Commentary on Anne Sexton´s Poem, A Twist on the Tale of Cinderella

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At one time or another, the beautiful fairy tale Cinderella has been in nearly every child’s life at one time. Anne Sexton manages to put a twist in her version of Cinderella, born in 1928-1970. Sexton was well-known as an Outstanding Contemporary poet with a vivid style of writing in her literature. The irony way of word choices was used in this poem not holding back on the sarcasm, harshness, to dramatize the events in the story. The Cinderella fairy tale becomes a makeover of a beautiful poem to a dark, amusing version of the original poem. “I think poetry should be a shock to the senses, it should almost hurt” (Sexton, p. 250).

Cinderella life changes when her mother dies and her father remarry a woman with two daughters. Not recognizing what her life would be with her new family, she is given a broom and a mop to serve the stepmother and her wicked daughters. With the aid of her own father, she was subject to abuse, neglect, and had inadequate living condition. The stepmother despises her for her beauty and goodness, only to stand out her own daughters’ ugliness. Envious ...

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