Transformations

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and is among the most prominent practitioners of confessional poetry. Beginning to write seriously following a psychiatric breakdown, she studied under Robert Lowell and became part of an influential circle that included Sylvia Plath. Her collection Live or Die (Houghton Mifflin, 1966) won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Other major works include To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960) and Transformations (1971), a reimagining of Grimm fairy tales. Her poetry confronts mental illness, the female body, and religious doubt with unsparing directness. She received a fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.