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hannahpayne's picture

Anne Sexton

In my opinion the most interesting reading in this section was Anne Sexton's "Transformations". Not only did I thoroughly enjoy Kurt Vonnegut's introduction to the poems, but I loved the modern take on the traditional stories. Clearly Anne Sexton was much more cynical than even the Brothers Grimm, who told a much darker tale than Disney. I really liked her metaphor of comparing Cinderella and the Prince to dolls in a glass case. They don't live at all when they "live happily ever after" because part of life is getting old, getting in fights, and having some sort of trouble. I also like how she repeats the phrase, "that story." She uses this at the beginning to tell all the different versions of rags to riches stories and then again at the end to tell the "happily ever after" story. I thought this added to the cynicism, which I liked. Also her version of "Briar Rose" she repeats the phrase, "rank as honeysuckle." I liked this one even better because usually honeysuckle is considered a sweet and nice smell but here she is saying its too sweet that it's even sickening, just like fairy tales.

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