Confessional poetry

Confessional poetry or "Confessionalism" is a style of poetry that emerged in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s.[1] It is sometimes classified as a form of Postmodernism.[2] It has been described as poetry of the personal or "I", focusing on extreme moments of individual experience, the psyche, and personal trauma, including previously and occasionally still taboo matters such as mental illness, sexuality, and suicide, often set in relation to broader social themes.[3]

The confessional poet's engagement with personal experience has been explained by literary critics as an effort to distance oneself from the horrifying social realities of the twentieth century. Events like the Holocaust, the Cold War, and existential threat brought by the proliferation of nuclear weapons had made public matters daunting for both confessional poets and their readers.[4] The confessional poets also worked in opposition to the idealization of domesticity in the 1950s, by revealing unhappiness in their own homes.[5]

The school of "confessional poetry" was associated with poets who redefined American poetry in the 1950s and 1960s, including Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, Anne Sexton, and W. D. Snodgrass.[1][3]

  1. ^ a b Poets, Academy of American. "A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  2. ^ Crosby, Peter R (2000). "Postmodernist Poetry: a Movement or an Indulgence? (A Study of Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton": 1–14 – via Academia.edu. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ a b Ousby 1998, pp 89
  4. ^ Hoffman, Steven K. (Winter 1978). "Impersonal Personalism: The Making of a Confessional Poetic". ELH. 45 (4): 687–709. doi:10.2307/2872583. ISSN 0013-8304. JSTOR 2872583.
  5. ^ Blake, David H (December 1, 2001). "Public Dreams: Berryman, Celebrity, and the Culture of Confession". American Literary History. 13 (4): 716–736. doi:10.1093/alh/13.4.716. ISSN 0896-7148. S2CID 170123684.