Anne Sexton: Unveiling the Self through Confessional Poetry

Abstract

This article dwells upon the changes in American culture and especially in the overall landscape of American poetry in the 60s of the 20^th century. It focuses on the peculiar features of confessional poetry and prominent poets who followed that artistic movement in post-war America. The paper also touches upon Anne Sexton’s life, McLean – a hospital also conventionally known as America’s most literary mental institution, its patients as well as the poet’s mastery of poetic expression. The research focuses on conducting an analysis of select poems by Anne Sexton. Confessional poet Anne Sexton was among the first lyric poets that wrote about then-taboo subjects such as incest, adultery, drug addiction, etc.