new section on “Confessional poets”

As part of the ModPoPLUS syllabus for week 5 (chapter 6), we have added a section of poems by so-called “confessional poets” of the late 1950s and 1960s. We have been edging toward discussions of these poets. In week 6 there has long been a poem by Richard Wilbur called “Cottage Street, 1953,” which refers to Sylvia Plath. In London we visited Plath’s flat and also Primrose Hill where she spent some time with her children—and made a video there about a compelling poem telling the fractured story of a disruptive, overheard phone call. And when we visited Montreal a few years ago we met with Sina Queyras who has written an entire book of poems responsive to Plath, and recorded a discussion with Sina about a pairing of Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” and Sina’s own poem “I am No Lady, Lazarus.” Then a PoemTalk episode featured Anne Sexton, a conversation with two psychiatrists. And during our visit to Boston we recorded videos on two Lowell poems and one quite critical response to Lowell’s death by Eileen Myles.

Here then is the list and links in our new Confessional Poets section of ModPoPLUS:

PART FIVE: SYLVIA PLATH

5.1 read Sylvia Plath’s “Words heard, by accident, over the phone”: LINK TO TEXT

5.2 watch discussion of Plath’s “Words heard…” (on location in Primrose Hill, London): LINK TO VIDEO

5.3 read Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”: LINK TO TEXT

5.4 watch discussion of Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”: LINK TO VIDEO [coming soon]

5.5 read Sina Queyras’s “I Am No Lady, Lazarus”: LINK TO TEXT

5.6 watch Sina Queyras perform “I Am No Lady, Lazarus”: LINK TO VIDEO

5.7 watch discussion of “I Am No Lady, Lazarus” with Sina Queyras: LINK TO VIDEO [OFFSITE COPY]

PART SIX: ROBERT LOWELL

6.1 read Robert Lowell’s “Epilogue”: LINK TO TEXT

6.2 watch discussion (filmed on location) of Lowell’s “Epilogue”: LINK TO VIDEO

6.3 read Robert Lowell’s “Skunk Hour”: LINK TO TEXT

6.4 listen to Lowell perform “Skunk Hour”: LINK TO AUDIO

6.5 listen to a discussion of Lowell’s “Skunk Hour”: LINK TO POEMTALK

6.6 read Lowell’s “For the Union Dead”: LINK TO TEXT

6.7 watch discussion of “For the Union Dead”: LINK TO VIDEO [ OFFSITE COPY ]

6.8 watch abridged discussion of “For the Union Dead”: LINK TO VIDEO [coming soon]

6.9 read Eileen Myles’s “On the Death of Robert Lowell”: LINK TO TEXT

6.10 watch discussion of Myles’s “On the Death of Robert Lowell”: LINK TO VIDEO

PART SEVEN: ANNE SEXTON

7.1 read Anne Sexton’s “The Ambition Bird”: LINK TO TEXT

7.2 listen to Anne Sexton read “The Ambition Bird”: LINK TO AUDIO

7.3 read program notes on “The Ambition Bird” for PoemTalk: LINK TO TEXT

7.4 listen to a discussion of Anne Sexton’s “The Ambition Bird”: LINK TO POEMTALK