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Confessional Poetry (US)

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

Late 1950s–60s poetry revealing intimate psychological and traumatic experiences

Detailed Definition
Confessional Poetry (US) designates the postwar American movement that revolutionized lyric poetry by centering the poet’s private psyche as public subject matter, challenging decorum through explicit explorations of identity, family, and mental health, and establishing a legacy of autobiographical intensity in contemporary verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Confessional Poetry (US) reveals intimate psychological states: Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus”; Robert Lowell’s “Skunk Hour”; Anne Sexton’s “Her Kind”; W.D. Snodgrass’ “Heart’s Needle”; contemporary heirs include Sharon Olds’ familial revelations and Ocean Vuong’s “Night Sky with Exit Wounds.”
Additional Notes
Specifically American movement revealing personal psychological struggles. Contrasts with impersonal modernism. Related to: confessional poetry, therapeutic writing. Study Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
Also Known As
Intimate poetry movement personal poetry self-revealing verse autobiographical poetry
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