Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York, Vintage, 2004.
The Youngers, an African American family, living in Chicago in the 1950s, are the subject of A Raisin in the Sun. When the family is given $10,000 in life insurance money, each member of the family has different ideas about how to spend it. Beneatha wants to go to medical school with the money, but Walter’s older brother wants to build an alcohol store. After their mother, Lena, puts a down payment on a new home, the remaining funds are given to Walter, who is instructed to save up a considerable sum for his sister’s medical school tuition. Against his mother’s desires, he invests the entire sum in his liquor store. The family is looking forward to receiving the insurance payout, which has the potential to turn their long-awaited hopes into reality. However, the Younger family members have opposing ideas and dreams about how best to spend the money, causing friction.
Sexton, Anne. “Wanting to Die.” Poetry Foundation, 1981, Web.
“Wanting to Die” is a free verse poem with thirty-three lines divided into eleven tercets (three-line stanzas). This poem has been referred to as one of Anne Sexton’s literary suicide notes since it is written in the first person and is presented in a conversational style. With a person who has asked her about suicide, the author addresses the reasons for suicide and the attraction with it in this poetry. The poem opens with a discussion between the author and an unknown interrogator. Sexton captures the spirit of confessional poetry in this poem, as she honestly exposes her feelings about the connection with death and her ongoing fight with suicide. Though this poem appears to be about death and suicide at first glance, there are multiple examples in it that may be related to drug addiction and the objectives of the drug user. This poem’s tone is generally luridly sad since it creates meticulously black and morbid imagery. Through precise personifications of suicide and death, it immerses the reader in the psyche of the suicidal thought.
Sexton, Anne. “Her Kind” Poetry Foundation, 1981, Web.
The speaker of “Her Kind” takes on a number of identities that defy stereotypes of femininity, rejecting society’s expectations that women be attractive, nurturing, and obedient in the process. According to the author, being a woman who chooses independence over dependency, self-reliance over familial connections, and death over acquiescence means being viewed as a dangerous outlier—a witch who must be excommunicated. Rather than isolating the woman, this independence provides her with a powerful sense of solidarity with other non-traditional women: she is not alone but one of a kind. The speaker analyzes the various ways patriarchy stuffs women into small boxes in each line of the poem—boxes that the speaker refuses to be bound in. The poem “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton has a calm tone, with no clear-cut scenes or conversation but a strong sense of story, emotion, and imagery. It seems to be a peculiar, wistful reminiscence of a lady who has long since died, bizarre as that may be. Despite this, the narrator’s vibrancy, which directly contrasts the poem’s destiny, contributes to the work’s infusion of a weird appeal.
Plath, Sylvia. “Daddy.” Poets.Org , Harper and Row, 1962, Web.
With short allusions to Sylvia Plath’s marriage to British poet Ted Hughes, this poem reveals autobiographical parts of her connection with Professor Otto Plath, who died when she was just eight years old. Like the previous works, this poem deals with mental health, suicide, and the battle between life and death. This deeply complicated poem has allusions to Nazis and Jews, vampires, and the devil. It is worth mentioning that this poem is part break-up letter to her father, part confessional diary entry to herself. “Daddy” is an attempt to bring the intimate and mystical together. It is frightening, like a strange nursery rhyme about a split personality, a controlled bombardment directed at a father and husband. Plath’s horror and grief are expressed beautifully and ominously in this poem. It blends cheerful echoes of a Mother Goose nursery rhyme with grim World War II resonances.
Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus.” Poets.Org , Harper and Row, 1962, Web.
The poem’s title, “Lady Lazarus,” refers to the poem’s speaker and relates to the Biblical narrative of Jesus and his miraculous resurrection of a man called Lazarus. The poem’s speaker claims that she, likewise, has come back to life countless times. The speaker’s wish to die in order to be free of her pain is explored throughout the poem, which continuously returns to the idea of death by fire and the speaker’s power to rise from her own ashes. The poem alludes to the tortured speaker’s many suicide attempts. It also emphasizes the role of tyranny and power in one’s life. The poem also conveys the concepts of perseverance and resurrection. The key themes of this poem are death, sadness, agony, and power. The speaker recounts her unsuccessful suicide attempts and explains why she is irritated.