Anne Sexton, originally named Anne Gray Harvey, was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1928. She started writing poetry later in life and under unusual circumstances: after experiencing a mental breakdown in her late twenties, her psychiatrist suggested that she write as a form of therapy. Taking this advice to heart, she enrolled in a seminar led by poet John Holmes at the Boston Center for Adult Education, and later studied with Robert Lowell at Boston University, where she became close friends with Sylvia Plath.
What made Sexton immediately captivating — and controversial — was her willingness to expose the private aspects of her life. During a time when poetry often kept a certain distance from the messy realities of existence, Sexton wrote candidly about mental illness, hospitalization, her suicidal thoughts, marriage, her body, and her complex feelings about motherhood. She became a key figure in what critics labeled confessional poetry, alongside Lowell, Plath, and W.D. Snodgrass.
“Her debut collection, *To Bedlam and Part Way Back* (1960), clearly showcased her voice: raw, formally structured, and unflinching.”
She followed this with *All My Pretty Ones* (1962) and *Live or Die* (1966), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1967. Receiving the Pulitzer signaled to the literary community that this type of intimate, honest work deserved a prominent place in American poetry rather than being pushed to the margins.
Later collections, such as *Transformations* (1971) — a darkly humorous retelling of Grimm fairy tales — revealed a different side of her: wry, satirical, and still profoundly personal beneath the surface. Her final books became more fragmented, mirroring a life that was increasingly difficult to manage. She battled bipolar disorder throughout her adult life, faced multiple hospitalizations, and navigated personal relationships filled with pain and complexity.
