Essay Questions

Many of Sexton’s poems have similar and overarching themes. Identify some of these themes and the role they play in her poems.

The themes that appear most frequently in Sexton’s poems are those of suicide, sexual assault/rape, and mental health. Sexton’s own experience(s) with suicide have clearly been very influential in her poetic and creative process. Her poems explore both the complexity that surrounds a suicide attempt and her unique relationship with death. Her poems also explore and exemplify Sexton’s own experiences with sexual assault at the hand of her father. Her use of metaphors, as in “Oysters”, are powerful, as they personify familial assault in a way that is masterfully explicit and implicit at the same time. Each of these themes relates back to an overarching theme of mental health. Most of Sexton’s poems confront and tackle her own mental health struggles. She describes her experiences with drug and alcohol abuse, suicide attempts, depression, and spiritual emptiness. Each poem is laced with either implicit or explicit discussions about Sexton’s mental health struggles. She uses her poetry to express her thoughts about her mental health and the difficulty associated with mental health struggles.

“Her Kind” is riddled with metaphorical symbolism, particularly that of the witch. Why do you think Sexton chose the metaphor of the witch?

In this poem, Sexton likens herself to a witch. The symbolism and metaphor of this representation likely stems from the Salem Witch Trials, during which women accused of witchcraft were exiled--destined to be outsiders. Sexton’s self-comparison to a witch exemplifies her feelings of being an outsider. In this poem, in this world, however, Sexton’s exile is not at the hands of suspicious citizens, but rather at the hands of the domineering patriarchal society. Additionally, Sexton likely chose to personify herself and her loneliness in the form of a witch due to the magical and otherworldly abilities witches are endowed with. In this way, Sexton was likely projecting the power and abilities she wishes she had into the literary metaphor of the witch. The metaphorical image of the witch parading about in the middle night significantly contrasts the inescapable reality that her role as a witch ultimately means she will forever be alone. Therefore, Sexton likely choose to metaphorically portray herself and her loneliness as a witch due to their historical experiences with loneliness and their magical, other-worldly abilities.

In “Wanting To Die,” Sexton almost seems to glorify suicide and death. Given Sexton’s own experiences with suicide, why you think she chose to portray suicide in this way?

Sexton describes the “unnameable lust” that returns with each desire to commit suicide. She then proclaims that she has “nothing against life,” despite the remainder of the poem’s suggestion to the contrary. A quick reading of this poem would suggest that Sexton has an unusual relationship with death, one in which she glorifies suicide. A closer analysis, however, reveals that, though Sexton has developed a unique and unusual relationship with death, she does not desire nor glorify it. Rather, I think Sexton means to explain how the death can seem like a beautiful release when people are at their lowest. She explains that, during her suicidal periods, the appeal and beauty of death is overwhelming, namely because suicidal urges do not respond to reason but to impulse and emotion. The lust for death in those low periods does make suicide appear remarkably appealing and easy. Ultimately, however, this poem exemplifies how suicide is a slippery slope because of the way it makes the release of death seem so easy and appealing. In this way--by showcasing how suicidal thoughts are masterfully deceiving--Sexton is, in fact, not glorifying death or suicide but cautioning against its overwhelming power.