Reflection of Presentation

Feminism and Popular Culture

May 3, 2011

          The presentation of Feminism and Popular Culture took place on May 3, 2011 at which time I participated in our group of seven ladies. Information was systematically presented through power point regarding each portion of study from our syllabus. Class discussion was encouraged and accomplished. Three videos were presented at the end of the presentation along with “ads.”

          My participation occurred with the introduction of a poem written by Anne Sexton entitled “A Room of My Life.” She was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet in 1967, and known for her participation inventing confessional poetry (personal honesty from the depth of the soul).
          Anne Sexton led a very troubled life which began in childhood when she was sexually abused by a close relative. She had demeaning parents and a physically abusive mother whom she tried to love the best way she could. She viewed herself as a sexual object of men. Directly after high school, Anne married Kayo, who became the anchor of the relationship; however, when he became furious, he would strike her. They eventually had two girls, but she was abusive to the eldest daughter and even sexually molested her when she was a teenager.
           Anne had many addictions—sex, alcohol, prescription pills, and suicide attempts. She took the advice of her last therapist and divorced her husband in order to find a suitable mate. However, fruitless sexual encounters followed—one with a woman and many with men. Also, she attempted suicide many times; however, her first therapist suggested that instead of attempting suicide she should write—hence, her career of writing began. Within the poem, “A Room of My Life” there is a story about her oppressions. After all the affairs and poor reviews she decided to commit suicide. Clothed in her mother’s fur coat, she went into the closed garage, sat in the closed car, and whispered her “good-byes;” however, this time was the final good-bye!
Word Count: 331

Good-bye, Anne Sexton.

The Room of My Life

By Anne Sexton 1928–1974

 Here,

 in the room of my life

 the objects keep changing.

 Ashtrays to cry into,

 the suffering brother of the wood walls,

 the forty-eight keys of the typewriter

 each an eyeball that is never shut,

 the books, each a contestant in a beauty contest,

 the black chair, a dog coffin made of Naugahyde,

 the sockets on the wall

 waiting like a cave of bees,

 the gold rug

 a conversation of heels and toes,

 the fireplace

 a knife waiting for someone to pick it up,

 the sofa, exhausted with the exertion of a whore,

 the phone

 two flowers taking root in its crotch,

 the doors

 opening and closing like sea clams,

 the lights

 poking at me,

 lighting up both the soil and the laugh.

 The windows,

 the starving windows

 that drive the trees like nails into my heart.

 Each day I feed the world out there

 although birds explode

 right and left.

 I feed the world in here too,

 offering the desk puppy biscuits.

 However, nothing is just what it seems to be.

 My objects dream and wear new costumes,

 compelled to, it seems, by all the words in my hands

 and the sea that bangs in my throat.

Works Cited

“Anne Sexton in the Confessional: Her Kind-The Room of
       My Life-Wanting to Die.” Martin G. Wood.
       12 April 2009. Web. 3 May 2011.

                     http://www.suite101.com/content/anne-sexton-
                                      in-the-confessional-a108957

“The Room of My Life.” The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton. Boston:Houghton

          Mifflin, 1981. Web. 3 May 2011.

          http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171276

“Two Suicidal Orginators of Feminism: Virginia Woolf and Anne Sexton.”

          Ernest Shulman. 5 April 2011. Web. 3 May 2011.

          http://www.artistsinlet.com/writing/guest/woolf-and-sexton/