(An Analysis of Anne Sexton's poetic transformation of the Brothers Grimm's Cinderella).
Ann Sexton's poetic transformation of Cinderella is a dark, comic version of the popular tale. In it, she combines the traditional Brothers Grimm tale with elements of modern society. Sexton is essentially returning to the true purpose of the fairy tale. Fairy tales originated as oral traditions and were passed along and sculpted by thousands of storytellers. Each storyteller changed elements of the tale to fit their individual needs. For example, the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella (on which Sexton's poetic transformation is based) is based upon German folktales. Modern fairy tale writers tend to cleanse the tales of dark elements in order to make them acceptable reading for children; however, the original tales were meant to be accessible to all and offered crude humor while providing good children with morals and bad children with threats.
Sexton's poetic transformation of the popular fairy tale Cinderella is a blend of her own life experiences, as well as her view of contemporary culture. Throughout her life, Sexton battled with severe depression that eventually let to her taking her own life. Throughout the poem, parallels can be made to Sexton's depressing life. In the first four stanzas, she describes a few "real life" from "rags to riches" stories, for example: "You always heard about it/the plumber with the twelve children/who wins the Irish Sweepstakes/From toilets to riches/That story." By saying "you always read about it," Anne gives readers the sense of slipping into a dream. Getting rich quick is everyone's dream, but Anne quickly crushes the dream by stating "That story" and making it seem distant and unrealistic, much like a fairy tale. Anne too, longed to be instantaneously successful, to be wealthy, and to live a "fairy tale" life. Unfortunately, she had just the opposite.