Student Question
What are some characteristics of confessional poetry?
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Confessional poetry is autobiographical, written in the first person, and explores deeply personal and often taboo subjects such as death, mental illness, and trauma. It uses metaphors and allusions to convey intimate emotions in a relatable way. The genre often employs free verse to express the poet's inner turmoil without structural constraints. Notable confessional poets include Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, whose works are characterized by their lyrical quality and emotional intensity.
Confessional poetry characteristically deals with private, intimate feelings and experiences, and typically these feelings and experiences draw upon themes like death, relationships, psychology, feelings of depression, sexuality, and moments of personal trauma.
Confessional poetry is usually autobiographical and thus written in the first person perspective. It also uses metaphors and allusions to translate deeply personal experiences into a more commonly understood language. In Sylvia Plath's "Daddy," for example, Plath alludes to the holocaust to communicate her feelings about her relationship with her father, and she uses metaphors to describe how, after her father's death, Plaith felt as if she had been "stuck (back) together with glue."
Another common characteristic of confessional poetry is lyricism. Sylvia Plaith's "Daddy" again provides a good example. Throughout much of the poem, there are full and half-rhymes for the word "you." In stanza five, for example, the words at the end of the lines read:...
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"two . . . you . . . root . . . you." In this instance, the repetitive rhyme implies an insistent, increasingly accusatory tone, echoing the speaker's feelings for her father.
What is confessional poetry?
Confessional poetry is a category of poetry which is, in the broadest sense, exactly what the name implies. This genre of poetry shares certain characteristics.
First it is autobiographical, which means it is generally written from a first-person point of view. What this does, of course, is add drama and impact to whateverrevelation is about to unfold. because it's real. Who isn't intrigued by hearing someone's confession of the soul?
Second, it is revelatory. In other words, I could write an autobiographical poem about getting a new car, but it may not reveal anything about who am or what I'm thinking/feeling in any way. Confessional poetry is, by its very nature, a purging of some kind of inner torment or issue or shame.
Third, it deals with traditionally "taboo" subjects, things people would not ordinarily "confess" to perfect strangers. In today's world, frankly, there are very few taboos left which are not openly discussed or written about openly; however, at the peak of the confessional poetry movement last century, there were things which were virtually never spoken. Suicide, abortion, mental disorders, abuse--these were all silent problems or tragedies known only only to the sufferers themselves.
Finally, though there are certainly no poetic "rules" regarding confessional poetry, the form is often free verse. This is not particularly surprising, as these are issue which are overflowing from the hearts and lives of the poets and generally would not suit a more structured format.
The authors of such poetry are often romanticized, but many of them do end their lives in some tragic way. Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Anne Sexton, and Robert Lowell are among the most recognized confessional poets.
I've included a good overview eNotes site featuring Sylvia Plath, below.