A STUDY OF HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL POETRY IN ROBERT LOWELL’S LIFE STUDIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32520/eji.v5i1.1284Keywords:
Confessional poetry, Robert Lowell, Poetic Volume Life Studies, New Historicism, Historical Aspects.Abstract
Robert Lowell, the iconic American Poet, moves with his
Confessional poetry, notably the poetic volume Life Studies (1959)
from the “raw” to the “cooked”. Confessional poetry is similar to
the art of confession. Moreover, the historical poetic pieces
implied more than the mere gathering of fact and figures. For
Lowell history manifested itself in the affairs of men and it is a
persistent and violent force. Such a view is not entirely optimistic,
springing directly from this view is Lowell's deep sense of loss,
failure, alienation, helplessness and a feeling of entrapment in a
world not of his making. In the light of the New Historicism
approach, Lowell managed to perceive the literary text as a
communal product which sought to reconnect itself to its cultural
context. He did not think only of the past but took history forward
into the present with all its discourse on culture, and its
components, religious and political tradition of the place itself.
Hence, in order to study the confessional poetry, historical aspects
and the consequences of their psychoanalytic literary approach
objectively play a significant role.
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