Anne Sextom, an American poet, was born November 9,1928 in Newton, Massachusetts. Sexton got married at age 19. After having her first daughter in 1955, Sexton had her first mental breakdown. Suffering from depression, Sexton went to a therapist where she was told to start writing. Anne Sexton’s poems are typically about her personal issues. (Poetry Foundation, page 1) Sexton’s poem Courage is all about a depressing journey of someone’s life with each stanza being a new adventure. By talking about this person's life, she shows off how much courage they have. Sexton starts off talking about how the child has a lot of courage by trying something new and riding his bike for the first time. She then talks about how the child faces courage by getting his first spanking to being bullied at school. Next, the man displays courage by going to war. The last stanza then talks about death. Sexton makes death seem very calm and that more people should embrace it. This certain poem shows the relationship between courage and pain. (Book Rags, page 1) …show more content…
Although it might seem to be just like the film, Sexton focuses more on the harsh actions. In the poem Cinderella, Sexton describes how her mother dies and how her stepmother is so cruel to her. Also in this poem, Sexton mentions how rude and relentless her stepsisters are. She then acknowledges how she marries Prince Charming. Sexton presents this story more relatable than the film does. Sexton, being a feminist, releases the women's true struggles in a relationship. She describes how it is not always easy and one does not just live happily ever after, Sexton shows how the woman will struggle. (Litritcher 13, page
There have been countless people throughout time who were wonderful people, and Anne Frank was one of those people. She has multiple great quotes such as, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Most people would have considered Anne to have been a brave individual. I also feel that Anne was a extremely honorable person. Another characteristic of Anne that made her so wonderful is that she was persistent.
Who would anybody be without courage? All of the characters from the story Anne Frank -The VanDaans, The Franks, Mr. Dussel, Miep, and Mr. Kraler- would be miserable if they did not have any courage. Granted, some people are braver than others, but at some point, each and every person in The Diary Anne Frank had to have courage in the situations that they were in. The Holocaust was a difficult time for everyone; some people were forced to have more courage than others given the circumstances. The people from the story were fortunate, but they still had to face their fair share of conflicts among themselves. Courage is a main theme in The Diary Anne Frank, and the VanDaan family, Meip and Mr. Kraler, and the Frank family all show courage in
One of the best explanations of courage is the following by Maya Angelou: “One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtues with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” Her explanation summarizes all that courage can lead you to who you are in life. Courage is standing up for what you believe in, despite disapproval, pain, fear, uncertainty, or intimidation. Courage is challenging what is normal. Courage is giving voice to those who cannot speak for themselves. Courage is using whatever power available to educate the world about injustice. Courage is following your heart even when the path is not known. Courage is trying after failing.
Anne Sexton utilizes imagery in her poem “Courage” to convey that courage grows in the significant moments of one’s life. The author applies imagery by describing “The child’s first step…The first time you rode a bike…the first spanking when your heart went on a journey all alone.” (Lines 2, 4, and 6-7). The vivid images that come to mind when reading these excerpts show the first moments that slowly begins to build one’s courage. These moments compile over time to aid a person when another symbolic or momentous occasion arises. Also, the author further utilizes imagery to strengthen the theme by describing the end of life “when death opens the back door… and [you] stride out.” (Lines 45 and 47). By creating the image of one of the most pivotal
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” This goes very well with my essay and also this story overall. The author sticks with the theme of courage throughout the entire book, and shows a little bit of it in almost every person in the book. In the story To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee defines courage within Atticus, Jem, and Scout, and believes that courage is more than just being a good person to your peers.
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee 128). Courage is accepting a challenge even when all odds are against you. In Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird, many people, including Mrs.Dubose, Atticus Finch, and Miss Caroline Fisher put on an amour of courage before going into battle for something they know they wont succeed in. From drugs to court cases, courage needs to be put on like a suit of armor.
Anne Sexton was born Anne Gray Harvey on November 9, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts to Ralph Churchill and Mary Gray Staples Harvey (Discovering Biographies 1). From then on, Sexton spent most of her life in the affluent, upper-middle class suburbs of Boston (Discovering Biographies 2). According to many of the experiences described in her poems, she led a very unhappy childhood that’s horrifying memories affected her throughout her life.
