Sylvia Plath. The Bell Jar. London: Faber, 1999
Confessionalism
Critics argued that Robert Lowells Life Studies set a precedent for confessional poetry in the mid twentieth-century. The unit analyses the nature of this precedent by investigating links with the lyric, Romanticism and Beat poetry. It examines the confessional impulse inspired by Lowell, chiefly through a study of the work of Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes and Margaret Scott, and overviews confessional literature from Augustine to Ben Elton.Critics argued that Robert Lowells Life Studies set a precedent for confessional poetry in the mid twentieth-century. The unit analyses the nature of this precedent by investigating links with the lyric, Romanticism and Beat poetry. It examines the confessional impulse inspired by Lowell, chiefly through a study of the work of Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes and Margaret Scott, and overviews confessional literature from Augustine to Ben Elton.
Ted Hughes. Birthday Letters. London: Faber, 1998
Robert Lowell. Life Studies. London: Faber, 2001
Ben Elton. Blind Faith. London: Bantam, 2007
3000 word-essay (60%), 2 hour exam (40%)

