Anne Sexton's-Transformations
To the Gold Key, I reacted with a sense of obligation, as though I were being summoned to this woman, who thought she had a clever way to get us interested in her new take on old ideas. To Snow White, I reacted with some dislike. For instance, when Sexton writes of Snow White that she was as full of life as soda pop (7), it felt like a giant anachronismlike a metaphor that did not belongtoo forced and deferential to contemporaneous society. With the Gold Key I was willing to relent and let the poetry happen, but with Snow White I felt like I was reading something by someone who was trying to be cute or funnywith lines like, Snow White, the dumb bunny (8).
I suppose I had different reactions because with the first poem I was willing to go with it, unsure of where I would be taken. With the second poem, I was pretty sure I wasnt liking the trip. And upon arriving at the end, I felt like I had just read something cheap and outdated. It made me feel somewhat violated, in factlike my fondness for the tale of Snow White was under attack by Sexton with her cheap, sneering remarks, such as: Meanwhile Snow White held court, rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and shut and sometimes referring to her mirror as women do (9). I dont understand the cynicism in this remark. Is it supposed to be witty or funny? Where is the humor? Where is the meaning? Sexton comes across a bit like a jaded poeta bit like the witch she describes herself as being in the Gold Key. Overall, I would say I did not enjoy it and felt it sullied the fairy tale. But apparently the poetry is meant to be satirical or something to the effect.
Works Cited
Sexton, Anne. Transformations. Houghton Mifflin, 1971.
