By K D

As an Outcast  Disobedient and unable to concentrate in school ○ Teachers urged parents to seek counseling for her ○ Sent to a boarding school in Lowell, Massachusetts where she began to write poetry  Dark, twisted, and fascinated with death ○ Very unlike most women of her time ○ Went against the grain and was somewhat of a rebel “I have gone out, a possessed witch, haunting the black air, braver at night; dreaming evil, I have done my hitch over the plain houses, light by light: lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind. A woman like that is not a woman, quite. I have been her kind.” -“Her Kind”

Depression  Had first mental breakdown and diagnosed with post- partum depression in 1954 ○ Spent a lot of time in therapy and psychiatric hospitals ○ Dr. Martin Orne, her psychiatrist, suggested writing poetry as a form of therapy  Multiple suicide attempts ○ Heavily dependent on medication, therapy, and close friends ○ Death of parents in 1959 hit her the hardest “Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. Then the almost unnameable lust returns... Twice I have so simply declared myself, have possessed the enemy, eaten the enemy, have taken on his craft, his magic. In this way, heavy and thoughtful, warmer than oil or water, I have rested, drooling at the mouth-hole.... To thrust all that life under your tongue!-- that, all by itself, becomes a passion. Death's a sad Bone; bruised, you'd say...” -“Wanting to Die”

Love & Family  Married Alfred Kayo Sexton in 1948 ○ Kayo became abusive to Sexton when she became famous ○ Involved in multiple affairs while married to Kayo ○ Divorced in 1978, causing a noticeable decline in her health and mental stability  Had 2 daughters, Linda Gray Sexton (1953) & Joyce Ladd Sexton (1955) ○ Sexton became abusive to daughters ○ Felt as thought she couldn’t adequately take care of her children “...fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves: whining, rearranging the disaligned.” -“Her Kind” “... and the love, whatever it was, an infection.” -“Wanting to Die”

Patriarchal Oppression “I have found the warm caves in the woods, filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves, closets, silks, innumerable goods; fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves: whining, rearranging the disaligned. A woman like that is misunderstood.” -“Her Kind:”  During major women’s rights movement in late 60’s and early 70’s ○ Published her most feminist work, Transformations, in 1972  Tried to break out of patriarchal stereotypes ○ Spoke to different kind of reader ○ less confessional and more critical of cultural practices

Side-by-Side Poetry “Wanting to Die”Original Poetry To thrust all that life under your tongue!-- that, all by itself, becomes a passion. Death's a sad Bone; bruised, you'd say, and yet she waits for me, year after year, to so delicately undo an old wound, to empty my breath from its bad prison. It begins to take you over. Death’s a broken Heart; it whines, “Don’t leave me here alone!--” every night she hides in the corner, asking to gently erase my mind, and to deal me another hand of life. 3 line stanza