Poetry as Therapy (Anne Sexton, Bipolar Poet)

Poetry as Therapy
Anne Sexton: Bipolar Poet

American Poet, born 1928, died 1974 (at 46-years old). For her, poetry became part of her therapy; she took up workshops, and dived into her new found freedom. Her poetry was exploratory, in the sense she was looking inside of herself to find herself. Confessional poetry, to wipe her soul clean; she attended a workshop given by Robert Lowell (renowned poet), the same workshop Sylvia Plath was at; both Sylvia and Anne became and remained friends—both had their inner ghosts. In time, even Anne would teach workshops. But as it often goes, the bipolar, or manic, part of it became quite strong, hard to deal with. Often times we see these cases with manic-depressants, whom are so gifted with intelligence, and become quickly skilled in the arts, and until someone pulls them out of their corner, someplace inside their hidden box, they remain undiscovered. I have read Anne’s poetry, as well as Plath’s, and both are much better than Lowell’s, alas, but they have their specific kind also. Sexton was more on the modern side of poetry, within the confessional area, dealing more with woman issues, than Plath’s whom seems to prefers to say a tinge clear of feminine charm, and produces powerful poems in other areas, like Dylan Thomas (a drunk in his day, but great poet); I would think both Plath and Thomas used poetry for their therapy likewise.
It is always sad to know of such great poets, or writers whom drink themselves to death, or commit out right suicide like Anne, and Plath, but it is not uncommon, they live in a world of their own, and when they come out to visit us, they have such a hard time, rowing the boat.