in mental hospitals she spent time writing her poems.  Her poetry was a way to easily express her feelings and what she was thinking.  A doctor in her hospital was very impressed by her work and told her to keep writing as long as it continued to be therapeutic.  This kind of poetry, which unveils the poet's innermost feelings, is usually termed confessional poetry, and it is the subject of much critical controversy.  One of her strongest influences was Robert Lowell, who was a founder of the confessional movement. 

"Anne Sexton." The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2013.