A New National Anthem

The Confessional movement that began in American poetry in the 1950s and 1960s has had an enormous impact on contemporary American poetry. Confessional poetry, sometimes called Confessionalism, is characterized by first-person perspective exploring deeply personal subject matter. Many Confessional poets use this approach to explore such taboo subjects as sexuality, mental illness, intergenerational trauma, personal history, and radical politics.

Confessional poets employ a wide range of forms. For example, in his poem “Howl,” Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg uses long lines and run-on sentences to capture his raw thoughts and feelings in language:

to recreate the syntax and measure of poor human prose and stand before you speechless and intelligent and shaking with shame, rejected yet confessing out the soul to conform to the rhythm of thought in his naked and endless head… (Line 75).

Sylvia Plath, another famous Confessional poet, often used loose rhymes to an almost singsong effect. Her poem “Daddy” addresses her father directly, ending with a scathing declaration and a strange image: “There’s a stake in your fat black heart / And the villagers never liked you” (Lines 76-77).