Political & Confessional Poetry

Please make sure you have completed your forum response on Patrick Phillips' poetry. Phillips combines nature poetry with confessional poetry. His work is generally very personal, but also natural. In the case of the packet, he is writing about his brother and father (personal) using nature and other natural images to present the conflict that often arises between brothers or between fathers and sons. There is conflict between sisters, or mothers and daughters, too, by the way--all of which make for some effective poetry. Just sayin'.

Politics are part of our human experience. From war to resistance, these themes reflect who we are as human beings. Let's chat today about some political poetry and confessional poetry forms.

Types of Political Poems

1. The Revolutionary Poem
•Poems which advocate (support) an overthrow of a government or a culture

2. The Patriotic Poem
•Unlike the revolutionary poem, the patriotic poem supports or advocates an aspect of a government or a culture. Reflects an attitude that recalls fundamental principles of a government or culture.
•You may find a lot of this kind of poetry written by minorities (they are supporting a particular culture). Women’s lib poetry; black, Asian, latino, etc. poetry; gay poetry, etc. Any poem celebrating a culture would fall into this category.

3. The Protest Poem
•A poem of criticism that challenges basic concepts of important human issues (censorship, freedom, democracy, pursuit of happiness, etc.)

4. The Universal Political Poem

•Everything else.

Confessional Poetry

Confessional poetry: reveals a personal secret or feeling. This is the only type of poem you can consider the author to be the speaker. Confessional poetry is the poetry of the personal or "I." This style of writing emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s and is associated with poets such as Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and W.D. Snodgrass.

• Confessional poetry is often controversial or even unsettling to read.

• The confessional poetry of the mid-twentieth century dealt with subject matter that previously had not been openly discussed in American poetry. Private experiences with and feelings about death, trauma, depression and relationships were addressed in this type of poetry, often in an autobiographical manner. Sexton in particular was interested in the psychological aspect of poetry, having started writing at the suggestion of her therapist.

• The confessional poets were not merely recording their emotions on paper; craft and construction were extremely important to their work. While their treatment of the poetic self may have been groundbreaking and shocking to some readers, these poets maintained a high level of craftsmanship through their careful attention to and use of prosody.

• The confessional poets of the 1950s and 1960s pioneered a type of writing that forever changed the landscape of American poetry. The tradition of confessional poetry has been a major influence on generations of writers.

Here are a few examples of either political or confessional poetry:
Harlem by Langston Hughes
Let America Be America by Langston Hughes
I, Too, Sing America by Langston Hughes

Homage to My Hips by Lucille Clifton
Daddy by Sylvia Plath
My First Memory by Nikki Giovanni
Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich

After reading some of these samples, try writing either a political poem (choose a type and write) or write a confessional poem. It is always better to write a confessional poem about something you don't mind sharing about your personal life. Otherwise it gets awkward.

Use 7th period to write. Conduct a workshop 8th. Next week, we will only be conducting workshops and revising our work to prepare for our poetry chapbook.

HOMEWORK: If you wish to enter Geva Theater's Playwriting Contest, bring your play script files to next class (revise and correct grammar and form, etc.) Entering this contest gains you extra credit this marking period. Since you already have a script, why not send it in to the contest?

Please complete your forum response on Patrick Phillips poetry if you did not complete it during lab today.