Form/genre

Question 1

Confessional poetry

Answer 1

• Confessional poetry concentrates on extreme moments of individuals, their private experiences, and their psyche.
• In that sense, confessional poetry differs from traditional poetry by deconstructing the standard notion of poetry and investigating new poetic styles in which poets express their inner sentiments and unsaid words via their compositions.
• Plath’s work is highly autobiographical and personal e.g. ‘Daddy’ and ‘Lady Lazarus’ reflect her own life and relationships
• Plath writes honestly and intimately about her struggles with mental illness

Question 2

Form

Answer 2

• Mostly first person and either semi-autobiographical or entirely autobiographical
• Form- collections of poems with different speakers (many are semi-autobiographical)- the reader has a less strong sense of consistent voice- reflects nuances and complexity of human emotions. (As it can be reasonably inferred that they’re semi-autobiographical), Therefore, in Plath’s, the multifacetedness is developed by Plath offering multiple perspectives and personas (contrast to PH, where this is established through characters’ evolution through time and changes of circumstance.