Her Kind Analysis

Welcome to the land of symbols, imagery, and wordplay. Before you travel any further, please know that there may be some thorny academic terminology ahead. Never fear, Shmoop is here. Check out our...

One-offA poem about a woman who exists outsides the boundaries of "normal" life? Why in the world should that have regularized form or meter? Exactly. That's what we thought, too.In a lot of ways,...

Our speaker doesn't ever give us her name – but that doesn't mean that she's "every woman." In fact, she's anything but a Jane Doe. She's an outsider, a social misfit – and a defiant on...

The Outskirts of the Known WorldWe know that there are some links to our everyday existence in this poem, but our speaker positions herself as an outsider looking in. When everyone else is hunkered...

This is one plain speakin' poem, folks. If you're looking for hysterical rants about the unfairness of life or elaborate philosophical reflections on the role of women in the modern world, you migh...

"Her Kind" is just a repetition of the poem's refrain, right? Well, yes. And also not exactly. For starters, the poem's title doesn't exactly mimic the poem's favorite line. It leaves out the first...

Personal Emotional HonestyAnne Sexton's known as a confessional poet for good reason: she's got no problem laying her life and her emotions on the line for her readers. Heck, just about every line...

(3) Base Camp Nice, easy language and soothing rhymes make this poem a walk in the park. Heck, Sexton even repeats the syntax of stanza one in stanzas two and three! Besides a few oblique (and mayb...

One of Sexton's last projects was actually a collaboration with composer Conrad Susa. Transformations, an opera based upon Sexton's collection of poems with the same name, follows a weird assortmen...

GOK, so there are some bare arms in this poem. But unless a little elbow turns you on, this poem is pretty tame. And maybe that's intentional. After all, if you count up all the sexy witch costumes...

Historical ReferencesWitches! (line 1)The Inquisition (line 19)