although all anne's work has moved me to contemplation (and often tears), love poems has been the most gorgeously presented and emotionally draining collection of poetry any author i have before seen published. i challenge all readers to find a more beautiful reflection of inferior self-perception than in 'for my lover, returning to his wife.' anne's poetry is as once angelic and crude, inspiring a kinship between herself and the reader -- the true mark of a gifted writer.

I THOUGHT THAT SHE GOT INTO REALISM AND HEART WITH THIS BOOK AND REALLY WROTE ABOUT IT IT WAS ALMOST LIKE SHE LIVED THESE FEELINGS HER SELF I REALLY LOVE HER WRITING AND POETRY SHE MADE ME FEEL THOSE THOUGHTS And feelings i love this writer!!!!!!

A really excellent selection by Diane Wood Middlebrook, includes almost all the important last poems ('Letter in November' is missing), and a good selection of the 1950s stuff. There is even some juvenilia and some of Ted Hughes' notes.

Diane Middlebrook has assembled a complete picture of Billy Tipton's world -- the music, the gender roles, his family -- that succeeds in holding a reader's interest despite the paucity of personal writings and memorabilia left behind by Tipton himself.

If you're looking for sex, you won't find much here. Billy Tipton had several "wives" (in quotation marks because he wasn't legally married to most -- if any -- of them) but managed to avoid sexual intercourse much of the time. The women he did have sex with swear they slept with a man, but if they revealed details to Middlebrook, they're not included in the book.

Tipton lived in an age where one's personal affairs were not the topic of casual conversation. Those who suspected or knew his secret kept quiet; many of the interview subjects throughout the book are heard to say, "You just didn't talk about those things. You didn't go prying into people's personal business." The book's focus on gender roles -- especially within the context of the times and Billy's chosen profession -- is appropriate, engaging, and allows Billy Tipton to maintain the dignity he deserves.

This book might have been better handled by a transgendered or lesbian author, but Diane Wood Middlebrook does a fairly good job of reporting on her subject Billy Tipton.

The book does have a bit more filler about other people and about the music industry and jazz than I personally was interested in, but it also tells a great deal about Billy Tipton and her life.

I appreciated the photographs that were included in the book.

I think most, if not all, of the questions regarding Tipton were answered by Ms. Middlebrook.

In some ways Billy's life is sad. Sad that our culture and society was such that only men were allowed in most of the major professions. Equally sad that the homosexual community was practically non-existant at that time in the way of really being a community capable of giving support to young women like Billy Tipton.

Great cover art, a tour de force to match the quality of the narrative within. The "split" personality pictured on the cover is Billy, nee Dorothy, Tipton, a small-time musician who lived and worked as a man for over 50 years.

I'm not a big fan of biographies, so it takes a lot for me to pick one up. I found Middlebrook's story of Billy so compelling that it was hard for me to put this biography down until I finished it.

Middlebrook has been criticized for using too much conjecture, but she is always scrupulous about letting the reader know when she is doing just that. Her exhaustive research about the life of musicians -- and lesbians -- in the first half of this century allow this conjecture, I believe, because Billy left very little of herself behind when she died a decade ago. A few photos, a few letters, and a number of people who knew her as either or both Billy and Dorothy survive; Middelbrook builds an intriguing narrative from these remnants and scraps of Billy's life. Nonbiog reader that I am, I am now looking forward to reading Middlebrook's _Anna_Sexton_, too.

A postscript: I thought Middlebrook was very adroit in using 3rd person pronouns -- he, she -- in such a way as to keep the reader clear throughout the book on just which side of Billy's psyche and persona was being described at any given moment in time.

Okay. No offense to Anne Sexton, but this book just doesn't cut it. The people who did the "selecting" didn't do a very good job. Many good poems which are hard to find are found, but many of her greatest that are easily found aren't even mentioned in this book. And why does Middlebrook always do the commentaries?? I love Anne Sexton and she needs to be portrayed for her art, not for the mentally ill, depressed, phsychotic person that she was. I mean--her poetry is terrific, and personally, I don't think that Middlebrook does a very good job of summarizing Anne Sexton to the readers.

I'd seriously have to bicker with another reviewer and state that Middlebrook did a fine job selecting the "most worthy" of Sexton's poetry. Let's face it: towards the end of Sexton's career as a poet, she pumped out more garbage than grandeur...and Middlebrook (whose biography on Sexton, by the way, is among the best biographies on ANYbody) seems perfectly aware of that. With "Selected Poems" in print, scholars of poetry no longer have to plow through rubble to find a few diamonds.

Selected Poems of Anne Sexton draws from poet Sexton's ten published works of poems as well as from her last pieces to provide a fine introduction and overview to her best works. The editors reveal a wide range of styles and themes and provide new readers with a definitive overview. Highly recommended.

Patient records are privileged; Dr. Orne justifies releasing tapes of Anne Sexton's therapy because the daughter of A.S. approved. He wrote the preface to the book, displaying a rather passive attitude to the malfeasance of the therapist who slept with A.S. And does the end--understanding creativity/a poet's life and death--justify the means? Do outpourings in therapy tell readers about where creativity comes from, how it is shaped, the interplay of life and art? I doubt it. People "edit" their therapy talk, too, though differently from their public utterings. Readers may be seduced by these secrets, hoping to find answers that cannot be given, even--maybe especially--by therapists. I think the biographer overplays her hand, and might have done a better book without the controversial tapes.

I have been unable to stop re-reading this biography for all the hidden keys I think it contains -- comments on our western culture as a viable concept; networking in the "literary world," motherlove an an ontological reality; therapy as same. The author Middleton is so adept at being unbiased toward the at times somewhat narrow, but riveting, scope of Sexton's experience (I accused her delicate side-stepping in an earlier review as being "dull-witted") that I have been attempting to read between the lines. I haven't gleaned any "truths" but because of this, keep coming back. I think the strongest thing about Middleton's account is the sense of the universal story of a family struggle, and the bond of the family which guided Sexton's poetry and had much bearing on her life. This is important for me to tell myself, I find myself feeling, in reading this one "too many times." I hope Middleton writes more biographies of women.

The biographer here had an unusual advantage: Anne Sexton's daughter gave her access to taped sessions Sexton's psychiatrist had made of his sessions with Sexton. This disclosure of what are normally privileged sessions raised eyebrows, but I did not find the disclosure obtained from these tapes that revealing. It was obvious to anyone who came into contact with her that Sexton was a very disturbed person, and her doctor does not seem to have come to a definitive diagnosis. It may well be that she suffered from some physical defect of the brain that could not be diagnosed during her lifetime.

What is clear is that Sexton made life difficult for those closest to her, such as her husband and her children. Wildly unstable, she demanded more than anyone could give, and gave back little in return. On the other hand, she was one of the major poets of her time, and talented writers can get away with being miserable people. A weakness of this book is that it not very strong on Sexton's poetry, which is the only reason people are interested in her. Still, it is well researched, and is likely to remain useful to those interested in Sexton for years to come.