A young girl is forced to live with her step-mother and step-sisters after her father and mother die. She becomes the maid of the family, tending to their every need. Eventually there is a ball; she acquires a fairy Godmother, goes to the ball, falls in love with the prince, blah blah blah. All you really need to know is that she has a happy ending. A happy ending. No matter how much suffering she went through in her early years, at the end, it all came together and she had no more worries. And this is the problem. Cinderella is not realistic. It never was and never will be. Watching this movie when I was young made me believe there was a prince waiting for me somewhere. I grew up thinking that life was simple and uncomplicated, that I did not need to worry about the future because there was a man that would provide everything I wanted and needed. But as I got older, I realized this was not the case. I saw many of my friend’s parents divorce, people die, and the world fight with each other. My fantasy died off, and I realized I had to work hard for myself, and not others. The poem Cinderella by Anne Sexton made fun of the ending of Cinderella. She states, “Cinderella and the prince / lived … happily ever after … / their darling smiles pasted on for eternity. / Regular Bobbsey Twins. / That story.” (Sexton 11). Notice who she referenced and how she has a sarcastic tone. Cinderella and the prince smiled for others, trying to convince
One must look at this poem and imagine what is like to live thru this experience of becoming so tired of expecting to die everyday on the battlefield, that one starts to welcome it in order to escape the anticipation. The effects of living day in and day out in such a manner creates a person who either has lost the fear of death or has become so frighten of how they once lived the compensate for it later by living a guarded life. The one who loses the fear for death ends up with this way of living in which they only feel alive when faced with death. The person in this poem is one who has lost their fear of death, and now thrives off coming close to it he expresses it when he states “Here is the adrenaline rush you crave, that inexorable flight, that insane puncture” (LL.6-7). What happens to this persona when he leaves the battlefield? He pushes the limit trying to come close to death to feel alive; until they push
Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” is filled with literary elements that emphasize her overall purpose and meaning behind this satirical poem. Through the combination of enjambment stanzas, hyperboles, satire, and the overall mocking tone of the poem, Sexton brings to light the impractical nature of the story “Cinderella”. Not only does the author mock every aspect of this fairy tale, Sexton addresses the reader and adds dark, cynical elements throughout. Sexton’s manipulation of the well-known fairy tale “Cinderella” reminds readers that happily ever after’s are meant for storybooks and not real life.
To start with my knowledge, Walt Disney’s Cinderella is a story about magic, true love, and talking animals. In his version of the story Cinderella’s father remarries a woman with two daughters around Cinderella’s age and a cat. Soon after,
It starts with a fairy tale story, where all magical things happen and ends happily. The goodness is rewarded but the evil ones are punish. The closing of the story always ends with “and they live happily ever after,” and the main character becomes unhappy but eventually gains happiness at the end. The traditional Cinderella story figure is from “rags to riches.” It begins with a poor maid girl named Cinderella whose stepmother and stepsisters treated her unkindly, but because of the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella found her Prince Charming. In Anne Sexton’s Cinderella story, the author made changes to the traditional fairy tale by adding her own tale. Throughout the poem, Sexton uses sarcasm to finish the tale initiating the readers’ expectation of happy ending and a traditional fairy tale to vanish. In doing so, she shows the difference between the fairy tale and reality world. Sexton’s poem mocks the traditional happy ending. She is trying to show the reader that happily-ever-after does not even exist in reality. Overall, Sexton’s poem would be considered a dark classic fairy tale including violence and bloody details. By examining literary devices such as the author’s attitude toward the words she says, sensory details denoting specific physical experiences, and tropes to involve some kind of comparison, either explicit or implied, the reader will gain an understanding on what the author is trying to prove a point in her story.
The first clear difference is seen in the format the versions are written in. While the Grimm’s is written in prose, Sexton’s is a poem, with many stanzas and a few rhyme schemes as well. Despite the stories being similar, this format helps Sexton, who was a poet, separate her version from that of the Grimm’s, and helps her story create its own original identity. The Grimm’s prose form allows a more straightforward approach to its audiences, while Sexton’s poem helps it give the story a deeper meaning. Another major difference was Sexton’s addition of a new introduction and conclusion to her story. The poem starts off by mentioning other stories and fictional tales, but ends with truthful statements that show just how fictional the relationship between Cinderella and the prince is, like “Regular Bobbsey twins” (Sexton 79). Sexton also breaks the fourth wall in some instances, mostly to show her cynical and sarcastic attitude towards her story’s own character, Cinderella. In comparison, the Grimm’s Cinderella is shown to be the typical goody-two shoes damsel in distress, which every girl should try to be like. Sexton’s commentary in her poem changes this attitude towards Cinderella, and instead makes Cinderella look like the fragile, naïve, and helpless woman that she is. These divergences are what grab new and old readers of either the fairy tale genre, or Cinderella’s story alike. Old readers get to experience new elements and a fresh take on an old story, while newer readers can find it easier to understand and follow through Sexton’s story and the ideas it’s trying to convey. All these contrasting elements help change Sexton’s versions tone and connotations, despite the stories being very
As many of us know, our world today is not short of sarcasm. Many times sarcasm can be funny but other times it can cause harm. But in Anne Sexton’s poem, she uses sarcasm to throw her audience back to actuality, even a midst a fairytale element. In Anne Sexton’s poem, Cinderella she uses sarcasm and a basis of the true tale to make what many would call a “mockery” of the original Grimm Tale. Sexton does not refer to the Grimm brothers in her poem, for she considers this re-telling her own creation, uniquely by using irony to her advantage. As an audience we can relate to how and why Sexton takes much from the original versions, but we find that her interpretation brings a different approach. Sexton felt the original versions held no light to reality, so she changed the shallow premise of the original Cinderella bringing all the unrealistic morals in the story to the surface. The author's style, tone, and language helps to convey her sarcastic approach and differentiate between gritty reality and the ideal of fairy tale endings.
The young maiden, called “Cinderella,” responded with kindness to this harsh treatment (Perrault 237). Cinderella could not go to a ball that a prince was throwing, but her fairy godmother helped her go for being so kindhearted (Perrault 238). In Sexton’s “Cinderella,” a dove gives Cinderella whatever she wants, and at the end, the dove pecks out both of the stepsisters’ eyes, just like in the second source (Sexton 249-252). This violent act is not what young readers should take from stories, due to their impressionable minds.