poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

Poetry is perception. It will evoke many different emotions FROM many different people. I understand josh and bed's want to anylize what it means to them, but understand that it is asubjective opinion. claiming to know what the author meant or felt will never do her justice. Let her words move you, make you think, dream, fear, or even hate. and give others that same coutesy as well.

to josh and bed: if you like anne sexton you might want to read "said the poet to the anylist". i think you might find it interesting.

"ballad of the lonely masturbator" couldn't be any more straightforward. she directly discusses her ex-husband, who she left btw, and his new wife. she's lonely. she misses not so much him, but men in general. she's bitter because she remembers and must satisfy herself now, "i am fed." she's also seems to feel pissed and used by her ex-husband or again, men in general who used her as a means to get off. she's envious of the "boys and girls" who have what she once had.

Actually, this was written before Anne Sexton's divorce from Alfred "Kayo" Muller Sexton II. It is about her married lover (just which one escapes me at the moment) who decides to return to his wife. It is in the same vein as many of the poems written at this time including "For my lover returning to his wife." Read the two as a pair it might straighten things out for you. Sexton conducted a long list of extra-marital affairs during her marriage to Kayo. Some of these affairs were with poets within her circle (James Wright, George Starbuck) Much of her poetry is devoted to these different lovers and the loss that Anne felt when the affair collapsed. Sexton was an extremely sexual person who used sex as an outlet to renew herself and to feel powerful. Besides, Kayo did not remarry until after Sexton's death in 1974.

I took this poem to school and showed it to some of my classmates just to see thier reactions. They instantly read the title and were curious about the poem and read eagerly until they read the poem and were disappointed when it wasn't full of lusty explicit details and wasn't written in the language they were used to. I love this poem because it caught my attention and because it shows a rare beauty in self-discovery. Masturbation, especially for women, is very taboo. I myself felt really guily about masturbating because i felt it was wrong until I read this poem and realized it was a natural thing.

well...upon discovering "The Lonely Masturbator", i was shocked to see that someone actually took the time out of their day to write about masturbation. But it was a brilliantly composed piece of poetry ..you took the words right out of my mouth Anne..KUDOS!! i mean god knows we all get the urge;-)

i think this poem is fantastic.
it's about her lonliness, but it's also very bold. it's like the 'sex and city' of it's time! anne sexton is very brave to have written this.

Anne Sexton's poetry is the poetry of the self--of self love and self abuse. Everything she wrote was about masturbating her own ego. This is true of all poets and most artists in general. At least she was completely and unreservedly honest and celebratory about it. I find that beautiful, amusing and refreshing. Don't understimate the tongue-in-cheek innuendo of her poems, as well as the sadness and the sexiness.

The title alone says volumes.

Can't you see the pain she was taken away by the only man she was ever with "plum" She was sent to this by that awful women she went to go have fun too but it was taken away so now she is solitude

I love this poem. Poetically, philosophically. Enough said.