AngryGayBlackCanadianman

Confessional poetry is a form of poetry that is autobiographical and is based on the life experiences of the poet. Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath deserve credit for revolutionizing the art of poetry writing during the mid twentieth century. I believe due to Sexton and Plath’s incredible poems most of the poems published now tends to be “confessional poetry”.

In Women’s Studies the topic of female vulnerability is often discussed and I wonder if people like it when women are “vulnerable”?

Some art critics hate confessional poetry because they consider confessional poetry to be a form of self loathing. Is confessional poetry art or detrimental to the written word? Life isn’t perfect though life can be messy, filled with ups and downs. Shouldn’t poetry reflect this fact that our lives are sometimes have moments of unhappiness and despair?

My viewpoint is one of the reasons confessional poetry is so popular is because it is much easier to write then inspirational poetry. We all have life experiences and we can tap into these experiences and create poems. Some poetry critics believe confessional poetry is laziness it isn’t true art because they believe the “artistic” aspect of the poems are diluted.

The quandary for Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton is they are more “famous” for committing suicide then they are for their poetry. The word “suicide” is often attached to them. The word “suicide” is such a loaded controversial term because people have divergent views on the topic.

I honestly believe the pain and the grief was so unbearable for both Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath that they believed suicide was their only option. Also, we must remember during the 1960s and 1970s psychology wasn’t as advanced as the present. In the mid twentieth century there weren’t a lot of therapies, anti depressants, or treatments available for people suffering from mental illness.

Does it matter that Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath committed suicide? Should it matter to the reader? Should Plath and Sexton be known for the fact they both ended their lives prematurely? Does this fascinate the public and why?

Sylvia Plath committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven in 1963. Plath died at the tender age of thirty two she was a mother of two young children. Plath had tremendous success with her poetry although she is best known for her autobiographical novel “The Bell Jar”.

According to a biography I read Anne Sexton was fascinated by Sylvia Plath’s suicide she even wrote a poem about her friend’s death. Sexton was also famous in the literary world during the 1960s and 1970s. Sexton won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her powerful collection of poetry “Live Or Die”.

Anne Sexton chose death she committed suicide at the age of forty five in 1974. Sexton locked herself in her garage started the engine of her car and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning . Suicide, death, depression, unhappiness, are the ingredients of confessional poetry.

Sometimes I wonder if these themes in poetry are healthy for the reading audience? Should death, suicide, despair, and unhappiness be explored in art? Or should poetry be about more traditional themes like couplets & haiku’s ? Sometimes I wonder if poetry was a form of catharsis for Sexton and Plath because they both experienced so much grief in their lives?

My perspective is perhaps the reason people are attracted to Sexton and Plath’s poetry is readers can see the veracity in their work. Perhaps deep inside the minds of the readers they believe through the “poetry” are the answers to solve their questions about Sexton and Plath’s mental breakdowns? Everyone loves drama it seems and maybe people aren’t that interested in reading “inspirational poetry”. I honestly believe writing “uplifting poetry” is much harder then writing “confessional poetry”.

Despite Sexton and Plath tremendous success in the literary world they were both mothers during a time when America was in transition from post world war II to the capitalist world.  Does the public like read poetry about death and self loathing because people want to “capture” the emotions of the poet?

I wonder if readers “pity” Sexton and Plath because they were unable to overcome their mental breakdowns? Do readers honestly respect both women due to their literary talents or are they “attracted” to the fact both committed suicide so young?