I've never understood the comparison of Anne Sexton to Sylvia Plath. Both women were complex and troubled; both killed themselves but each lived her life uniquely and each has left behind her own unique voice.

Sexton I've always considered more wantonly playful and blatantly sexual.

Stark, brutally honest poetry. As Schmidt says, she came before Plath, but ended up seeming to be the derivative one. ( )