In the poem "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph", Anne
             Sexton alludes to the flight of Icarus and Daedalus and to "To a Friend
             Whose Work Has Come to Nothing" to convey a message to a friend. I think
             this poem was written to reassure a friend that what she did was the right
             thing. Perhaps a father figure of the friend advised her to do something
             and she defied him, making herself feel worried that she did the wrong
             William Butler Yeats once wrote a poem titled "To a Friend Whose
             Work has Come to Nothing". It was a poem believed to be written to
             reassure a friend that what she ended up doing was a noble thing even
             though in reality she failed her original task. The title of Sexton's poem
             is an obvious allusion to Yeats' poem. Sexton changed "Nothing" to
             "Triumph" in her title. Sexton's friend must have been a fellow poet to be
             able to catch the allusion to Yeats' poem. I believe she wanted her friend
             to know that what she did was the right thing. Perhaps she compared her
             friend to Yeats' friend. Sexton wrote "Think of the difference it made!"
             referring to Icarus' flight. She might have wanted her friend to realize a
             difference her defying her father made.
             The final line of the poem has a comparably different tone than the
             first 13 lines. The last line, "See him acclaiming the sun and come
             plunging down while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.", seems
             more mocking of Daedalus' flight. It seems that Sexton feels that
             Daedalus' flight was a wasted chance and was in no way adventurous. She
             might also be comparing her friend to Icarus, seeing as he too failed his
             initial task but accomplished something greater on a global scale. I
             believe Sexton thought that Icarus' flight was not foolish or a failure,
             but adventurous and a great personal success, even though his satisfaction
             and personal glory was short-lived. She wrote "Admire his wings",
             ...