I Myself Am Hell: A Personal Poetics of Mental Illness With Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, and Robert Lowell as Corollaries

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to define a personal poetics surrounding the topic of mental illness. The thesis, in execution, performs a survey of three poems that are of major import to the author himself. The poems surveyed are as follows: "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath, "Dream Song 14" by John Berryman, and "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell. In particular, poetic strategies such as melodrama, dark humor, and the internalization of observed landscapes are noted as important techniques in constructing a successful "mentally ill" poem. Essentially, it is the intent of the author to outline a mode of poetics in which representations of mental illness are cathartic and empowering as opposed to wholly woeful and bewildering.