cahoodaloodaling

Whenever Anne Sexton’s poems are mentioned, the term ‘confessional poetry’ is not far behind. It has always seemed a silly and unilluminating term to me; one of those pigeonholing categories critics invent so as not to talk about poetry as poetry…. The mind of the creator is all-important, and the term ‘confessional’ seems to undercut this, implying that anyone who spilled her guts would be a poet.” Sexton also often denigrated the term, but at times she applied it to herself. She told Berg that “for years I railed against being put in this category. Then … I decided I was the only confessional poet.