"All My Pretty Ones" is the title poem of a collection by Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey) published in 1962. Sexton focuses on personal experiences, emotions, and traumas in this confessional poem. The title refers to Macduff's discovery of the murders of his wife and children. In Macbeth (IV.iii.255), Macduff grieves, "He has no children. All my pretty ones". In the five-stanza poem, Sexton similarly mourns the passing of her parents.

Stanza 1

What Happens

Within the past year (1959), Sexton has lost both her parents—first her mother and then her father. Now she must deal with their house and belongings. Their deaths

leav[e]me here to shuffle and disencumber
you from the residence you could not afford…

Sexton then lists specific items she finds: "a gold key," shares in a "woolen mill," fine suits from Boston, a British car, documents, and old photographs. Recognizing no one in the pictures, she decides to dispose of them ("They must go").

Why It Matters

By opening with "Father, this year's jinx rides us apart," Sexton immediately creates a gap and a link between herself as the speaker and her father as the listener or "you" throughout the poem. The listed items indicate that her family was once affluent. The detail "residence you could not afford" reveals their downturn in fortune. Despite feeling sentimental toward the objects and photographs of unknown persons ("I touch their cardboard faces"), Sexton resolves to let them go.

Stanza 2

What Happens

Before disposing of them, however, Sexton is mesmerized by the photographs' subjects, especially their eyes. She sees a small boy, a soldier with a bugle, a "velvet lady who cannot smile," and an officer "in a mailman suit." Sexton asks her father if that man is his father. Conceding that she will never know the identity of these people from the past, she closes the photo album and throws it out.

Why It Matters

Sexton surprises herself with an unexpected yet strong connection to the photographs' subjects. She wonders who they all are—was the little boy her father? Was the lady her maternal grandmother? Was the officer her maternal grandfather? The father's family was wealthy, as illustrated by the "ruffled dress" and "velvet" gown.

Sadly, Sexton realizes that the passage of time and her loss of the only person who can identify these people (i.e., her father) makes it impossible for her to ever know who the subjects are. Instead of lingering, she continues her resolve to dispose of these items.

Stanza 3

What Happens

Sexton finds a "yellow scrapbook" that the father started in 1928, the year she was born. Although she is only 31, the scrapbook is "crackling and wrinkly." Inside are clippings of events, like President Herbert Hoover's victory in 1928, the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, and "recent" wartime when her father was "flush" with money. After Sexton's mother died, her father almost remarried a "pretty widow." Before he could, though, Sexton tried to dissuade him not to. He died three days later.

Why It Matters

This stanza emphasizes the passage of time. Specific historical events from the late 1920s through the 1950s parallel her family's life. The "recent years when you went flush on war" can refer to World War II or the later Korean War. In either case, the father's wealth increased due to war.

Sexton reveals a closeness with her father in "I cried on your fat shoulder." She was able to convince him not to remarry (or at least delay remarrying). Then his quick death took away his opportunity to remarry in haste.

Stanza 4

What...