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Anne Sexton, "The Fury of Overshoes"

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Poems of Childhood

It is a Romantic commonplace that children lead lives of innocence and joy, in a kind of Eden-like state. But there is a darker side to childhood, touched on by this poem and by other poems in our text such as Rita Dove's "Fifth Grade Autobiography" (LIT8 821, LIT8S 611), Tess Gallagher's, "Sudden Journey" (LIT8 870, LIT8S 650), and Audre Lord's "Hanging Fire" as well as another poem in The Death Notebooks, "Baby Picture." Write on the subject of childhood's darker side, drawing from these poems and comparing them with "The Fury of Overshoes."

The Person and the Poet

Few poets wrote so directly from their own lives as Anne Sexton did, yet she was able to reach out to her readers in special ways, much as she has in this poem. She is often compared with other writers of her time, especially those writing confessional poetry and those in psychological pain (sometimes close friends of hers). Go to the Related Links page, and read about Sexton's life as well as the two online essays about Sexton and the confessional poets; then write about how this particular poem does and does not fit the confessional model.

Poetry as Therapy

Sexton began writing poetry as therapy for her depression. Sylvia Plath ("Daddy," "Lady Lazarus"), Charlotte Perkins Gilman ("The Yellow Wallpaper"), and Emily Dickinson ("She dealt her pretty words like Blades") also found ways to turn their pain into literature. Explore the relationship between creativity and psychological pain as revealed by these works, perhaps drawing on other works by Sexton such as her poem on Plath, "Sylvia's Death," or "Said the Poet to the Analyst."

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