Fabricated honesty: an original collection of poems, including a critical examination of the impact of twentieth century confessional poetry on my writing.

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two sections: a creative section and a theoretical section. The first section of this paper will be the creative section which consists of a collection of 40 original poems that can be generally described as confessional poems. These poems explore and deal with personal relationships, memory and self- reflection. The second section of this paper will be the theoretical section and will consist of three chapters. Chapter One explores confessional poetry. It will look at the history of confessional poetry around the 1960s as well as how it arose as a genre. I will briefly look at the work of Boston poet Robert Lowell in his most famous work Life Studies and explore how he had become a catalyst for confessional poetry. Chapter Two will explore select poems by Sylvia Plath and what made her work so influential at a time when confessional poetry started to be recognised as a genre. I will also compare some of my poems to those of Plath to see how my work fits into this genre. Plath and my work share similarities in style, tone and topics such as loss, and interpersonal family relationships. Chapter three explores South African contemporary poetry and the work of South African contemporary poet Joan Metelerkamp and why she is considered to be a confessional poet. I will also analyse some of her poetry and compare her work to that of my own to find any common ground.