The Complete Poems

by Sexton, Anne

• ISBN13: 9780395957769
• ISBN10: 0395957761
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-28
• Publisher: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN CO

Summary

From the joy and anguish of her own experience, Sexton fashioned poems that told truths about the inner lives of men and women. This book comprises Sexton's ten volumes of verse, including the Pulitzer Prize-winner Live or Die, as well as seven poems form her last years.

Author Biography

Anne Sexton was born in 1928 and lived all her life in the Boston area. In 1967 she received the Pulitzer Prize. She committed suicide in 1974.

Table of Contents

A Note on the Text	p. v
How It Was: Maxine Kumin on Anne Sexton	p. xix
To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960)
You, Doctor Martin	p. 3
Kind Sir: These Woods	p. 4
Torn Down from Glory Daily	p. 5
Music Swims Back to Me	p. 6
The Bells	p. 7
Elizabeth Gone	p. 8
Some Foreign Letters	p. 9
The Kite	p. 11
Said the Poet to the Analyst	p. 12
Venus and the Ark	p. 13
Her Kind	p. 15
The Exorcists	p. 16
Where I Live in This Honorable House of the Laurel Tree	p. 17
Portrait of an Old Woman on the College Tavern Wall	p. 18
The Farmer's Wife	p. 19
Funnel	p. 20
The Expatriates	p. 21
For Johnny Pole on the Forgotten Beach	p. 22
Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward	p. 24
What's That	p. 25
The Moss of His Skin	p. 26
Hutch	p. 27
Noon Walk on the Asylum Lawn	p. 27
Ringing the Bells	p. 28
Lullaby	p. 29
The Lost Ingredient	p. 30
The Road Back	p. 30
The Waiting Head	p. 31
Elegy in the Classroom	p. 32
A Story for Rose on the Midnight Flight to Boston	p. 32
For John, Who Begs Me Not to Enquire Further	p. 34
The Double Image	p. 35
The Division of Parts	p. 42
All My Pretty Ones (1962)
The Truth the Dead Know	p. 49
All My Pretty Ones	p. 49
Young	p. 51
Lament	p. 52
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph	p. 53
The Starry Night	p. 53
Old Dwarf Heart	p. 54
I Remember	p. 55
The Operation	p. 56
A Curse Against Elegies	p. 60
The Abortion	p. 61
With Mercy for the Greedy	p. 62
For God While Sleeping	p. 63
In the Deep Museum	p. 64
Ghosts	p. 65
The Fortress	p. 66
Old	p. 69
The Hangman	p. 69
Woman with Girdle	p. 70
The House	p. 71
Water	p. 75
Wallflower	p. 76
Housewife	p. 77
Doors, Doors, Doors	p. 78
Letter Written on a Ferry While Crossing Long Island Sound	p. 81
From the Garden	p. 84
Love Song for K. Owyne	p. 85
Flight	p. 86
For Eleanor Boylan Talking with God	p. 87
The Black Art	p. 88
Letter Written During a January Northeaster	p. 89
Live or Die (1966)
Author's Note	p. 94
And One for My Dame	p. 95
The Sun	p. 96
Flee on Your Donkey	p. 97
Three Green Windows	p. 105
Somewhere in Africa	p. 106
Imitations of Drowning	p. 107
Mother and Jack and the Rain	p. 109
Consorting with Angels	p. 111
The Legend of the One-eyed Man	p. 112
Love Song	p. 115
Man and Wife	p. 116
Those Times...	p. 118
Two Sons	p. 121
To Lose the Earth	p. 123
Sylvia's Death	p. 126
Protestant Easter	p. 128
For the Year of the Insane	p. 131
Crossing the Atlantic	p. 133
Walking in Paris	p. 135
Menstruation at Forty	p. 137
Christmas Eve	p. 139
KE 6-8018	p. 140
Wanting to Die	p. 142
The Wedding Night	p. 144
Little Girl, My String Bean, My Lovely Woman	p. 145
A Little Uncomplicated Hymn	p. 148
Your Face on the Dog's Neck	p. 152
Self in 1958	p. 155
Suicide Note	p. 156
In the Beach House	p. 159
Cripples and Other Stories	p. 160
