Abstract | Keywords | Export | Availability | Bookmark

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

"When looking back today on the American poetry of the second half of the twentieth century, we see that for many of the major--and still dominant--poets of the period, the confessional mode was a vital force. It made--and, of course, was shaped by--Robert Lowell, whose 1959 Life Studies prompted the delineation of the style. It galvanized Sylvia Plath, sustained Anne Sexton, and provided a useful countertradition even for those who never identified themselves as "confessional" (most obviously Elizabeth Bishop). It also proved fundamental to the careers of many poets of the next generation (including Thom Gunn and Sharon Olds)--even as such successors to the original "school" spent much of their time resisting, or at least rethinking, the terms of the debate"--

Men and literature --- Confession in literature. --- Motherhood in literature. --- Mothers and sons in literature. --- American poetry --- Literature and men --- Literature --- History --- History and criticism.