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Poetry that Kills and Heals: Research on Confessional poets . Megan Reily CHHS125 Writing as Healing Psychology . Personal Connection. I have always been interested in the healing powers of poetry since I started using it to vent or share difficult feelings.
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Poetry that Kills and Heals: Research on Confessional poets Megan Reily CHHS125 Writing as Healing Psychology
Personal Connection • I have always been interested in the healing powers of poetry since I started using it to vent or share difficult feelings. • I was curious how my favorite poets used their poetry to heal themselves. • I wanted to learn more about the connection of depression and writing poetry.
Thesis • Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton could not find a way to heal by writing confessional poetry because they focused too much on the individual self; although, it is still possible to heal through writing poetry if it is written for the good of the whole, like the poetry of Maya Angelou.
Confessional Poetry • Harshly criticized because of high number of suicides. • Poets used it to try to heal. • Free all pain and intimate details of life. Air out dirty laundry. • Connected with self-absorption and narcissism. • Individualistic nature and wording.
Plath and Sexton • Traumatic life • Became obsessed with death • Wrote for themselves • Both committed suicide early in their lives • Wrote about their own pain • Individualistic writing made them more trapped in their minds.
Angelou • Grew up oppressed • Joined Civil Rights Movement • Wrote for the people • Understood the need for revolution and rights • Wrote for the good of the community as a whole • Her poetry healed her
How to Write Poetry • Readers need something to gain • Discover something about their own humanity • Do not retraumatize • Control emotions on the page • Do not glamorize dangerous lifestyles • Write for the good of the whole • Work towards solving an issue
Community connection • Anyone who is interested in poetry • Poets who want to know about healing • What not to do • Who to read to find influence
References • Degout, Yasmin. (2009). “The Poetry of Maya Angelou: Liberation Ideology and Technique.” Maya Angelou. Bloom, Harold. New York: Infobase Publishing, • Desalvo, L. (1999), Writing as a Way of Healing, Boston, MA: Beacon Press • Hall, C. (1989). Anne Sexton. Boston: Twayne Publishers. • Holbrook, D. (1988). Sylvia Plath : Poetry and Existence. London: Athlone Press • Pennebaker, J. Wiltsey, S. (2001). “Word use in Poetry of Suicidal and Nonsuicidal Poets.” Psychosomatic Medicine July/August 2001 vol. 63 no. 4 517-522 • Images: • http://www.nndb.com/people/603/000099306/ (Slide 4) • http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/plath.jpg (Slide 4) • http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/A/Maya-Angelou-9185388-2-402.jpg (Slide 5)