THE CONFESSIONAL
MOVEMENT
Zhemaia Anacay
Dawn Del Carmen
Chloe Marana
Audrey Pelonia
What is Confessional Poetry?
• Main Definition: Confessional poetry is marked by its intimate
autobiographical subject matter that is sometimes referred to as
grotesque. Depression, suicidal tendencies, alcoholism, drug abuse
are all openly discussed. This type of poetry is commonly associated
with work from the movement of the 1950's and 60's. (Dr. Scanlon
Poets.org)
• Our definition: the word confessional means to confess, relating to
or resembling. In other words, confessional poems are speeches of
personal feelings and honesty. They are like diary/journal entries,
where you open up about your most inner feelings, but you mask
some personal things and tweak it to a poem structure.
Confessional Poetry 101
• a personal poetry which often uses the pronouns I, me,
myself, etc…
• A poetry full of open/hidden personal feelings
• The movement emerged during the late 1950’s and early
1960’s
• Poem usually concerned the subjects of :
Love affairs
Suicidal thoughts
Fear of failure
Violent thoughts toward family members
• Topics usually expressed in an autobiography manner
• Poems expressed their personal experiences and pains
• Most of the poets suffered from “psychological illnesses”
Confessional Poetry 102
• Confessional Poems usually use the following devices:
• Diction – Usage of careful words.
• Imagery – Vivid details to make a clear picture
• Rhyme – As part of their craftsmanship (free verse,
couplet, etc.) differ from a journal entry
• Simile and Metaphors – comparing two things as
indirectly mentioning something.
• Symbolism – Gives key words some symbol for the
message of the poem
• Repetition and Alliteration – the use for emphasizing an
idea.
• Irony – Shows contradiction over their personal feelings
to general statements.
Individual Activity:
Write your own short confessional poem (and you should be able to if
you have tumblr, diaries, etc.) about any topic you want, while using
ALL of the following devices:
Diction
Imagery
Simile or Metaphor
Symbolism
(You have 7 minutes… )
4 Confessional Poems
“Anna Who Was Mad”
“Doomsday”
by Anne Sexton
by Sylvia Plath
“Dream Song 14”
“To speak of the Woe
by John Berryman
that is in Marriage”
by Robert Lowell
Anne
Sexton
(1928-1967)
Anne Sexton (1928-1967)
• Born to a successful wool manufacturer and into a middle class life style
• Left dysfunctional family to live with her aunt
• Married at the age of 19 to Alfred Muller Sexton II while engaged to another
man
• 1954 she was diagnosed with postpartum depression
• Suffered multiple breakdowns and was admitted to the hospital occasionally
Often abused her two kids
Attempted suicide several times
• Doctor encouraged her to pursue her interest in writing poetry
Attended Boston University
• Divorced Husband
• Her health began to go downhill as her loneliness, alcoholism, and
depression took a toll
Committed suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning
• Notable Work(s):
To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960)
45 Mercy Street (1976)
 Words for Dr. Y. (1978)
Anna Who Was Mad
Anna who was mad,
I have a knife in my armpit.
When I stand on tiptoe I tap out messages.
Am I some sort of infection?
Did I make you go insane?
Did I make the sounds go sour?
Did I tell you to climb out the window?
Forgive. Forgive.
Say not I did.
Say not.
Say.
Speak Mary-words into our pillow.
Take me the gangling twelve-year-old
into your sunken lap.
Whisper like a buttercup.
Eat me. Eat me up like cream pudding.
Take me in.
Take me.
Take.
Give me a report on the condition of my
soul.
Give me a complete statement of my
actions.
Hand me a jack-in-the-pulpit and let me
listen in.
Put me in the stirrups and bring a tour
group through.
Number my sins on the grocery list and let
me buy.
Did I make you go insane?
Did I turn up your earphone and let a siren
drive through?
Did I open the door for the mustached
psychiatrist
who dragged you out like a gold cart?
Did I make you go insane?
From the grave write me, Anna!
You are nothing but ashes but nevertheless
pick up the Parker Pen I gave you.
Write me.
Write.
TPFASTT
A girl named Anna, who is
mad because of personal
reasons
Anne sexton just wants her aunt to write about all
of anne's imperfections and shortcomings, because
she believes its her fault that her aunt went insane.
She feels guilty and wants to help her out at ease.
Writing she believes would help like for hers, but its
not for everyone.
Diction: Gangling, sunken, dragged
Repetition: Did I make you go insane? Words:
Did, Say, Forgive, Take, Write repeats at least
twice.
Irony: Did I make you go insane, ironic
because repeating the same phrase over and
over again will eventually make someone
crazy
Tone is a mixture of
disturbed and
Ashamed
The shift moves from the first stanza as she
ask in curiosity if it was her to blame, and
towards the end, she assumes it is her and
tries to help her with it by suggesting
solutions such as writing.
Anna is the relative she went to live with when she
left her parents. The aunt was mentally ill so the title
reflects Anne's contemplation about where or not she
was the reason why her aunt has gone mentally ill
The theme is guilt, because Anne
Sexton felt the guilt that she may
have been the caused for her
aunt's mental problem.
