The Confessional Movement

1. The Confessional Movement ZhemaiaAnacay Dawn Del Carmen Chloe Marana Audrey Pelonia

2. 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.

3. 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”

4. 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 • Simileand Metaphors – comparing two things as indirectly mentioning something. • Symbolism – Gives key words some symbol for the message of the poem • Repetitionand Alliteration – the use for emphasizing an idea. • Irony – Shows contradiction over their personal feelings to general statements.

5. 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… )

6. 4 Confessional Poems “Anna Who Was Mad” by Anne Sexton “Dream Song 14” by John Berryman “Doomsday” by Sylvia Plath “To speak of the Woe that is in Marriage” by Robert Lowell

7. Anne Sexton (1928-1967)

8. 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)

9. 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-oldinto 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 psychiatristwho 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 neverthelesspick up the Parker Pen I gave you.Write me.Write.

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. John Berryman (1914-1972)

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

20. 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.

21. 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”

22. 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 Ithought lunatic • means not real because I thought of looneytunes • of cartoons with characteristics of being crazy • Hyperbole: doomsday, because not everyone • believes in the end of time period.

23. 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

24. 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.

25. Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

26. 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”

27. To Speak of Woe that is in Marriage "The hot night makes us keep our bedroom windows open.Our magnolia blossoms. Life begins to happen.My hopped up husband drops his home disputes,and hits the streets to cruise for prostitutes,free-lancing out along the razor's edge.This screwball might kill his wife, then take the pledge.Oh the monotonous meanness of his lust. . .It's the injustice . . . he is so unjust--whiskey-blind, swaggering home at five.My only thought is how to keep alive.What makes him tick? Each night now I tieten dollars and his car key to my thigh. . . .Gored by the climacteric of his want,he stalls above me like an elephant."

28. 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

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. QUIZ TIME We hope you paid attention to details.

32. QUESTION #1 What era did the movement developed?

33. ANSWER From the 1950s to 1960s

34. QUESTION #2 Name three subjects that the movement is concerned of.

35. ANSWER (Any of these will do) Love affairs, suicidal thoughts, fear of failure/Violent thoughts

36. QUESTION #3 Name three Devices that were use in Confessional Poetry and why were they used?

37. 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.

38. QUESTION #4 What is one influence that these poets have that caused them to write confessional poems?

39. ANSWER Psychological Illnesses

40. QUESTION #5 Which one of the four poets mentioned did not commit suicide? And how did the person died?

41. ANSWER Robert Lowell A heart attack when he went to go visit his ex-wife.

42. QUESTION #6 Which two poets did Robert Lowell taught at Boston University?

43. ANSWER Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton

44. 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?

45. ANSWER John Smith Henry Henry has to deal with drunkenness and paternal suicide

46. QUESTION #8 What are two of Anne Sexton's notable works?

47. ANSWER (Any of these will do) To Bedlam and Part Way Back 45 Mercy Street Words for Dr. Y

48. QUESTION #9 Why was Sylvia Plath's notable work was "Daddy"?

49. ANSWER Because her dad has been a strict father, and both his authoritarian attitudes and his death defined her relationships and her poems

50. This concludes our presentation The End