Richmond Young Writers

What is confessional poetry?

For most contemporary critics, confessional poetry marked a revolution in poetic style

as well as specific subject matter and the relationship between a poem’s speaker and

self. Confessional poets wrote in direct, colloquial speech rhythms and used images that

reflected intense psychological experiences, often culled from childhood or battles with

mental illness or breakdown. They tended to utilize sequences, emphasizing connections

between poems. They grounded their work in actual events, referred to real persons, and

refused any metaphorical transformation of intimate details into universal symbols

-from The Poetry Foundation

Poems we will study:

Day One: Sylvia Plath, Morning Song

Day Two: Robert Lowell, Skunk Hour

Day Three: W.D. Snodgrass Heart’s Needle

Day Four: Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck

Day Five: Anne Sexton, Her Kind

Materials needed: notebook and writing utensil, reading materials provided