What the Living Do

"Sylvia’s Death" by Anne Sexton (1964)

Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath were figureheads of the Confessional poetry movement. Both struggled with mental illness and committed suicide--Plath at the age of 30. Like “What the Living Do,” Sexton’s poem "Sylvia’s Death" is addressed to a deceased recipient. It makes use of everyday language, and invokes the specificity of mundane details: “where did you go / after you wrote me / from Devonshire / about raising potatoes / and keeping bees?” Potatoes and bees are examples of everyday beauty and everyday life, which Plath noticed and enjoyed, but ultimately gave up. Sexton’s poem is addressed to Plath and references a letter Plath wrote to Sexton. Like “What the Living Do,” "Sylvia’s Death" uses epistolary framing and references to enhance its tone of secrecy and emotional intimacy. Because vernacular quickly changes, Howe’s “everyday language” is different from Sexton’s, just as Sexton’s language differs from that of previous literary movements which also prized “common speech.” Sexton’s poem is also a useful contrast for examining Howe’s departure from the overwhelming bleakness of much Confessional poetry. Sexton is envious of Plath’s suicide, while Howe cherishes her own life in John’s absence.

"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver (1990)