Pain for a Daughter	p. 163
The Addict	p. 165
Live	p. 167
Love Poems (1969)
The Touch	p. 173
The Kiss	p. 174
The Breast	p. 175
The Interrogation of the Man of Many Hearts	p. 176
That Day	p. 180
In Celebration of My Uterus	p. 181
The Nude Swim	p. 183
Song for a Red Nightgown	p. 184
Loving the Killer	p. 185
For My Lover, Returning to His Wife	p. 188
The Break	p. 190
It Is a Spring Afternoon	p. 193
Just Once	p. 194
Again and Again and Again	p. 195
You All Know the Story of the Other Woman	p. 196
Moon Song, Woman Song	p. 196
The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator	p. 198
Barefoot	p. 199
The Papa and Mama Dance	p. 200
Now	p. 201
Us	p. 202
Mr. Mine	p. 204
Song for a Lady	p. 204
Knee Song	p. 205
Eighteen Days Without You	p. 205
Transformations (1971)
The Gold Key	p. 223
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	p. 224
The White Snake	p. 229
Rumpelstiltskin	p. 233
The Little Peasant	p. 237
Godfather Death	p. 242
Rapunzel	p. 244
Iron Hans	p. 249
Cinderella	p. 255
One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes	p. 258
The Wonderful Musician	p. 264
Red Riding Hood	p. 267
The Maiden Without Hands	p. 273
The Twelve Dancing Princesses	p. 276
The Frog Prince	p. 281
Hansel and Gretel	p. 286
Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty)	p. 290
The Book of Folly (1972)
Thirty Poems
The Ambition Bird	p. 299
The Doctor of the Heart	p. 301
Oh	p. 302
Sweeney	p. 304
Mother and Daughter	p. 305
The Wifebeater	p. 307
The Firebombers	p. 308
The One-Legged Man	p. 308
The Assassin	p. 310
Going Gone	p. 311
Anna Who Was Mad	p. 312
The Hex	p. 313
Dreaming the Breasts	p. 314
The Red Shoes	p. 315
The Other	p. 317
The Silence	p. 318
The Hoarder	p. 319
Killing the Spring	p. 320
The Death of the Fathers	p. 322
Oysters	p. 322
How We Danced	p. 323
The Boat	p. 324
Santa	p. 325
Friends	p. 327
Begat	p. 329
Angels of the Love Affair	p. 332
Angel of Fire and Genitals	p. 332
Angel of Clean Sheets	p. 333
Angel of Flight and Sleigh Bells	p. 333
Angel of Hope and Calendars	p. 334
Angel of Blizzards and Blackouts	p. 335
Angel of Beach Houses and Picnics	p. 335
The Jesus Papers
Jesus Suckles	p. 337
Jesus Awake	p. 338
Jesus Asleep	p. 338
Jesus Raises Up the Harlot	p. 339
Jesus Cooks	p. 340
Jesus Summons Forth	p. 341
Jesus Dies	p. 342
Jesus Unborn	p. 343
The Author of the Jesus Papers Speaks	p. 344
The Death Notebooks (1974)
Gods	p. 349
Making a Living	p. 350
For Mr. Death Who Stands with His Door Open	p. 351
Faustus and I	p. 353
The Death Baby	p. 354
Dreams	p. 354
The Dy-dee Doll	p. 355
Seven Times	p. 356
Madonna	p. 356
Max	p. 357
Baby	p. 357
Rats Live on No Evil Star	p. 359
Grandfather, Your Wound	p. 361
Baby Picture	p. 362
The Furies	p. 363
The Fury of Beautiful Bones	p. 363
The Fury of Hating Eyes	p. 364
The Fury of Guitars and Sopranos	p. 365
The Fury of Earth	p. 366
The Fury of Jewels and Coal	p. 367
The Fury of Cooks	p. 367
The Fury of Cocks	p. 369
The Fury of Abandonment	p. 370
The Fury of Overshoes	p. 371
The Fury of Rain Storms	p. 372
The Fury of Flowers and Worms	p. 373
The Fury of God's Good-bye	p. 374
The Fury of Sundays	p. 375
The Fury of Sunsets	p. 376
The Fury of Sunrises	p. 377
Praying on a 707	p. 378
Clothes	p. 380
Mary's Song	p. 381
God's Backside	p. 382
Jesus Walking	p. 383
Hurry Up Please It's Time	p. 384
O Ye Tongues	p. 396
First Psalm	p. 396
Second Psalm	p. 398
Third Psalm	p. 399
Fourth Psalm	p. 401
Fifth Psalm	p. 403