AP Prompt Example #1
Read the poem Anna who was Mad. Then write an
essay in which you analyze how the speaker conveys
the relationship between the author and Anna by
using literary devices such as the point of view and
structure.
John
Berryman
(1914-1972)
John Berryman (1914-1972)
•
•
•
•
Born as John Smith
At the age of 12 Berryman’s father committed suicide outside his window
Took his stepfather’s name, Berryman, when mother remarried
Attempted suicide at a young age
 Threw self at train tracks
• Married a total of 3 times
• Graduated South Kent one year early
• Taught at many Universities (Wayne State university, Harvard, Princeton,
University of Iowa, and the University of Minnesota)
• Suffered from depression and alcoholism
 Committed suicide by jumping off Minneapolis bridge
NOTABLE WORKS:
• Dream Songs
 Berryman is known for his 385 dream songs
 Structure: 3 stanza format and 18 line rhymes
 Berryman uses Henry to represent his own actions, thoughts, and
regrets
 Like John, Henry has to deal with drunkenness and paternal suicide.
Dream Song 14
Life, friends, is boring.
We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the
great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told
me as a boy
‘Ever to confess you’re bored
means you have no
Inner Resources.’ I conclude
now I have no
inner resources, because I am
heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially
great literature,
Henry bores me, with his
plights & gripes
as bad as achilles,
who loves people and valiant
art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin,
look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail
considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky,
leaving
behind: me, wag.
TPFASTT
In dreams, the number 14 signifies the need to
adapt to altering surroundings and the need to
focus on solely desires. Or it can simply mean
Berryman's 14th dream
Stanza 1: We are surrounded by a beautiful surrounding that is
filled with riches; opportunities.
Stanza 2: The world and everything with in it is so boring and
unentertaining, because of the problems humans or in this case
Berryman has to deal with.
Stanza 3: John confronts his depression with gin ( alcohol ) but it
makes matters worse. That even a dog can fulfill more than he
ever can.
Metaphor: (Line 15-16) Compares himself to a dog.
Irony: (Line 9-10). He contradicts himself, because his passion is for
poetry yet he calls it boring. And passion is basically a strong like
towards a certain person or subject.
Simile: (Line 11) Henry symbolizes John Berryman.
(Line 11-12) John compares himself to a Trojan war hero.
Personification: (Line 1-2) John gives the human characteristic of
desire to the sea.
Repetition: (Line 9-11) "Bores/bore me“ - Contributes to the overall
tone of the poem.
Imagery: (Line 15-18)You can picture a dog wagging his tail on top of a
mountain.
Dissatisfied - Tone words: heavy,
bored (Line 8)
Positive, lyrical, and cheerful
(Stanza 1) to dissatisfactory, and
jealousy (line 7-8)
the title is unrelated to the poem itself but
related to the series of poems John Berryman
has published as a whole
•
•
There is so much opportunities to accomplish and
troubles to face that we don't have enough idle
time to even experience such boredom.
The world is boring because everyone acts,
thinks, and talks the same. There are no
individuals that stand alone.
AP Prompt Example #2
Read the following poem, Dream Song 14.
then, write an essay in which you analyze
the literary techniques the speaker uses to
convey his attitude toward society.
Sylvia
Plath
(1932-1963)
Doomsday
The idiot bird leaps out and drunken
leans
Atop the broken universal clock:
The hour is crowed in lunatic thirteens.
Out painted stages fall apart by scenes
While all the actors halt in mortal
shock:
The idiot bird leaps out and drunken
leans.
Streets crack through in havoc-split
ravines
As the doomstruck city crumbles block
by block:
The hour is crowed in lunatic thirteens.
Fractured glass flies down in
smithereens;
Our lucky relics have been put in hock:
The idiot bird leaps out and drunken
leans.
The monkey's wrench has blasted all
machines;
We never thought to hear the holy cock:
The hour is crowed in lunatic thirteens.
Too late to ask if end was worth the
means,
Too late to calculate the toppling stock:
The idiot bird leaps out and drunken
leans,
The hour is crowed in lunatic thirteens.
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
• Born on October 27, 1932-1963, lived in Boston
Massachusetts
• In 1940, at the age of eight, her father died as a result of
complications from diabetes mellitus
Her dad has been a strict father, and both his authoritarian
attitudes and his death defined her relationships and her
poems
• Kept a journal from the age 11 which gained her
importance to her college
• In 1963, on the age of 20 she suffered from depression,
martial separation caused her to commit suicide
• The difference between all the poets of confessional
poems is she became familiar and intimate with the sea,
from an early age she enjoyed the sea and could
recognize its beauty & power
• Notable work: “Daddy”
TPFASTT
The end of the World
the author is describing the people around her , she
sees that everyone is panicking from the tragic
events of the world but the bird is lucky because he
doesn’t have to worry about family not like people in
the poem they need to save their lives ,family's
lives and make sure they don't separate.
