Anne Sexton

Live Or Die

A collection of poems arranged chronologically to create vivid, autobiographical impressions and images of melancholy

readingsnmusings 

"Darling,
stand still at your door,
sure of yourself, a white stone, a good stone—
as exceptional as laughter
you will strike fire,
that new thing!"

"What is reality?
I am a plaster doll; I pose"

Favourites: LOVE SONG; SYLVIA’S DEATH; LITTLE GIRL, MY STRING BEAN, MY LOVELY WOMAN; SELF IN 1958.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize: A gripping poetry collection mapping the thorny journey from madness to hope With her emotionally raw and deeply resonant third collection, Live or Die, Anne Sexton confirmed her place among the most celebrated poets of the twentieth century. Sexton described the volume, which depicts a fictionalized version of her struggle with mental illness, as “a fever chart for a bad case of melancholy.” From the halls of a psychiatric hospital—“the scene of the disordered scenes” in “Flee on Your Donkey”—to a child’s playroom—“a graveyard full of dolls” in “Those Times . . .”—these gripping poems offer profound insight on the agony of depression and the staggering acts of courage and faith required to emerge from its depths. Along with other confessional poets like Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell, Sexton was known for grappling with intimate subjects traditionally considered taboo for poetry such as motherhood, menstruation, and drug dependence. Live or Die features these topics in candid and unflinching detail, as Sexton represents the full experience of being alive—and a woman—as few poets have before. Through bold images and startlingly precise language, Sexton explores the broad spectrum of human emotion ranging from desperate despair to unfettered hope.

Poems

Live or Die

serena maeve.

Crude. Vulgar. Raw. 

Not for the /faint/ of heart ( read faint as prudish ), for Sexton tackles subjects considered as taboo (sexual assault, incest, parental abuse, substance use, etc)

Sexton’s poems are unfiltered and disordered (the latter being reflected by her use of enjambment). Albeit, I was not very fond of her use of religious imagery and Biblical allusions ( found them arbitrary and excessive mostly ... I think it’s just me )

found a first edition of this at a used bookstore and read it like it was the first time and it was heavenly as always.

mayra

my favourites:
- Flee on Your Donkey
- Somewhere in Africa
- Sylvia's Death
- Wanting to Die 
- A Little Uncomplicated Hymn (!!!!!!)
- Your Face on the Dog's Neck
- Cripples and Other Stories
- The Addict
- Live

Live Or Die

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