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Confessional

Movement
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Mid-20th century poetry movement emphasizing personal trauma, mental illness, and taboo subjects

Detailed Definition
Confessional poetry emerged in mid-20th-century America as a mode of intensely personal, autobiographical verse that exposes private trauma, mental illness, or taboo subjects with raw emotional honesty; associated with Plath, Sexton, and Lowell, it redefined lyric subjectivity through psychological vulnerability.
Example
Example in poetry:
Confessional: Plath’s “Daddy”: “I have always been scared of you”; Sexton’s “Her Kind”: “I have gone out in boats”; Original: “My therapist’s couch holds my ghosts”
Additional Notes
Poetry revealing intimate personal experiences and emotions honestly. Emerged 1950s-60s with Lowell, Plath, Sexton. Related to: autobiographical poetry, personal voice. Revolutionary candor.
Also Known As
autobiographical poetry therapeutic verse
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