LauraVanWinkle

__By: Laura Van Winkle__
 * "****The Fury of Overshoes"**
 * Anne Sexton**

They sit in a row outside the kindergarten, black,red,brown,all with those brass buckles 5 remember when you couldn't __buckle your own overshoe__ or tie your own shoe

10 or cut your own meat and the tears running down like mud because you fell off your tricycle?

15 Remember, big fish, when you couldn't swim and simply slipped under like a stone frog? the world wasn't 20 yours It belonged to the big people under your bed sat the wolf 25 and he made a shadow when cars passed by at night They made you give up

your night light 30 and your teddy and your thumb __Oh overshoes don't you remember me,__ 35 pushing you up and down in the winter snow? Oh thumb, I want a drink, it is dark, 40 __where are the big people, taking giant steps all day,__ each day 45 __and thinking nothing of it?__ In the poem "The Fury of overshoes" by Anne Sexton is about childhood and the memories it unfolds. The first part of the poem is about the first years of school and what you learn during those years. It describes the moments where you are taking those steps to tie a shoe or try to ride a tricycle. The last part of the poem explains the steps of going to bed when you are little and what a child may see or think of while falling asleep. I believe this poem goes through a day in the life of a child who is young and starting school for the first time and it expresses what the child is going through. The speaker of the poem seems to be a mom who or a teacher who describes details about what there child or student goes through as a routine. The author also tells us what the child is learning and achieving. Also the key object that is most talked about is overshoes. This is a pair of shoes that the speaker talks about and the child may be wearing during the day as the child learns and plays and wonders about things in life. "The Fury of overshoes" is about going through childhood youth. Anne Sexton talks about it as if it was her own life and what its like now a days as well. It talks about a day of a kindergartner who takes steps to progressing towards a goal. The speaker is trying to convey that overshoes are a pair of shoes that he wheres wherever he goes. There are nine stanzas and each one explains a different thinking process in which the youth is wondering about. I believe the form is aa,bb,cc,dd for this poem. Although the poems form could be different from others it still has a meaning to it. I feel this poem gives an understanding of the early years of life and what those days entail and the goals that each child has to be able to learn and succeed in life. A verse that stands out to me is "Buckle your own overshoe" I feel this is a success that every young child should be able to do. Whether its an overshoe or a sandle every child should be able to put them on and take them off. Here is the audio version of the poem that Anne Sexton reads: [] In the poem " The Fury of Overshoes" does not have much rhythm to it. It puts you in the shoes of a child who is always wondering about life and it shows you the day the child goes through up until it is time to go to bed. The phrase " where are the big people,when will I get there,taking giant steps all day, each day"(40). This verse catches the readers eye as they read the poem because it makes you wonder what is going through there minds. There is a lot of figurative language in this poem that create an image of its own. The author takes you through the overshoes of a young person who is growing and always wondering about childhood and life in general. The "Fury of Overshoes" has many metaphors, symbols and imagery through out the poem. You are given an image from the start that this young child is wearing these shoes that take him through life and the wonders of it. It gives you the image of someone working hard to achieve goals like trying to buckle his own overshoe. This example tells you that each achievement is something new that the child in this poem wants to try. A example of a simile used in this poem is "And the tears, running down like mud because you fell off your tricycle". This phrase compares tears running down a child's cheek like mud. Mud can be thin and tears are thin and run from the eye down to the cheek. The setting of this poem inside a school by a Kindergarten classroom. I believe it takes place in the morning sometime. The author sets it up this way because of the way she looks at life in general. The point of view of "The Fury of Overshoes" is in second person. It also appears to be in second person as well. This poem uses a lot of "you","your" and "they" through out the whole poem. The narrator is trying to put you in the shoes of the person who is trying to give you a perspective of life through the second person point of view. ****Way 7: Analyzing complexity,Ambiguity and Difficulty The second portion of this poem has a lot of ambiguity in it. I believe there is a lot of questions, for example,"where are the big people, taking giant steps all day..(40-43)" ** I'm uncertain as to who these big people the speaker is speaking of. I believe its the big people in life that one day that she will be like and get to be in the outside world. The speaker through out the poem always wondered about life and growing up. The narrator at the end of the poem says "and thinking nothing of it "(45-46) this is said after she states "taking giant steps all day". I believe this means that growing up involves taking giants steps mentally and physically in life. The Poem itself was pretty understandable. There were some parts like the last half of the poem that I was having trouble breaking down and understanding what the speaker was talking about. After reading it the last few time I've come to understand more parts of it than when I first read the poem to begin this project. I Believe this Poem has the potential to be canonized. I feel this poem represents the what life is like as a young person and the struggles that go along with trying to discover new and better things. This poem really gives you an image of a person who is wondering about life and growing up. The speaker wonders about what it would be like to be an adult that "taking giant steps"(42) each day. The speaker seems to appreciate life and looks back