'Poetry as Confession' was an influential article written by M. L. Rosenthal, reviewing the poetry collection ''

Life Studies ''Life Studies'' is the fourth book of poems by Robert Lowell. Most critics (including Helen Vendler, Steven Gould Axelrod, Adam Kirsch, and others) consider it one of Lowell's most important books, and the Academy of American Poets named it ...

'' by Robert Lowell. The review is credited with being the first application of the term of

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

to an approach to the writing of poetry. This led to an entire movement of 20th Century poetry being called ' Confessional poetry'. The review was published in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' on 19 September

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, and was later collected in Rosenthal's book of selected essays and reviews, ''Our Life In Poetry'' (1991). Some material from the essay was used in an essay Rosenthal published the following year in his book ''The Modern Poets: A Critical Introduction''.Rosenthal, M. L., ''The Modern Poets: A Critical Introduction'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1960 The review opens with a reference to

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

and noting the new trend towards confession in poetry: Rosenthal proceeds to compare the current day approach with that of the poets of the Romantic period such as John Keats. The Romantics, he asserts, found "cosmic equations and symbols". Keats transcended his "personal complaint", and lost it in the "music of universal folornness". Rosenthal introduces the adjective "confessional" when hew moves on to

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

and his Calamus poems: T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound are brought up, in the context of the influence of the Symbolists, and how they take us to the "forbidden realm" although "a certain indirection masks the poet's actual face and psyche". But, Rosenthal continues,

References

* Rosenthal, M. L., ''Our Life in Poetry: Selected Essays and Reviews'', Persea Books, New York, 1991, .

Footnotes

Essays about poetry 1959 documents Works originally published in The Nation {{poetry-essay-stub

See also

References

Footnotes