Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Anne Sexton

Quote by Anne Sexton

Work

Anne Sexton: A Self-portrait in Letters

This book presents a candid look at the life and work of Anne Sexton through her own words. The letters, spanning several years, reveal her struggles with mental health, her relationships, and her development as a poet. more

Author

Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton was an American poet known for her confessional and autobiographical poetry. Her works delved deeply into personal pain, family relationships, and social issues, profoundly influencing 20th-century poetry. more

You May Also Like

“GUIL: It [Hamlet's madness] really boils down to symptoms. Pregnant replies, mystic allusions, mistaken identities, arguing his father is his mother, that sort of thing; intimations of suicide, forgoing of exercise, loss of mirth, hints of claustrophobia not to say delusions of imprisonment; invocations of camels, chameleons, capons, whales, weasels, hawks, handsaws -- riddles, quibbles and evasions; amnesia, paranoia, myopia; day-dreaming, hallucinations; stabbing his elders, abusing his parents, insulting his lover, and appearing hatless in public -- knock-kneed, droop-stockinged and sighing like a love-sick schoolboy, which at his age is coming on a bit strong. ROS: And talking to himself. GUIL: And talking to himself.”

“Learning what to hold on to and what to release is one of life’s most delicate and ongoing lessons. ... Letting go is not about erasing what has mattered. It is about acknowledging that everything has its time. Some relationships teach us lessons and then gently fade. ... To recognise that something no longer fits is not a betrayal; it is a recognition of change”

“The manic relief that comes from the fantasy that we can with one savage slash cut the chains of the past and rise like a phoenix, free of all history, is generally a tipping point into insanity, akin to believing that we can escape the endless constraints of gravity, and fly off a tall building. “I’m freeeee… SPLAT!”.”