The story of Anne Sexton’s life is tragic…She was sexually abused by both her parents who consequently died in a boating accident. I believe that she struggled balancing two emotional forces that eventually were tipped to far on on one side to recover…that being the feeling of expressing love and that of rejecting those who she believed loved her…How could she love her parents after the sexual abuse? How can one trust very people who bring us into this world?

All of the confession allusions have double meaning, as much of Anne’s life was spent “confessing” her innermost feelings to psychiatrists as well as revealing them to the public through her poetry. The shocks can doubly refer to shock therapy administered by psychiatrists as well as the shocking things a priest might hear in confession. Per Wikipedia, Sexton was the epitome of a “confessional poet.”