19 pages • 38 minutes read
Anne SextonSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1981A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
"Wanting to Die" by Anne Sexton (1966)
One of confessional poetry’s most famous poems, “Wanting to Die” appeared in Sexton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Live or Die collection in 1966 and deals with Sexton’s experience with suicidal ideation.
"Cinderella" by Anne Sexton (1971)
Another fairy tale retelling from Transformations, “Cinderella” similarly uses a modern speaker with acerbic wit and cultural criticism to examine the values at the root of the traditional story.
"Her Kind" by Anne Sexton (1960)
From Sexton’s first collection To Bedlam and Part Way Back, “Her Kind” presents a nuanced, complex version of womanhood, troubled by Sexton’s own experiences with mental health conditions.
Further Literary Resources
The Poetry Foundation’s article gives a short recap of the confessional poetry movement, touching on key poets like W. D. Snodgrass, Robert Lowell, and Sylvia Plath, as well as Sexton. It also discusses some of the controversies associated with the label.
"Anne Sexton’s 1967 Letter" (1967)
This 1967 letter and accompanying article on the Academy of American Poets website offers a glimpse into Sexton’s writing and public reading process, as well as her feelings about her recent Pulitzer Prize.
"A Tortured Inheritance" by Linda Gray Sexton (2009)
In a 2009 op-ed in The New York Times, Sexton’s daughter, Linda Gray Sexton, responds to the recent suicide of Sylvia Plath’s son. She discusses her own experiences with suicide attempts and the difficulty of living as the child of a mother who died by suicide. She writes: “My mother always said, ‘Tell it true,’ and I believe she thought, as I do, that it is important to share the experience of depression with others, who may be suffering in the same way” (Sexton, Linda Gray. “A Tortured Inheritance.” The New York Times).
"On the Friendship and Rivalry of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton" by Gail Crowther (2021)
Crowther’s article on two key women of the confessional movement explores two “hugely ambitious women in a cultural moment that did not know how to deal with ambitious women” (Crowther, Gail. “On the Friendship and Rivalry of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.” Literary Hub).
