Abstract

Recognizing that confessional poetry is an especially self-conscious dialogue between the (traumatized) self and the materials of poetry, this article discusses a core element of confessional poetry: the creation of the poet-persona. I argue that confessional poetry is not an exact representation of the poet but, rather, an expression of the adverse life experiences of the poet, her trauma, expressing itself through the affordances and constraints of poetry. By revisiting the history and development of confessional poetry, including consideration of the “Confessionals,” this article asserts that the defining characteristic of confessional poetry lies in the trauma being examined. This particular point is further developed through a close analysis of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel. Examining how trauma expresses itself through the double, repetition, and the uncanny cannibalistic, I argue that Plath’s work not only is trauma explored but is also experienced in the act of reading—a trauma double reverberating beyond the page. This article considers the work of Maria Takolander, Dianne Middlebrook, Debra Nelson, Gregory Orr, and others involved in the understanding of poetry and trauma, exploring what constitutes the confessional genre both in the past and present.