Discussion of My Confessional Poem

In "The Wyrding Way," I have tried to present an imitation of Sylvia Plath's contemplative, sometimes mystic, style. In poems such as "The Disquieting Muses," "The Colossus," and "The Moon and the Yew Tree," Plath channels startling wisdom, using mythology and mysticism.

Yet she does not warp these into the abstract, as so many do. She brings them into concreteness with her own imagery and interpretation. She cannot accept loss in her life, and this theme runs true through much of her work. Her grief at such events as the loss of her father manifests itself as anger, which she then channels into her creative element. T.S. Eliot would have been a fast admirer.

Throughout her work, Plath channels this elemental, almost primeval knowledge of ancient thought that resides in the collective unconscious. And she could never, it seems, make up her mind what to do with this knowledge.

For instance, her likening of the tree in "The Moon and the Yew Tree" to a gothic structure is accurate. To the Druids, the yew symbolized the life/death cycle, as well as immortality. After the Romans gained control of Britain, and thus after Christianity had rooted in the Isles, gothic structures (particularly the arch) were some of the few reminders of the lost Druidic religions that thrived prior to mainland influence.

For her part, she does not, at least outright, make the next connection to the holy symbol of the tree. The themes of death and hopeful resurrection are present, but she never draws any direct, specific line to the ancient traditions. Plath was a lightning rod for the dark and slumbering unconscious of man, trapped in modern commercial life. She claims, in her writing, that she stopped believing in “magic” at age nine. Thus, her conscious was in conflict with her unconscious.

In this and other poems, I have tried to channel more aptly this unconscious drive within humanity to explain things as miracles, to seek the divine (or to question it), to wonder at the power of nature and the resiliency and creativity of evolution. I have also endeavored to follow, at times, a closer interpretation and imitation of the Confessional poets, in that I try to not only expose my subconscious, but exploit it.

The free verse poem is often set against themes or modes of darkness and disorder, in order to complement the intentionally skewed rhythm. The roots of this fact stretch back many years, but the use of surprise as a tool of poetic communication seems directly connected to the idea of Confessionalism. I have tried to utilize this in my emulation.

This immediate disarming of the conscious is a crucial component of my work, one that is inherent to Confessionalism, and Plath in particular. It is a state that is vital to the understanding of the inner workings of the mind, and one that must be slipped into, in order to attempt to grasp the construct and the outcome of a Confessional poem.