Anne Sexton reads: 'Her Kind' 1966

Anne Sexton, born Anne Gray Harvey (November 9, 1928 - October 4, 1974) was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967. She committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.(Wikipedia)
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Her Kind by Anne Sexton
I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.
I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.
I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.
Someone wrote this precious comment (unfortunately removed):
So much raw experience detailed in this poem. Just the first five lines alone are a doozy and those that follow no less so. abab cdcd ee rhyme scheme soft, understated, delicious words like disencumber, legal verbiage, commodore in a mail man's suit, Nassau, Cotillion, hurly burly, forgive. I imagine she wrote this in one sitting. I imagine she went to a lot, of trouble to get to record it just how she wanted it. I can't imagine how many takes it took to get the breathing, intonation, pauses just right just how she wanted it. What a beautiful poem. What a mammoth effort. All this to say, I think the music is superfluous to requirements and perhaps a little distracting.

Пікірлер: 43

  • @andrewbrendan1579
    @andrewbrendan15795 жыл бұрын

    Just this short reading by Anne Sexton is not just a reading but a performance. I noticed how she looks right into the camera and addresses the person listening and watching. I think it could be said that Anne Sexton was not only a poet but an actress and a very good actress.

  • @adamgomes538

    @adamgomes538

    7 ай бұрын

    She's not acting.

  • @Poemsguitar

    @Poemsguitar

    3 ай бұрын

    her eyes when she looks through the camera at me my heart stops my breathing stops this was filmed in 1966 i was 1 year old then...

  • @bettyhall7743
    @bettyhall77438 жыл бұрын

    God what a powerful poem this is. I have such deeply conflicted feelings on her as a person after reading her daughter's memoir, but her poetry still strikes a place so deep in me.

  • @aaronjames5276
    @aaronjames52762 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant. Anne and Sylvia Plath were my favorite poets for years. Heh. I wrote a paper on this poem for a literature class in HS. Wish I had access to things like YT back then. :). Wish I still had that paper. Was probably emarrasingly bad. But I think I got a B+! LOL

  • @RkristinaTay
    @RkristinaTay7 жыл бұрын

    Exquisite poem, exquisitely beautiful woman.

  • @kathyevans5496
    @kathyevans54964 жыл бұрын

    My, oh, my. A little eerie. A little errie canal! But it fits this time of year when the dark comes early.

  • @DaveK548
    @DaveK5484 жыл бұрын

    Wow. She is something else.

  • @darevblue
    @darevblue5 жыл бұрын

    OMG....Those eyes

  • @cxaxukluth5407

    @cxaxukluth5407

    5 жыл бұрын

    And what an enchanting smile she had...

  • @nursegrace7492

    @nursegrace7492

    5 жыл бұрын

    Re: Her Eyes: my friend was pals with her young children, and said Sexton's eyes were ice blue. She says it was like looking into the eyes of a witch, that looked right into and through you.

  • @dephc0n1
    @dephc0n15 жыл бұрын

    She says it so well compared to how I read it.

  • @GoblynGoods
    @GoblynGoods7 жыл бұрын

    I didn't expect her to be so attractive. When I read her poems I imagined her as an old lady writing from her many life endeavors.

  • @rukeyser

    @rukeyser

    6 жыл бұрын

    Ms. Ortega Perez She was beautiful - the dark sensuous foil to Sylvia Plath's blond. Read up - it's a heartbreaking epic.

  • @andrewbrendan1579

    @andrewbrendan1579

    5 жыл бұрын

    In her early married days and before she started seriously writing poetry Anne Sexton had worked as a fashion model and even afterward was known for being glamorous. There are some great photos of her that can be seen on dust jackets or even online. Anne Sexton knew how to strike a pose even when sitting at her desk in the dining room and with the kitchen sink in the background! Not only was she a terrific writer but when Anne Sexton read her poems I think it could be said she performed them. I never saw and heard Anne Sexton at a poetry reading but I've read it was quite an experience.

  • @symptomoftheuniverse4149

    @symptomoftheuniverse4149

    2 жыл бұрын

    Does it matter?

