Live or Die Summary

Live or Die concerns itself with a particular period of time in the author's life, one in which her swings of manic depression are followed. In the preface, Sexton reveals that the poems appear in the order in which they were written, between 1962-1966, hinting that this was a turbulent time in her life, apologizing for their melancholy tone. Live or Die is perhaps Sexton's most well renowned book of poetry and the work for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967. The poems in this book tend to be longer, more elaborate, and more fully realized than many of those prior to this period in the author's life.

The book begins with "And One For My Dame", which references a familiar nursery rhyme to explain that the speaker's father was a wool salesman before his death, just as...