Anne Sexton, “Her Kind” (1960)
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.
Paraphrase I went out alone as a possessed witch without thinking about it. I understand that women who go out are not women. I discovered caves and started to put household items in there. I understand that women has to be seen to be organized. I went out to ride I found cool stuff in the caves in the woods. I also rode the driver’s cart and felt pain.
II. Thematic Analysis
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Anne Sexton outlines how women are originally in the household doing chores and works for a living. However, women are still looked down upon even if they fulfill their labeled duties, such as cooking. In the end, she clarifies that women who do not pass the feminine ideals are not ashamed of who they are because of the opportunities they have done besides the ideals of society. Through the use of various poetic techniques, Sexton depicts that deviant women understand the sufferings of each other because of how society misunderstands