Instruction
American poetry of the last several decades, despite its relative invisibility in the broader culture, is wildly diverse and inventive, drawing on centuries of poetic tradition while still moving in new directions, unbound by convention. If there is a common thread running through much of this work, it is perhaps a greater emphasis on the “I,” the speaking self, with the confessionalists leading the way in making personal experience and the subconscious fit topics for poetic exploration. Choose two poems by different writers from this week’s reading and compare the treatment of the speakers. How is the “I” constructed in these works? What is revealed about it? How does this “I” seek to connect with the reader?