Sixth Psalm	p. 405
Seventh Psalm	p. 406
Eighth Psalm	p. 408
Ninth Psalm	p. 409
Tenth Psalm	p. 411
The Awful Rowing Toward God (1975)
Rowing	p. 417
The Civil War	p. 418
The Children	p. 419
Two Hands	p. 421
The Room of My Life	p. 422
The Witch's Life	p. 423
The Earth Falls Down	p. 424
Courage	p. 425
Riding the Elevator into the Sky	p. 426
When Man Enters Woman	p. 428
The Fish That Walked	p. 428
The Fallen Angels	p. 430
The Earth	p. 431
After Auschwitz	p. 432
The Poet of Ignorance	p. 433
The Sermon of the Twelve Acknowledgments	p. 435
The Evil Eye	p. 437
The Dead Heart	p. 439
The Play	p. 440
The Sickness Unto Death	p. 441
Locked Doors	p. 442
The Evil Seekers	p. 443
The Wall	p. 445
Is It True?	p. 446
Welcome Morning	p. 455
Jesus, the Actor, Plays the Holy Ghost	p. 456
The God-Monger	p. 457
What the Bird with the Human Head Knew	p. 458
The Fire Thief	p. 460
The Big Heart	p. 462
Words	p. 463
Mothers	p. 464
Doctors	p. 465
Frenzy	p. 466
Snow	p. 467
Small Wire	p. 468
The Saints Come Marching In	p. 469
Not So. Not So.	p. 472
The Rowing Endeth	p. 473
Posthumously Published Work
45 Mercy Street (1976)
Editor's Note	p. 479
Beginning the Hegira
45 Mercy Street	p. 481
Talking to Sheep	p. 484
The Falling Dolls	p. 486
The Money Swing	p. 487
Food	p. 488
The Child Bearers	p. 489
The Taker	p. 490
The Risk	p. 491
Praying to Big Jack	p. 491
Red Roses	p. 492
The Shout	p. 493
Keeping the City	p. 494
Bestiary U.S.A.
Bat	p. 497
Hog	p. 498
Porcupine	p. 498
Hornet	p. 499
Star-Nosed Mole	p. 500
Snail	p. 501
Lobster	p. 501
Snake	p. 502
Moose	p. 502
Sheep	p. 503
Cockroach	p. 503
Raccoon	p. 504
Seal	p. 505
Earthworm	p. 505
Whale	p. 506
Horse	p. 507
June Bug	p. 507
Gull	p. 508
The Divorce Papers
Where It Was At Back Then	p. 509
The Wedlock	p. 510
Landscape Winter	p. 511
Despair	p. 512
Divorce	p. 512
Waking Alone	p. 513
Bayonet	p. 515
The Wedding Ring Dance	p. 516
When the Glass of My Body Broke	p. 517
The Break Away	p. 518
The Stand-Ins	p. 526
The Love Plant	p. 527
Killing the Love	p. 529
The Red Dance	p. 530
The Inventory of Goodbye	p. 532
The Lost Lie	p. 533
End, Middle, Beginning	p. 534
Eating the Leftovers
Cigarettes and Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women	p. 537
The Passion of the Mad Rabbit	p. 538
The Angel Food Dogs	p. 539
Leaves That Talk	p. 540
"Daddy" Warbucks	p. 543
Divorce, Thy Name Is Woman	p. 545
The Fierceness of Female	p. 546
The Big Boots of Pain	p. 547
Demon	p. 549
The Sea Corpse	p. 551
There You Were	p. 552
The Consecrating Mother	p. 554
Words for Dr. Y. (1978)
Editor's Note	p. 559
Letters to Dr. Y. (1960-1970)	p. 561
Poems 1971-1973
Buying the Whore	p. 581
To Like, To Love	p. 581
The Surgeon	p. 583
Speaking Bitterness	p. 584
Telephone	p. 585
Yellow	p. 586
The Death King	p. 587
The Errand	p. 588
The Twelve-Thousand-Day Honeymoon	p. 589
Scorpio, Bad Spider, Die: The Horoscope Poems
Madame Arrives in the Mail	p. 591
January 1st	p. 592
January 19th	p. 593
January 24th	p. 594
February 3rd	p. 595
February 4th	p. 596
February 11th	p. 597
February 17th	p. 598
February 20th	p. 599
February 21st	p. 600
March 4th	p. 601
March 7th	p. 601
May 30th	p. 602
August 8th	p. 602
August 17th	p. 603
Last Poems
Admonitions to a Special Person	p. 607
In Excelsis	p. 608
Uses	p. 610
As It Was Written	p. 611
Lessons in Hunger	p. 612
Love Letter Written in a Burning Building	p. 613
Index of Titles	p. 617
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