Characteristics of Confessional Poetry

As the name implies, confessional poetry is poetry of self-revelation. Brought to

light in the 1950s and ‘60s by poets like Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and W.D.
Snodgrass, confessional poetry serves to reveal an author’s repressed anguish or
deepest emotions through verses about the most personal of subjects. Although
feelings and emotions have long been considered a core thematic element of
poetry, the risqué content conveyed in confessional poetry sets it far apart from
more traditional genres.

Intimate Subject Matter

The most defining characteristic of confessional poetry is that it focuses on subject

matter once considered taboo. Issues like drug abuse, sexual guilt, alcoholism,
suicide and depression, which were typically considered shameful or
embarrassing, were discussed openly. For example, in her poem “Daddy,” Sylvia
Plath writes about how much she hates her father: “Daddy, I have had to kill you,”
and later, “I have always been scared of you.”

First-Person Narration

According to Poets.org, confessional poetry is the poetry of the “I.” In other

words, all confessional poems are written from a first-person point of view,
allowing the reader to delve closely into the thoughts and feelings of the author.
According to Edward Byrne, a published poet and English professor at Valparaiso
University, confessional poets use first-person narration to “widen the scope of
the poem” and as a “tool to increase a reader’s emotional identification with the
writer.” In essence, confessional poems invite the reader to live vicariously
through the poem.

Autobiographical by Design

By nature, confessional poems are autobiographical, meant to record the

sometimes sordid and often dismal personal lives of their authors, a now-common
practice found in countless autobiographies, memoirs and essays. However, unlike
other “I” poems, in confessional poems, the speaker doesn’t just represent the
poet; rather, the poet and the speaker are one in the same and interchangeable,
and the speaker draws upon his or her own life as the sole form of reference.

Lyrical Craftsmanship

It may be easy to assume that confessional poets simply put pen to paper and
poured out their feelings in a free-flowing, nondescript manner. However, quite
the opposite is true. According to Poets.org, the original confessional poets
maintained a “high level of craftsmanship” and paid careful attention to the use of
rhythm and intonation in their poems. W.D. Snodgrass in particular, long
considered a “father” of confessional poetry, was a master of literary technique,
incorporating everything from metaphor to allusion to aphorism in his works.