Book Review-- Transformations Ann Sexton

The Not-So-Grimm Truth; Ann Sexton’s Transformations
Sexton, Anne. Transformations. New York: Mariner Books, 2001. Print.

“No matter what life you lead/ the virgin is a lovely number”, so says the first lines of Ann Sexton’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. Blunt, controversial, and also completely true, just the makings of classic Sexton. Of course here she had a little help. Transformations, is a retelling of the iconic Grimm’s Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm. Plath reinvents 17 classics stories and prefaces them with stark truths; perhaps her own modern equivalents.
The illustrations by Barbara Swan look more like sketches with their rough edges that often fade out into nothing. The first of which accompanies “The Golden Key”, an introduction to the collection. Plath uses the poem to set the stage, a 16-year-old young man finds a key that unlocks Grimm’s Fairy Tales and transforms them into the remaining poems. The picture, of the young man looking through the keyhole speaks volumes. The boy is wide-eyed and seems shocked by what he sees, just like the reader will be.
Never one to mince words, Sexton jumps into the deep end and tackles “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” first. It started out as one of the most famous ‘wicked step-mother’ and ‘handsome prince’ stories, and Sexton turned it into a compelling soap opera about growing old, ignorance, innocence, and eventually revenge.
“Cinderella” is perhaps the most well known of Sextons Transformations. Found in numerous textbooks and compilations worldwide it’s an excellent example of just what Sexton in doing with Transformations. Updating it from the beginning, the poem begins
You always read about it;
the plumber with twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
That story
Just with that first stanza it’s not only updated, but it’s incredibly relatable. It’s the story of the under-dog, who against all odds (and realistic hopes) succeeds. Americans eat that up, and then, making it even more lovable to the U S of A the wicked step-sisters get their eyes pecked out by crows; revenge at it’s finest.

Perhaps my favorite poem in the collection, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” is a classic tale of teenage rebellion. Sexton plays this for all it’s worth too. Twelve overly sheltered princesses steal away at night through secret tunnels and spend all night dancing. Their father knows this and every night has a prince try to catch them but the princesses “gave the snoopy man a Mickey Finn (77)”. There's nothing like date-rape-drugs to update a fairy tale. Of course the princesses are eventually found out and “…The princesses /were torn from their night life like a baby from its pacifier. (145-146)”. Doesn’t it always end like that?
With biting sarcasm and her characteristic wit, Sexton rises above any expectations and puts a new spin on the Brothers Grimm’s iconic fairy tales. Instead of bland ‘happily ever after’ endings like the Disney company, Sexton uses her cynicism and makes it work. Transformations earns a place on any poet’s bookshelf as one of the classics.