on what she remembers. The poem has no rhythm or rhyme to it, but it has a sequence of events that show what growing up is like. Anne Sexton was born on November 9,1928 in Weston Massachusetts. She is the youngest of three sisters and always wanted attention. Anne attended all public schools until about the age of 17 in which her parents sent her to an all girls preparatory school. This is when she began to write poetry which was in her schools yearbook. She went on to finishing school to help her shape herself in womanhood. She then married and had her first child. At this time she was going through periods of depression. Her depression grew and then became better and went on for a while. Anne then enrolled into Boston University to take a writing seminar. There she was awarded the audience poetry prize. After receiving the award,Sexton began writing books and more poetry, some included, To Bedlam and part way back and All the Pretty Ones. Anne continued to write many books and received awards along with them. She also teaches English literature and continues to write books and poetry. In the poem "The Fury of Overshoes" Anne relates a lot to her early years of life. I believe she writes about her feelings while growing up into a woman. Anne went through depression stages in her life and I think while writing this poem she thinks of "taking giant steps" and trying to succeed. In the poem in seems like she is trying to explain the wonders of a child growing up and trying to do new things. Her life seemed difficult at times but she manages to always take the extra step like in the poem to reach to what she believed in. After reading up on some cultural and history background of the era that Anne Sexton was in I realized how different it was back then. I believe that Anne's writings also come from the way life was in that time period. For example wars were going on and on a happy note Mickey mouse made an appearance in 1928, which when Anne was born in that year. the overshoes mentioned in this poem are possibly a part of historical and cultural context because it maybe a type of shoe that people wore at the time or what they called a shoe. I think that during this era so much occurred that it was easy to look back on. I believe this is why Anne writes about life and the wonders of it. "The Fury of Overshoes" has Feminist criticism to it. Feminist criticism is defined as a way of reading that investigates the text's investment in or reaction to the patriarchal power structures that have dominated western culture. Feminist criticism provides questions of canonicity for established writers and the assumptions of nature and gender as well (Brown and Yarbrough). Anne doesn't have any relevant characters in "The fury of overshoes", but she tries to emphasize the wonders about her past and growing up as a woman. Sexton makes the poem into a sequence of what she remembers growing up trying to start at the beggining as a little girl. Anne constantly refers to overshoe, which is a type of shoe that seemed to be comfortable to where. She mentions "Oh overshoes don't you remember me"(32-34) this is a phrase that tells that she wonders about things. These overshoes that she speaks of are something special to her and always brought great memories to her. The first few lines of the poem describe the growing up aspect and what Anne remembers about the many shoes that people wore specifically the overshoe. Another theory is Psychoanalysis and the author, which is an approach of treating the text more as a psychoanalytic tool. It is also the connection between an authors psychoanalytic makeup and the kind of writing he or she does(Brown and Yarbrough). Anne Sexton went through multiple deep depression periods in her life. This was hard for her but she was able to produce more and more poetry during her depression state. "The Fury of Overshoes" was something she wrote when she was frustrated at life,hence the word fury,when she wasn't able to do something that she really wanted to do is when she felt really frustrated. I believe that Anne always wondered where her childhood went and she claims that she feels like she still is a child because she wonders about so many things that a child would wonder about. Even though she is an adult she may still wonder about childhood and where her teddy went or that nightlight that shined during the night. She wonders when she will take giant steps in adulthood and when she will feel in control of her life and not have "big people" take over. Anne wants to be able to take giant steps all day without thinking anything of it. Anne wants readers to think about their childhood and the things that they still wonder about in life. Sexton's poem is mainly about childhood and what a child wonders about in life. Anne went through tough times in her life,mostly depression and it seems like she wrote this poem at a frustrating time in her life. The poem often uses the word "remember" which shows that the woman in the poem is looking at her past and trying to remember everything about it. I believe that the overshoe mentioned in the poem is a shoe that is something the people would where comfortably. Anne always referred to them and to me I think she speaks of them as a great memory of childhood. The author tries to relate it to her own life and growing up as a woman and what it was like. Brown,S. James and Scott D. Yarbrough. __A Practical Introduction to Literary study__. Up Saddle River, NJ,2005
 * Way 1: First Impressions (all of these subheadings are heading three)**
 * Way 2: Engaging in the text**
 * Way 3: A point about form and its relationship to content**
 * Way 4:Unpacking an instance of figurative language**
 * Way 4:Unpacking an instance of figurative language**
 * Way 5 : Analyzing the setting**
 * Way 6: Identifying and analyzing Point of View
 * Way 8 : Considering Canonicity**
 * Way 9: Biographical Context**
 * Way 10: Historical and Cultural context**
 * Way 11: Theoretical Application**
 * Way 12: Another Theoretical Application**
 * Way 13 : Unifying Interpretation**
 * Works Cited and Consulted:**

__Anne Sexton: A brief biography__ 28 July,2009 http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/as/bio1.html

__Brain History:1928 in History__.2009 28 July,2009 http://www.brainyhistory.com/year/1928.html