  • @alunjones2185

    @alunjones2185

    3 ай бұрын

    Head over. .. attractive! ❤

  • @gotf
    @gotf10 жыл бұрын

    This is breathtaking!

  • @tinaprivitera6669
    @tinaprivitera66694 жыл бұрын

    “lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.” I have been THAT kind.

  • @betapicts

    @betapicts

    4 жыл бұрын

    take good care of yourself

  • @tinaprivitera6669

    @tinaprivitera6669

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thank you, kind internet stranger.

  • @Esoteric_Occult_Study_Mastery

    @Esoteric_Occult_Study_Mastery

    2 жыл бұрын

    I have been that kind

  • @skyazrael5487
    @skyazrael54875 ай бұрын

    Beautiful ❤️

  • @ann5944
    @ann5944 Жыл бұрын

    that's how it's done❤

  • @mtnshelby7059
    @mtnshelby70593 жыл бұрын

    Chilling

  • @focusman7273
    @focusman72737 жыл бұрын

    god damn she is the bomb!

  • @rukeyser
    @rukeyser6 жыл бұрын

    The sound-editing to bring her voice up/reduce background noise is annoying. . And WORTH IT. The original is nearby if the trade-off sounds too harsh.

  • @vm-om1yk
    @vm-om1yk Жыл бұрын

    yes yes yes

  • @claudiofiacco8283
    @claudiofiacco82833 жыл бұрын

    Bellaaa

  • @nobodyyouknow9412
    @nobodyyouknow94123 жыл бұрын

    There ya go

  • @ivanbonet4
    @ivanbonet46 жыл бұрын

    Hello. I bought The Complete Poems to read her in her native language, but english is not mine's. I have a couple of vocabulary questions. "Hitch" is to walk around? and "wind" in "your wheels wind" is about the sound of the wheels or is it a metaphor? Thanks if someone can help.

  • @betapicts

    @betapicts

    6 жыл бұрын

    nothing is more difficult than translating a poem (in principle it is impossible). I advise you to use Google translate: translate.google.com/

  • @ivanbonet4

    @ivanbonet4

    6 жыл бұрын

    Hello betapicts. As they say in the wonderful movie "Paterson", reading translated poetry is like taking a shower with a raincoat. That's not my case. I bought the book in english so I could read it in his original form. But, even understanding most of the words, I need help with some words/expressions. Online dictionaries and translators are helping me, but with those two words I mentioned I'm not very sure. Thanks for answering.

  • @betapicts

    @betapicts

    6 жыл бұрын

    hi Ivan, languages are separated universes, for each word languages have totally different connotations, and that makes a translation to a specific language so difficult. I speak Dutch, so my only option is to translate a poem to my own universe (or to copy a poem translated by a native speaker of another laguage). So I could only help you (perhaps) if you speak Dutch. If I had time I could try to translate the poem to my native language, but translating a poem to a language I don't speak is a hell of a job.

  • @ivanbonet4

    @ivanbonet4

    6 жыл бұрын

    No, please, not necessary. If I can understand everything, cool. But if I can understand everything except two words, I can live with it, no problem. (and the comment will remain in here, so maybe some day a native english speaker can help me. Thanks anyway)

  • @betapicts

    @betapicts

    6 жыл бұрын

    Hitch is an unusual word to use and done my hitch even more of a challenge to understand.To hitch-hike is to travel on the road thumbing a lift. A hitch is some minor problem or issue. To hitch is to jerkily move something, to connect - and this meaning seems to work best in this context. letterpile.com/poetry/Analysis-of-Poem-Her-Kind-by-Anne-Sexton (found on the internet in less than 1 minute)

  • @danielrosa587
    @danielrosa5875 ай бұрын

    Que mulher linda...meu Deus...a depressão a matou... não deveria ter morrido...grande poeta...fica a sua poesia cheio de metáforas femininas ou feministas de forte teor sexual e político...🤔🇧🇷

  • @jackieb8504
    @jackieb85044 жыл бұрын

    I have ridden in your cart, driver

  • @melinaazabache6896
    @melinaazabache68965 жыл бұрын

    I have a tragic crush with you