American Literature / Unit 17 AML 1604 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Confessional Poetry: The Term and the Risk
Captions available
The idea
The witness says Lowell initiated confessional poetry, a mode in which he bared his most tormenting personal problems with honesty and intensity, and that the change was a watershed that opened the way for younger writers. The anchor names Plath and Sexton as his students.
In practice
The private self, made the poem's material.
Where people slip
Confession is a technique, not mere diary.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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