On Robert Lowell's Confessional Poetic Style Through Life Studies

Confessional poetry is one of the poetic styles that were flourishing in America in 50s and 60s after World War n. As the other poetic groups, the confessional poets wanted to find their own voice and break through the authority in poem writing which, in their points of view, could no longer express true and frank thoughts of poets.Robert Lowell, the famous postmodern poet, was the founder of Confessional poetry. His masterpiece Life Studies was characterized by its new exploration in both poetic themes and techniques. In this book, Lowell revealed his personal experience: his family background, his relationship with wife, his abnormal spiritual state and his desperation for future. Autobiography is the main subject in Life Studies. To make the subject fully and directly expressed, he used the first person "T"-poet himself - as the speaker. He took off the mask that hindered the communication between poet and readers by writing in the form of dialogues in poems. Life Studies is the first book in which Lowell successfully substituted subjective experience for the objective attitude of poet. The thesis tries to study the unique features of Life Studies by focusing on its poetic themes as well as techniques and analyze the characteristics of Confessional poetry style which is different from other ones.Lowell, in the first half of his writing career, firmly stood on the side of New Criticism. He once produced many poems with strict forms and never wrote personal experience in them. The Second World War changed people's minds and their views on many things. They were led to think about the questions of friends and enemies, love and hatred, truth and lie, temporality and permanence. The traditional poetry patternwith strict forms and profound metaphors or allegories became an obstacle for poets to embody those doubts, pains and depression. Lowell was among the poets who tried to find new patterns for new age. Meanwhile he was greatly influenced by W. C. Williams, Bishop and other poets. He learned to build up his own ideas of poems and make writing poems an art of experience instead of an art of forms. He turned to examine his inner world and thoughts instead of only criticizing the outside society. This self examination provided a new way for poets and readers to pour out what they felt and experienced at that period...