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The Voice of the Poet
The Voice of the Poet: Anne Sexton
Read by the Poet
One Cassette, 1 hour
The second installment of our exclusive The Voice of the Poet series, comprised of rare archival recordings, some never before released, featuring Anne Sexton.
This audio production is accompanied by a book containing the text to the poems and a commentary by J.D. McClatchy.
One Cassette, 1 hour
The second installment of our exclusive The Voice of the Poet series, comprised of rare archival recordings, some never before released, featuring Anne Sexton.
This audio production is accompanied by a book containing the text to the poems and a commentary by J.D. McClatchy.
Audio Cassette
First published April 1, 2000
67 people want to read
About the author
Anne Sexton
155 books2,518 followersAnne Sexton once told a journalist that her fans thought she got better, but actually, she just became a poet. These words are characteristic of a talented poet that received therapy for years, but committed suicide in spite of this. The poetry fed her art, but it also imprisoned her in a way.
Her parents didn’t expect much of her academically, and after completing her schooling at Rogers Hall, she went to a finishing school in Boston. Anne met her husband, Kayo (Alfred Muller Sexton II), in 1948 by correspondence. Her mother advised her to elope after she thought she might be pregnant. Anne and Kayo got married in 1948 in North Carolina. After the honeymoon Kayo started working at his father-in-law’s wool business.
In 1953 Anne gave birth to her first-born, Linda Gray. Two years later Linda’s sister, Joyce Ladd, was born. But Anne couldn’t cope with the pressure of two small children over and above Kayo’s frequent absence (due to work). Shortly after Joy was born, Anne was admitted to Westwood Lodge where she was treated by the psychiatrist Dr. Martha Brunner-Orne (and six months later, her son, Dr. Martin Orne, took over). The original diagnosis was for post-natal depression, but the psychologists later decided that Anne suffered from depression of biological nature.
While she was receiving psychiatric treatment, Anne started writing poetry. It all started after another suicide attempt, when Orne came to her and told her that she still has a purpose in life. At that stage she was convinced that she could only become a prostitute. Orne showed her another talent that she had, and her first poetry appeared in print in the January of 1957. She wrote a huge amount of poetry that was published in a dozen poetry books. In 1967 she became the proud recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Live or Die (1966).
In March 1972 Anne and Kayo got divorced. After this a desperate kind of loneliness took over her life. Her addiction to pills and alcohol worsened. Without Kayo the house was very quiet, the children were at college and most of Anne’s friends were avoiding her because they could no longer sympathize with her growing problems. Her poetry started playing such a major role in her life that conflicts were written out, rather than being faced. Anne didn’t mention a word to Kayo about her intention to get divorced. He knew that she desperately needed him, but her poems, and her real feelings toward him, put it differently. Kayo talks about it in an interview as follows: “... I honestly don’t know, never have known, what her real, driving motive was in the divorce. Which is another reason why it absolutely drove me into the floor like a nail when she did it.”
On 4 October 1974 she put on her mother’s old fur coat before, glass of vodka in hand, she climbed into her car, turned the key and died of monodioxide inhalation. She once told Orne that “I feel like my mother whenever I put it [the fur coat] on”. Her oldest daughter, Linda, was appointed as literary executor and we have her to thank for the three poetry books that appeared posthumously.
Her parents didn’t expect much of her academically, and after completing her schooling at Rogers Hall, she went to a finishing school in Boston. Anne met her husband, Kayo (Alfred Muller Sexton II), in 1948 by correspondence. Her mother advised her to elope after she thought she might be pregnant. Anne and Kayo got married in 1948 in North Carolina. After the honeymoon Kayo started working at his father-in-law’s wool business.
In 1953 Anne gave birth to her first-born, Linda Gray. Two years later Linda’s sister, Joyce Ladd, was born. But Anne couldn’t cope with the pressure of two small children over and above Kayo’s frequent absence (due to work). Shortly after Joy was born, Anne was admitted to Westwood Lodge where she was treated by the psychiatrist Dr. Martha Brunner-Orne (and six months later, her son, Dr. Martin Orne, took over). The original diagnosis was for post-natal depression, but the psychologists later decided that Anne suffered from depression of biological nature.
While she was receiving psychiatric treatment, Anne started writing poetry. It all started after another suicide attempt, when Orne came to her and told her that she still has a purpose in life. At that stage she was convinced that she could only become a prostitute. Orne showed her another talent that she had, and her first poetry appeared in print in the January of 1957. She wrote a huge amount of poetry that was published in a dozen poetry books. In 1967 she became the proud recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Live or Die (1966).
In March 1972 Anne and Kayo got divorced. After this a desperate kind of loneliness took over her life. Her addiction to pills and alcohol worsened. Without Kayo the house was very quiet, the children were at college and most of Anne’s friends were avoiding her because they could no longer sympathize with her growing problems. Her poetry started playing such a major role in her life that conflicts were written out, rather than being faced. Anne didn’t mention a word to Kayo about her intention to get divorced. He knew that she desperately needed him, but her poems, and her real feelings toward him, put it differently. Kayo talks about it in an interview as follows: “... I honestly don’t know, never have known, what her real, driving motive was in the divorce. Which is another reason why it absolutely drove me into the floor like a nail when she did it.”
On 4 October 1974 she put on her mother’s old fur coat before, glass of vodka in hand, she climbed into her car, turned the key and died of monodioxide inhalation. She once told Orne that “I feel like my mother whenever I put it [the fur coat] on”. Her oldest daughter, Linda, was appointed as literary executor and we have her to thank for the three poetry books that appeared posthumously.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 24, 2014
This edition is a combination of a little book, in which some of Anne Sexton's poems are collected, from her earliest work until the 70's when she committed suicide, and a cassette letting you listen to said poems read by the author herself. This was an amazing format and very special to hear the poems in the poet's voice, and I enjoyed this a lot.
Also Sexton's work is extraordinary, her poems are very personal and as a reader you have the feeling of being taken home with her, even of spying. They have a very honest feeling to themselves, and are just about Anne Sexton's life and her experiences, about everyday life, too. I also loved the style she wrote in, at least until two thirds/three forths into the book. Then not only her style and topics changed, but at the same time her voice on the cassette, and in my opinion the quality of her writing dropped immensely. I'll definitely have a look for more of hear early work, that impressed me a lot, and I'd rate this edition a clear five stars if it wasn't for the poems after the mid 60's.
Also Sexton's work is extraordinary, her poems are very personal and as a reader you have the feeling of being taken home with her, even of spying. They have a very honest feeling to themselves, and are just about Anne Sexton's life and her experiences, about everyday life, too. I also loved the style she wrote in, at least until two thirds/three forths into the book. Then not only her style and topics changed, but at the same time her voice on the cassette, and in my opinion the quality of her writing dropped immensely. I'll definitely have a look for more of hear early work, that impressed me a lot, and I'd rate this edition a clear five stars if it wasn't for the poems after the mid 60's.
October 5, 2023
Hauntingly beautiful poetry.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews