Rare Film Clips Of The Poet Anne Sexton

Short clips of Anne Sexton reciting some poetry and excerpts from home movies.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Anne
• Sexton
• Sylvia
• Plath
• Poetry
• Suicide

[BeatBuddy]

I thought her biography by Diane Middlebrook was excellent.

[Nickfromglasgow]

Thanks for posting this; a rare opportunity to view her speaking. Much appreciated

[nerdygurl]

post pardom depression doesn't mean she was crazy, it's a chemical imbalance that messes with the serotonin in the brain.

[ManilaSyndicate]

@ebourquetunes Interesting. For her to have done what she did Sexton was obviously mentally ill. She may have been histrionic.

I agree on Plath - she was the more talented poet though Sexton qualifies as one of America's finest versifiers.

[ManilaSyndicate]

It's good to see clips of the noted poets. Sexton was talented and attractive but obviously a loon.

[COUSINCAT]

@Leishalynn No of course not - silly me! Suicide in your car by carbon-monoxide poisoning is waaay better! At least Plath didn't sexually molest her daughter and then, when requested by said-daughter's therapist to repsect her personal boundaries, petulantly complain that her own shrink said that there could "never be too much love between a parent and child'. My problem with Sexton is not how she DIED but how she LIVED (which I think is pretty obvious from my earlier posts if u've read them)

[Leishalynn]

@COUSINCAT Seriously, the one who stuck her head in an oven is the "superior"?

[thepassion10]

Nice to see such generosity of Spirit on a Page like this Folks. You really know how to show your begrudgers side don't you lol. What a bunch of narrow-minded losers infest Youtube.

[ebourquetunes]

@COUSINCAT I agree that her "illness" was probably manipulative. Her daughter says something like "Mother only tried to commit suicide 9 times"..."only"? People who are truly & utterly without hope, due to bi-polar or depression, usually succeed on the1st or 2nd attempt. It's documented fact. I believe it was in Middlebrook's book that when Sexton heard of Plath's suicide she was furious and said something like, "That should have been mine!". What a contrived, self promoting fake.

[COUSINCAT]

@ebourquetunes By the way, while I admire some of Sexton's earlier poems, I find her latter stuff the most horrendously, self-conscious, pretentious wank; the sort of stuff that puts non-poetry readers off for life - and rightly so! I know it's not a competition; (tho according to Middlebrook's bio, Sexton definitely perceived Sylvia Plath as a rival), Plath was DEFINITELY the superior talent (and the superior human being as well!)

[COUSINCAT]

@ebourquetunes Totally agree - have read the Diane Middlebrook biography 5 times now and I'm still amazed that her repellent, manipulative, narcissistic and - let's be honest - child abuse/incest, is STILL excused by her fans. Frankly, I reckon a lot of her 'illness' (which gave her license to do whatever/whenever she wanted) was bullshit - take the alleged 'disassociative states' or 'trances' that even Middlebrook seems to buy into - what a load of crap! Deeply fucked up? Sure! Truly insane? NO