METAPHOR IN THE POETRY OF ANNE SEXTON (SEMANTICS, SCRIPTS)

DAGNY MARIE HEXOM BOEBEL, Purdue University

Abstract

Five prime metaphors of Sexton are studied by constructing the "scripts" which have been combined to create these metaphors. Inspired by Raskin's Script-Based Semantics, (See Semantic Mechanisms of Humor, 1985.) the Script-Based Semantic Theory of Metaphor posits a lexicon of scripts, which are graphs with lexical nodes and semantic links between the nodes. The theory holds that metaphor occurs when two or more scripts which are incompatible but which share nodes combine. I construct what I believe to be the scripts that Sexton combines in creating five metaphors that constitute structuring motifs in her poetry. These metaphors are found in poems in Transformations, a book that Sexton published at a central point in her career. The poems, which are based on fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, overtly combine cultural scripts embodied in the fairy tales with her own personal scripts. The resulting metaphors are both cultural and personal statements. The scripts that have been combined are easily identified because the script for the fairy tale itself can be constructed from the original form of the tale in Grimm; thus, whatever does not appear in Grimm is part of the "personal" script that Sexton has added to transform the tale into metaphor. The five metaphors, which encompass the motifs of madness, identity, womanhood, motherhood and daughterhood, and death and the relationship of poetry to each of these phenomena, and the poem in Transformations in which each is found, follow: (I) MADNESS IS ENCHANTMENT, from "Iron Hans." (II) RUMPELSTILTSKIN IS THE DOPPELGANGER, from "Rumpelstiltskin." (III) THE WOMAN IS CRIPPLE, from "The Maiden Without Hands." (IV) THE MOTHER IS DEMON/SAVIOR, from "Rapunzel." (V) DEATH IS THE FATHER/NAZI, from "Godfather Death." Constructing scripts and using them as a method for studying Sexton's poems has the advantages of keeping the focus on the poem instead of on the poet and of bringing to light metaphors that have formerly been undetected. Using scripts has given many poems new readings.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

American literature

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