From Library Journal
Sexton claimed that poetry kept her alive through periods of suicidal self-hatred, and indeed her poetry started as therapy, a means suggested by her psychiatrist of documenting the unspeakable. This volume contains selections, many of them familiar, from her eight books. Despite professional success, she continued to suffer, but her work does more than document the pain that finally led to alcohol addiction and suicide. Labeled confessional, she preferred to be called a storyteller, often adopting a persona: "Like Oedipus I am losing my sight./Like Judas I have done my wrong." Much of the early poetry was workshop-influenced, but Sexton's music as well as her intensity and good ear ultimately come through. Rosaly De Maios Roffman, Univ. of Pennsylvania, IndianaCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"The editors of this Selected Poems have carefully chipped away at the block of marble and revealed the true figure of Sexton's work: haunted, plaintive, raucous, as often exuberantly witty as it is afflicted." -- J. D. McClatchy "This selected edition of Sexton's poems, arranged chronologically and enhanced by an insightful introduction, will make her work accessible not only to students but to readers everywhere." -- Maxine Kumin


Book Description
This selection, which is drawn from Anne Sexton's ten published volumes of poems as well as from representative early and last work, is an ideal introduction to a great American poet.


About the Author
Anne Sexton (1928-1974), the author of ten collections of poems, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1967.

ANNOTATION

With its simple, forceful imagery, Anne Sexton's poetry is not only remarkably powerful but also very accessible. The subjects she writes about--sex, mental breakdown, the search for spiritual meaning, the dark side of suburban life--speak to American readers today as eloquently as they did during her lifetime.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This selection, which is drawn from Anne Sexton's ten published volumes of poems as well as from representative early and last work, is an ideal introduction to a great American poet.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Sexton claimed that poetry kept her alive through periods of suicidal self-hatred, and indeed her poetry started as therapy, a means suggested by her psychiatrist of documenting the unspeakable. This volume contains selections, many of them familiar, from her eight books. Despite professional success, she continued to suffer, but her work does more than document the pain that finally led to alcohol addiction and suicide. Labeled confessional, she preferred to be called a storyteller, often adopting a persona: ``Like Oedipus I am losing my sight./Like Judas I have done my wrong.'' Much of the early poetry was workshop-influenced, but Sexton's music as well as her intensity and good ear ultimately come through. Rosaly De Maios Roffman, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Indiana

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