Selected Poems: Anne Sexton

One of the more impressive poetry collections I've read. The formatting is spectacular, with distinct styles being visible from each distinct section as we go through Sexton's great career. The biggest disappointment was the poetry from 45 Mercy Street, I was very excited to check those out and found them to fall flat compared to much of her earlier (published) work.

Sexton often wanted to play around with language and metaphor, and even rewrote famous fairy tales in new lights. This was where I often found myself having the most fun. The way Sexton will inevitably impact me most, however, is her depiction of mental illness. Her descriptions of psych treatment, and life as a "cripple", leap off the page and connected with me deeply. The show more well-written introduction says that Sexton had the largest body of work on mental illness in the history of American poetry. From what I've seen it is also likely the best.

As with any poetry collection, they didn't all jump out at me, but it's truly special and a valuable piece of the confessional poetic world. show less

Note to self: don't read volumes of editor-chosen 'selected poems' ever again. With taste in poetry being so subjective, allowing another person to choose which of a poet's poems are the best and the most worth reading seems ridiculous. It also severs the connection between poet and poems by excising poems from their particularly-ordered individual collections and placing them in a new order. The reader suffers from the loss in continuity. All of this ended up bothering me much more than I had expected. What I found from reading this volume was that in general I like Anne Sexton's later poems more than her earlier ones. The selections from The Book of Folly, The Death Notebooks, and The Awful Rowing Toward God stood out the brightest to show more me. The four star rating represents my overall appreciation of Sexton's poetry, and I would only recommend this book if you are in a hurry to identify which of her individual poetry collections you want to read. show less

I found Sexton depressing and difficult to read for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. While her poetry did show occasional flashes of humor, her verse did not appeal to me at all. I am really sorry she could not use her poetry to exorcise the demons tormenting her. We often hear of the cathartic effect of writing about personal difficulties, but apparently that effect was not at work in Sexton’s psyche. I can offer personal testimony to the positive effect writing can have when dealing with traumatic events in my past; however, Sexton must have been completely overwhelmed by her marital problems and her depression, compounded with her addiction.

Clearly, she had a great deal of talent. Quite a few of her poems struck me as more than show more interesting. For example, two of her recollection poems – “I Remember” (51) and “One for My Dame” (73) – showed me some flashes of humor, while holding my attention with her word choice, structure, and clever images. These undoubtedly were my favorites. Unfortunately, a half-dozen or so nuggets appeared far too infrequently to make me any sort of fan of Sexton’s.

Her religious poetry – regardless of some negative imagery – did not appeal to me at all. Her cries for help seemed desperate and (we now know) hopeless. Even her faith could not give her the comfort and support she so anxiously sought.

Her popularity among young women in the 60s and 70s puzzles me. I can imagine their feeling a connection with her anxieties and difficulties dealing with day to day existence. However, did that many women share her experiences? Was it merely a matter of sympathy and solidarity? Perhaps some larger issue works among her readers creating a connection which enables them to plod on, since, in comparison, their lives were so much better.

Only a couple of Anne’s poems have crossed my desk over the years. None of them urged me to explore her work further, and now I am convinced I made the right choice then.

Maybe I am wrong by a wide margin. I would love to hear from some Sexton fans about this.

--Jim, 8/6/09 show less

This book of poetry, selected amongst the best of Sexton's poems (apparently) was a bit of a letdown. Some of the poetry was good, with elusive and captivating language but much of it felt overshadowed by the weight of other great poets that I have read. Overall, I felt it was a standard volume of poetry. Nothing really stood out to me. For that reason, I give it a satisfactory ranking.

3 stars.

Kan godt lide Sexton.