English Taster Lecture

Date: Monday, 23rd September 2024

Time: 17:00 – 18:00 (BST)

Who is this lecture open to?: Year 12 and 13 students, parents, teachers and advisers

Where: Virtual Webinar

Speaker: Dr Peter Maber, Head of English, Creative & Academic Writing, Head of Faculty and Associate Professor in English

Lecture Title: Confessional Poetry: Making the Personal Public in Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Claudia Rankine

When Robert Lowell began in the 1950s to write poems about his personal problems – including his mental illness and relations with his family – it came as a shock. It made many people feel uncomfortable, and it raised questions about what could and should be shared through art. Many other poets have developed this approach in their own ways: Sylvia Plath made feminist arguments through sharing versions of her own life experiences in the 1960s, and Claudia Rankine writes about her experiences suffering racism in order to advocate for change today. In this taster lecture, we will consider a selection of these poems, as well as some works from other art forms, to ask where this sharing of the self can lead:

• How might sharing deeply personal information help artists?
• Can sharing personal information help anyone else?
• What are the ethical challenges of sharing the personal when other people are involved?