Anne Sexton Confessional Poetry Analysis - 1192 Words

Her style of poetry, confessional poetry, was used in a way to connect with her audience as stated above, and without it, she would have been unable to achieve the level of rapport necessary to reach her popularity. Confessional poetry is the poetry of the personal or I, and it began to emerge in the late 50s and early 60s (A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry). It is associated with poets like Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, W. D. Snodgrass, etc., with Lowell playing teacher for both Plath and Sexton. This poetry movement was all about opening closed doors, allowing the discussion of topics that were once considered forbidden and shameful. Anything once indecent to mention in polite company was used to prove a point, to†¦show more content†¦While Plath is proud embracer of her nihilistic vision, mythologizing death and misery and silence and choosing artistic brilliance often over the more personal to achieve the myth she wishes to create for her readers, Sexton s peaks more longingly, hopefully (Johnson). Her poetry is more about trying to gain back the wholeness she feels is missing, the desire for a healthy and complete world, though she may doubt its existence. Her poetry is about the struggle, the blunt nature of desire and the often-impossible odds. Her power, more than anything, is her use of her own vulnerability, perhaps making her even more vulnerable than many of her fellow confessional poets. And then using her craft to make all of her audience feel it, like shes engraving her uphill battle into their chests. That is her trademark. Through the use of one of her poems, Knee Song, it is easy to see the wistful nature of her poetry. Being kissed on the back of the knee is a moth at the windowscreen and yes my darling a dot on the fathometer is tinkerbelle with her cough and twice I will give up my honor and stars will stick like tacks in the night yes oh yes yes yes two little snails at the back of the knee building bon- fires something like eye- lashes something two zippos striking yes yes yes small and me maker (Anne Sexton: Poems).Show MoreRelatedConfessional Poetry Essay1640 Words   |  7 PagesConfessional poetry is a style that emerged in the late 1950’s. Poetry of this type tends to be very personal and emotional. Many confessional poets dealt with subject matter that had previously been taboo. Death, trauma, mental illness, sexuality, and numerous other topics flowed through the works of the poetry from this movement. Confessional poetry was not purely autobiographical, but did often express deeply disturbing personal experience. (Academy of American Poets) Three importantRead MoreImportance Of Feminism Within Writing1938 Words   |  8 PagesThelma Barraza Professor Olson LIT-230-02 November 24, 2014 Anne Sexton: Importance of Feminism within Writing Anne Sexton was born Anne Gray Harvey on November 9, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts. Her parents, Ralph Harvey and his wife, Mary Gray Staples Harvey overlooked their youngest child Anne. According to the Great Lives from History, she grew up lonely and excluded from family activities, because she was never able to reach the standards her father wanted. She felt overlooked and unwanted, andRead MoreConfessional Mode in Poetry of Kamala Das3267 Words   |  14 PagesCONFESSIONAL MODE IN POETRY OF KAMALA DAS Confessional mode of writing has its virtual origin in the mid50s in America. It is hybrid mode of poetry which means objective, analytical or even clinical observation of incidents from one’s own life. Confessional poems are intensely personal and highly subjective. There is no ‘persona’ in the poems. ‘I’ in the poems is the poet and nobody else. The themes are nakedly embarrassing and focus too exclusively upon the pain, anguish and ugliness of life atRead MoreMutilating Self Into Spirit: Sylvia Plaths Poems.4131 Words   |  17 Pagesmetaphors and irony in literature. He has highlighted the use and importance of irony in a very impressive and literary way. His article Irony as a Principle of Structure is an excellent piece that stresses and underlines the importance of irony in poetry. According to Brooks, this was one way to visualize the impact of the context in regards to the literary techniques. The backbone of his article is the irony used in any literary work. He believes that this is the key technique to make the poetic