Reading the works of this unit really opened my eyes to the Confessional Poets unit/era. I always have read and admired the works of Sylvia Plath, yet being introduced to other writers similar to her gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation for her work. I personally enjoyed this unit and analyzing these works, although they often spoke about sad topics that haven’t been mentioned a lot in literature up to this point.
However, after analyzing these works and after our discussion, I now understand the impact they had on future literature. After these works, the discussion of topics such as mental illness and more emotional pieces were much easily accepted in the literature world than they ever had been before.
What I got from this unit is to really feel the writers emotions in their work and to understand how these emotions, whether they be past or present, has affected them and their life choices. From this, I now am keen to the presence of connection in poems and works- that meaning, I am now much more observant of the idea that a past event or emotion can connect to a present one, especially in emotional works such as these.
sydney poynter 