Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton (November 9, 1928, Newton, Massachusetts – October 4, 1974, Weston, Massachusetts) was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967. Themes of her poetry include her suicidal tendencies, long battle against depression and various intimate details from her private life, including her relationships with her husband and children.

Read more about Anne Sexton:  Early Life and Family, Poetry, Death, Content and Themes of Work, Subsequent Controversy

Famous quotes by anne sexton:

    “Time is here and you’ll go his way.
    Your lung is waiting in the death market.
    Your face beside me will grow indifferent.
    Darling, you will yield up your belly and be
    cored like an apple.”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “without luggage or defenses,
    giving up my car keys and my cash,
    keeping only a pack of Salem cigarettes
    the way a child holds on to a toy.
    I signed myself in where a stranger
    puts the inked-in X’s”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “But the words aren’t good enough,
    the wrong ones kiss me.
    Sometimes I fly like an eagle
    but with the wings of a wren.”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “to slam the door on all the days she’ll stay the same
    and never ask why and never think who to ask,
    to slam the door and rip off her orange blouse.
    Father, father, I wish I were dead.”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “What I want to say, Linda,
    is that there is nothing in your body that lies.
    All that is new is telling the truth.
    I’m here, that somebody else,
    an old tree in the background.”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)