PMD - Confessional Poets Lesson
Confessional Poets Lesson
Confessional poetry emerged in the decades after World War II, as writers began recording and sharing their internal suffering. Topics ranged from personal relationships and marriage troubles to the poet's experience of trauma, depression, mental illness, and the deaths of loved ones. While this level of psychological self-revelation is common today, many people living in the 1950s and 1960s found this writing shocking and inappropriate. Others, however, understood that making an individual's despair public might help cast a light on the nation's suffering during this time of anxiety and uncertainty. These poets put into words what many Americans were feeling but couldn't express.
Learn more about each of the poets in the activity below.
Reading Assignment: The Poems
It is now time to read a poem by each of the Confessional Poets in this lesson.
As you read "Mirror," pay close attention to Plath's use of personification. The mirror takes on human characteristics. Think about why the woman is so dissatisfied with what she sees in the mirror.
In "The Room of My Life," Sexton seems to be trying to find her sanity within the objects of her room but only finds monotony and frustration. The objects within her state of mind change and entice her and compel her to share "by all the words in her hands." Look for examples of figurative language as you read. There are numerous examples throughout the poem. What is Sexton trying to say? How was she feeling when she wrote this poem?
The beginning of Lowell's "Skunk Hour" suggests that Maine is in its declining years. Even though the poem seems to be about a city that is on its last leg, the speaker is searching for love but doesn't find it as is evidenced by stanzas five and six. Then he goes on to say that nobody is here except the skunks. In a strange way, Lowell is saying that the skunks are positive models for a better world. The poem has so many messages, but an overarching theme may be what is fresh or new will become old as time passes, and nothing lives forever. The poem is dedicated, "For Elizabeth Bishop," another gifted American poet who wrote a poem dedicated "For Robert Lowell," titled "The Armadillo," and linked below, if you are interested. How do the two poems speak to one another?
"Mirror" Text Link Links to an external site.
"The Room of My Life" Text Link Links to an external site.
"Skunk Hour" Text Link Links to an external site.
"The Armadillo" Text Link Links to an external site.
RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.