Confessional poetry
A movement in mid-20th-century poetry that emphasised autobiographical disclosure, psychological vulnerability, taboo topics (mental illness, sexuality, family dysfunction), and intense emotional authenticity. Confessional poetry broke conventions of poetic restraint.
Real World
Sylvia Plath's poem 'Lady Lazarus' uses her own suicide attempts as raw material, transforming private trauma into darkly theatrical performance art — shocking 1960s readers accustomed to poetry that maintained decorous distance from the poet's inner life.
Exam Focus
Avoid conflating the speaker with the poet; write 'the speaker' and analyse the constructed persona as an artistic choice, not biographical fact.
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