Anne Sexton's "Cinderella" is a fairy tale poem about the life of Cinderella. Sexton takes us through different examples of stories that are considered to be "Cinderella stories" because of their happy endings and good fortune. In the first stanza, Sexton talks about a plumber who wins a Sweepstakes and goes from "toilets to riches," meaning he goes from being poor to wealthy. The stanza then ends with "That story," referring to a typical "Cinderella story." Sexton then goes onto another story in stanza two. A nursemaid, someone who cleans and takes care of children, is described as "luscious and sweet," she "captures the oldests son's heart" meaning she makes her way into a wealthy family by her beauty. The story then ends by the last couple lines saying, "From diapers to Dior. That story." The diapers are referring to her old job as a nursemaid and a dior is an expensive fancy house. Again in this story, someone goes from poor to riches. In the next story, Sexton talks again about going from poor to riches, but this time, instead of being based on luck, it is a choice. A milkman who serves the wealthy decides to go into real estate and starts to make a good profit. He goes "From homogenized to martinis at lunch," homogenized is standing for homogenized milk, which is what he served the wealthy. The next story that is told is about a maid "who is on the bus when it cracks up," meaning, she is on the bus and it crashes. She then collects a bunch of money from insurance and becomes wealthy. It says she goes "From mops to Bonwit Teller." Bonwit Teller is a famous department store found in New York that is known for luxurious things.
Sexton then starts to tell the story of a Cinderella, whose mother dies when she is younger. Her mother tells her to be devout and good and in return she will "smile down from Heaven in the seam of a cloud.
