Transformations by Anne Sexton

I don't really know where to start with this collection of poetry by Anne Sexton. I liked it, but I'm not sure why or what to say about it. I'm a virtual poetry novice and don't really feel qualified to critique it. From the blurb on the back of the book, "The poems collected in this astonishing volume are reenactments, parodies, what Anne Sexton described as transformations, of seventeen Grimm fairy tales. . ." The first poem is The Gold Key. I've never heard of a fairy tale by this name, and I'm not sure if this is a retelling of a fairy tale or not. It almost seems to me as if this is an introductory poem by Sexton describing what she's going to do with the rest of the poems in the collection. See what you think.

The Gold Key

The speaker in this case

is a middle-aged witch, me --

tangled on my two great arms,

my face in a book

and my mouth wide,

ready to tell you a story or two.

I have come to remind you,

all of you:

Alice, Samuel, Kurt, Eleanor,

Jane, Brian, Maryel,

all of you draw near.

Alice,

at fifty-six do you remember?

Do you remember when you

were read to as a child?

Samuel,

at twenty-two have you forgotten?

Forgotten the ten P.M. dreams

where the wicked king

went up in smoke?

Are you comatose?

Are you undersea?

Attention,

my dears,

let me present to you this boy.

He is sixteen and he wants some answers.

He is each of us.

I mean you.

I mean me.

It is not enough to read Hesse

and drink clam chowder

we must know the answers.

The boy has found a gold key

and he is looking for what it will open.

This boy!

Upon finding a nickel

he would look for a wallet.

This boy!

Upon finding a string

he would look for a harp.

Therefore he holds the key tightly.

Its secrets whimper

like a dog in heat.

He turns the key.

Presto!

It opens this book of odd tales

which transform the Brothers Grimm.

Transform?

As if an enlarged paper clip

could be a piece of sculpture.

(And it could.)

I like the idea of the gold key as a metaphor, admitting the reader into new worlds through books and storytelling. Sexton transforms all of the most famous fairy tales, including Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. She also includes some that are lesser known (at least to me), such as Iron Hans, The Maiden without Hands, The White Snake and others. For the most part, she begins each fairy tale with a poem about the fairy tale and then gives a version of the fairy tale. I apologize if that doesn't make much sense, but that's what she does. In many cases, these fairy tales are even darker than the original tales. Sexton also interjects much of her own feelings and life into the tales, as well. Sexton suffered from depression for most of her life and committed suicide in 1974 just seven years after winning the Pulitzer Prize.

I read this book as part of The Year of Reading Dangerously, and I'm glad I did. Even though I haven't always been successful with my reading challenges, I'll keep joining them for this reason -- it forces me to read books that I would never have picked up otherwise. I really did enjoy this book of poetry even though I find it difficult to describe. However, after reading the foreword to this edition by Kurt Vonnegut I feel somewhat better about my lack of ability to describe these poems. He says, "How do I explain these poems? Not at all. I quit teaching in colleges because it seemed so criminal to explain works of art. The crisis in my teaching career came, in fact, when I faced an audience which expected me to explain Dubliners by James Joyce. I was game. I'd read the book. But when I opened my big mouth, no sounds came out." So, as you can see, I'm in good company.