Are Anne Sexton's transformations of the fairy tales more literary or psychological ?

Answer 1

Both, actually. But if one had to choose, probably literary.

The central part of each poem is simply a rather hard-nosed, no-holds-barred retelling of the story, pain and all. Actually, her retellings are closer to the Grimm originals than most children's versions we all know.

But beyond that are at least three other elements: (1) a framework that gives the poem a 20th-century (somewhat cynical) perspective; (2) a tone that makes the whole poem a literary critique of the conventional "fairy tales" we share with our children; and (3) a bitter psychological twist to the story instead of a conventional moral, usually relating to Freudian or "pop" psychology and critical feminism.

For example, my favorite, "Cinderella," begins with the 20th-century angle:

You always read about it:
the plumber with the twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
That story.

Then the poem continues with the retelling, including the prince's ball (called "a marriage market"), the prince acting "like a shoe salesman," the sisters slicing off heel or toe to make the shoe fit, and a white dove pecking out their eyes ("like soup spoons").

The conclusion is both a critique of the usual "happy ever after ending" and a brash comment on modern marriages:

Cinderella and the prince
lived, they say, happily ever after,
like two dolls in a museum case
never bothered by diapers or dust,
never arguing over the timing of an egg,
never telling the same story twice,
never getting a middle-aged spread,
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Regular Bobbsey Twins.
That story.

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," likewise, begins with a 20th-century perspective, but also has the feminist critique:

No matter what life you lead
the virgin is a lovely number:
cheeks as fragile as cigarette paper,
arms and legs made of Limoges,
lips like Vin Du Rhône,
rolling her china-blue doll eyes
open and shut.
Open to say,
Good Day Mama,
and shut for the thrust
of the unicorn.

The retelling concludes with the wicked queen at the wedding feast, given "red-hot iron shoes / Clamped upon her feet."

The end of this poem is a more subtle, but obvious, critique of the conventional story and the contemporary role of "the lovely woman":

Meanwhile Snow White held court,
rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and shut
and sometimes referring to her mirror
as women do.

As psychology, the poems do not go into great depth, and are not really very avant-garde for the early 1970s, in keeping with the outspoken feminism of the era. As literature, however, and commentary upon popular literature, they were bold and clever. The sarcastic language, the specific contemporary imagery, the dark details from the Grimms' stories, and the well-crafted form and structure were--and still are--superb.

However, the psychological element and the feminist critique are definitely part of the appeal of the poems. For a contrast, that represents interesting literature without such blatant use of those elements, see Sara Henderson Hay, Story Hour (1963). This collection of poems (sonnets, actually, written in perfect sonnet form: iambic pentameter, quatrains, rhyming scheme, octave and sestet, concluding couplet, the whole bit) are parodies of the original stories: funny, biting, clever, but not as quite as provocative as literature and without psychological or feminist overlays.

"The Builders," based on "The Three Little Pigs," begins,

I told them a thousand times if I told them once:
Stop fooling around, I said, with straw and sticks;
They won’t hold up; you’re taking an awful chance.
Brick is the stuff to build with, solid bricks.

Or the one about the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe / And had so many children she didn't know what to do / She gave them some broth without any bread / And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed." The sestet of Henderson's sonnet reads,

I used to lie awake for hours, and plan
The things I'd do, when I became a man...
And this is why I lurk in darkened hallways,
And prowl dim streets and lonely parks, and always
Carry a knife, in case I meet another
Old woman who reminds me of my mother.

Funny, clever, but apparently meant to be more like Hitchcock than Sexton would have been.