Alliteration: the hour is crowed with lunatic
thirteens. Lunatic thirteens means a place
scattered with crazy people I thought lunatic
means not real because I thought of looney tunes
of cartoons with characteristics of being crazy
Hyperbole: doomsday, because not everyone
believes in the end of time period.
Concerned of the bird, because
she thinks it might end up dying.
The poem begins with sad tragic
events then ends with peace by
finally ending devastation of lives
When prepared, time is not wasted
Be prepared even though the event might not
Happen but time is sufficient when you are
prepared
AP Prompt Example #3
Read the poem Doomsday. Then write an essay
in which you analyze how the poet conveys the
role of destiny by using literary devices such as
simile and hyperbole.
Robert
Lowell
(1917-1977)
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)
• Robert "Cal" Traill Spence Lowell IV
• born into one of Boston's oldest and most prominent families.
• American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry
movement
• graduated from St. Mark's School prep-school, influenced by the poet
Richard Eberhart
• Attended Harvard College for two years, transferred to Kenyon College in
Ohio
• Taught at Boston University: Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton
• Imprisonment
• Relationships:
Jean Stafford
Elizabeth Hardwick
Caroline Blackwood
• Manic depression, lithium, heart attack, died in 1977
• NOTABLE WORK: “Life Studies”
To Speak of Woe that is in Marriage
"The hot night makes us keep our bedroom windows open.
whiskey-blind, swaggering home
Our magnolia blossoms.
at five.
My only thought is how to keep
Life begins to happen.
My hopped up husband drops his alive.
What makes him tick? Each night
home disputes,
and hits the streets to cruise for now I tie
ten dollars and his car key to my
prostitutes,
free-lancing out along the razor's thigh. . . .
Gored by the climacteric of his
edge.
This screwball might kill his wife, want,
he stalls above me like an
then take the pledge.
Oh the monotonous meanness of elephant."
his lust. . .
It's the injustice . . . he is so unjust-
TPFASTT
What is the role of "Woo" in Marriage
(Woo: gain love of someone)
Talks about a dying marriage, and
what methods the main subject tries
to revive it but rather it doesn't
nothing but leave the subject more
burden thoughts.
Rhyme Scheme: Free verse with
rhyming Couplet- AABBCC... Every line
rhymes from the previous
Simile: he stalls above me like an
elephant
Diction: Word-usage, avoids obvious
words
Sympathetic, the tone of Lowell,
shows the wife a hopeless lover, who
loves her husband regardless of his
abusive personality.
The speaker talking from her sad
experiences to her hopeful ideas to
gain spark, but instead it makes it
worse.
Basically it's asking what is the Woe in Marriage,
and earlier, I said the “woo” which someone gains
the love of the other, and that is what the wife is
trying to figure it out, she can't find it because of
her husband's personality.
Unconditional love in marriage, when
one gives more than the other, but
regardless of it, they still continue,
even if it brings them pain.
AP Prompt Example #4
Read the poem, To Speak of Woe that is in
Marriage. Then, write an essay in which
you analyze how the poet uses diction to
convey his message about lust.
QUIZ TIME
We hope you paid attention to
details.
QUESTION #1
What era did the movement
developed?
ANSWER
From the 1950s to 1960s
QUESTION #2
Name three subjects that the
movement is concerned of.
ANSWER
(Any of these will do)
Love affairs, suicidal thoughts, fear
of failure/Violent thoughts
QUESTION #3
Name three Devices that were
use in Confessional Poetry and
why were they used?
ANSWER
(any of these will do)
Diction – Usage of careful words.
Imagery – Vivid details to make a clear picture
Rhyme – As part of their craftsmanship (free
verse, couplet, etc.) differ from a journal entry
Simile and Metaphors – comparing two things as
indirectly mentioning something.
Symbolism – Gives key words some symbol for
the message of the poem
Repetition and Alliteration – the use for
emphasizing an idea.
Irony – Shows contradiction over their personal
feelings to general statements.
QUESTION #4
What is one influence that these
poets have that caused them to
write confessional poems?
ANSWER
Psychological Illnesses
QUESTION #5
Which one of the four poets
mentioned did not commit
suicide? And how did the person
died?
ANSWER
Robert Lowell
A heart attack when he went to go
visit his ex-wife.
QUESTION #6
Which two poets did Robert
Lowell taught at Boston
University?
ANSWER
Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton
QUESTION #7
What was John Berryman's real
name? What was the name of
the character that he uses in his
Dream Song poems and what
did the character have to deal
with?
ANSWER
John Smith
Henry
Henry has to deal with
drunkenness and paternal suicide
QUESTION #8
What are two of Anne Sexton's
notable works?
ANSWER
(Any of these will do)
To Bedlam and Part Way Back
45 Mercy Street
Words for Dr. Y
QUESTION #9
Why was Sylvia Plath's notable
work was "Daddy"?
ANSWER
Because her dad has been a strict
father, and both his authoritarian
attitudes and his death defined
her relationships and her poems
This concludes our presentation
THE
END