Jenny (Reading Envy)'s Reviews > Live or Die

Winner of the Pulitzer in 1967, 10 years before Sexton took her own life, these poems are reflective of her severe depression. She seems to be questioning her own existence (several poems mention being the youngest and neglected), her identity as a wife and mother, and how she will find happiness. She in fact started writing poetry after a suggestion from one of her therapists after an earlier suicide attempt. So, fair warning.

Sexton was a poet I always meant to try. I would read more of her work, but possibly position it between lighter reads.

My favorite poem was:

Consorting with Angels
"I was tired of being a woman...
...I was tired of the gender of things...
I'm no more a woman
than Christ was a man."