Happy Birthday this month to
Anne Sexton
who was born on November 9th 1928
Anne had a troubled life but, thanks to the advice of her doctor, Doctor Martin Orme, she found great comfort and help in poetry. oldpoetry.com/opoem/9181-Anne-Sexton-For-the-Year-of-the-Insane
She only started writing seriously in 1957 yet within ten years she had won the 1966 Pulitzer prize for her third poetry collection Live and Die.
Much of the strength of Anne's work lies in the fact that she used her own personal experiences in writing her poetry and people, especially women, can feel the truth of her writing. For example Cockroach oldpoetry.com/opoem/9180-Anne-Sexton-Cockroach
In her short career she met many fine poets and they obviously influenced each other greatly. Chief amongst those was probably William De Witt Snodgrass (Pulitzer prize 1970) an early mentor and Maxine Kumin (Pulitzer prize 1976) who enrolled at the same Boston Center for Adult Education where Anne first started studying / writing poetry. She also famously met and corresponded with Sylvia Plath and was much affected by Plath's suicide. oldpoetry.com/opoem/8931-Anne-Sexton-Sylvia-s-Death .
There are many examples in Anne's poetry of both life affirming and death wishing themes which reflect her own uncertainties oldpoetry.com/opoem/11804-Anne-Sexton-A-Curse-Against-Elegies and oldpoetry.com/opoem/11544-Anne-Sexton-Wanting-to-Die and oldpoetry.com/opoem/9184-Anne-Sexton-Old
Sadly, despite her success Anne became increasingly depressed and, like her friend Sylvia Plath, she committed suicide in 1974. oldpoetry.com/opoem/9186-Anne-Sexton-Suicide-Note
In a writing career of less than 20 years she produced much good work and influenced many aspiring poets. Yet her poetry still lives on.
Adding your comment:
Thank you for posting this intelligent & revealing piece on one of our finest Poets. No one can understand the mind of one lost in depression's grasp. It is largely a chemical imbalance, more understood now than in her time; still, there is so much that is not understood about the human brain, let alone the creative human brain. My own sister committed suicide; she was never a coward. Sometimes, the pain just becomes too much to bear. While I disagree with her methods, I can also empathize with her reasoning...or lack thereof. Being judgmental never helps anyone; in fact, it worsens the already fragile condition of the one being judged. So many artistic Souls get lost on their way to the Light. She finally found it, & in finding it, also found the Peace she couldn't seem to discover while on this earthly plain. Thank you for the inspirational look into such a grand writer's life. Happy Birthday, Anne. Thank you for your Gift. Be well, Poets. 
