Rewriting “That Story:” Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy, and Margaret Atwood

Abstract

This paper examines the strategies Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy, and Margaret Atwood employ in their revisionist mythmaking project to disclose and denounce the detrimental impact of patriarchal norms and institutions on women and gender equality. The poets rewrite classical myths and fairy tales this time to tell the stories of those who have been excluded from historical and sociocultural narratives. The new stories of Sexton, Duffy, and Atwood unsettle gender stereotypes with humorous and purposely bathetic plot twists and enable women to reject secondary roles historically attributed to them. Female characters in the poems reclaim their power through literary (re)creation by confronting male domination and internalized guilt over feelings of incompetence. This paper proposes that these revisionist strategies may help to forge an independent identity for women, artists and non-artists alike, and to generate the necessary critical response against the oppressive discourse of patriarchy.