Sexton's Poem 'Her Kind'

Sexton 's was labeled a confessional poet because she possessed many qualities that gave her a great poetic voice. She pulled the norms from society and created another perspective that would only be revealed to an open minded individual who could accept another 's point of view, and criticize it against their own. According to Kaplan, Anne 's poem "Her Kind" showed Anne 's strengths for her early work by adopting the persona of a possessed witch. She expressed ambiguous attitudes toward her own madness: she notes her fear and isolation as she is carried away to be burned at the stake, but boasts that she had domesticated the dark woods she has inhabited. Agreeing that this is a strong poem by the author that does show a lot of strength It …show more content…
Anne is trying to come to terms with her father. She states this is portrayed in the poem by using the line "Whether you are pretty or not, I outlived you, bend down my strange face to your and forgive you."(ln. 49-50) In agreeing that the speaker was referring to that no matter how hard she tried she was never good enough and seen as a rebelled failure. After her parents passed away she was not looking for a reason why but instead she moved on. This gives a strong societal message especially to those who had high societal expectations. The author through the poem describing the different whether pretty or not society pressures that her parents had put on her like marrying well. She refers to these societal pressures like the expectation of marriage as "These are snapshots of marriage, stopped in places."(ln.31) She did mourn the loss of her parents but not in a hostile manner instead she sent the message that no matter how society and her parents saw her they did not break her. She never truly gave into the pressure but instead she forgave those that placed it. Society 's expectations did not overcome her which was also portrayed in "Noon Walk On The Asylum Lawn" in this poem she is showing that she feels lost and stuck in darkness even though she is surrounded by light. Society in this case is the darkness. In this time period is was frowned upon for women to have any kind of standing. "The summer sun ray, shifts through a suspicious tree. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow, It sucks the air and looks around for me." Women could be respected for their work but put down at the same time because any accomplishment of a woman was because it was their hobby not their profession. There is no safe place in society because you are surrounded by enemies even though they call themselves friends. Any woman could be congratulated by people in society but