[lit-ideas] Re: Confessional Poetry
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 11:43:44 -0500
In a message dated 12/1/2014 10:13:45 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: "While I’ve spent a little (not a lot of)
time
thinking about “startle,” I’ve spent a bit more thinking about “
Confessional.” Are my poems “confessional” at the present time? They do
relate in
some way to what’s going on – whatever it is, whether it is happening or
merely being thought about. Is that “Confessional”? I don’t think so,
but then I can’t really see the “confessions” in the poetry of Plath, Lowell
and Sexton. Berryman seems more “confessional” in the dictionary sense
of the word."
Well, etymologically, as I read at
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=confess&search
mode=none
'confess' derives from Latin
"confiteri", to acknowledge.
Strictly, 'confiteri' being a compound of "com-", together, + "fateri"
(1st person, 'fateor') to admit, akin to "fari" "speak" (see "fame" (n.)).
The 'com-' being crucial, since a 'confessional poet' needs an addressee
'with whom' he or she admits this or that (Thus Dickinson would NOT be a
confessional poet, since she kept all her verses in a chest for NO ONE to read
-- that was her INTENTION).
The link above adds:
"Its original religious sense was of one who avows his religion in spite of
persecution or danger but does not suffer martyrdom."
The Loeb Classical Library has edited a lot of Latin verse, and I wonder if
'confessional poetry' has been used by Latinists. Perhaps later we should
explore if the Hellenists have!
In any case, I quote the Short/Lewis entry for 'confiteor' in ps. It is
interesting, I find, for Lewis's and Short's usage of locutions like
'imply'. What IS that one 'confesses'. There are some quotations that refer to
the
strictly 'religious' "usage". It's not clear how the 'together' sense of
'com-' applies to ALL cases, though! (Lewis and Short add that there is an
'absolute' 'usage': "He confessed" _simpliciter_).
Cheers,
Speranza
----
confĭtĕor, fessus, 2 (arch.
I inf. confiterier, Plaut. Cist. 1, 3, 22), v. dep. fateor,
acknowledge
confess
own
avow
-- an error, mistake, or a fact previously denied or doubted, etc.,
implying a sacrifice of will or a change of conviction; while fateor expresses
a
simple acknowledgment, and profiteor a voluntary avowal --
concede
allow
grant
(class. in prose and poetry):
"quid confitetur, atque ita libenter confitetur, ut non solum fateri sed
etiam profiteri videatur?"
Cic. Caecin. 9, 24; cf.:
"hic ego non solum confiteor, verum etiam profiteor"
Cicero, Fragm. ap. Non. p. 434, 30:
"tacendo loqui, non infitiando confiteri videbantur"
id. Sest. 18, 40.
I In gen.
(a) With acc.: et genus et divitias meas, Plaut. Capt. 2, 3, 52: peccatum
suum, Cic. N. D. 2, 4, 11: amorem nutrici, Ov. M. 14, 703; cf.: amorem
patris nutrici, Quint. 9, 2, 64: crimen, Curt. 6, 11, 31: facinus, id. 8, 8, 2:
singula, * Cat. 86, 2: se,
make one's self known
(sc. Jovem), Ov. M. 3, 2; cf. deam, Verg. A. 2, 591.
—With two accs.: se victos, Cacs. B. C. 1, 84: se imperitum, Quint. 1, 10,
19: causam Caesaris meliorem, id. 5, 11, 42: hoc de statuis, Cic. Verr. 2,
2, 60, § 149: summam infirmitatem de se, Quint. 2, 4, 28: de se quid
voluerit, id. 8, 4, 23.—
(b) With acc. and inf.: hoc confiteor jure mi obtigisse, Ter. And. 3, 5,
1; id. Heaut. 2, 3, 97; 5, 3, 12: me abs te cupisse laudari aperte atque
ingenue confitebar, Cic. Fam. 5, 2, 2; 1, 9, 18; id. N. D. 1, 7, 44; Lucr. 1,
271; 1, 826; 2, 691 al.; Quint. 2, 17, 19; 11, 1, 85; Suet. Caes. 52 et
saep.—
(g) Absol.: ut eampse vos audistis confiterier, Plaut. Cist. 1, 3, 22;
Ter. Heaut. 5, 3, 13; id. Phorm. 5, 9 (8), 46: confitentem audire Torquatum,
Cic. Fin. 2, 7, 21; Ov. M. 2, 52; 13, 270; Curt. 6, 11, 14; Tac. A. 11,
28: vere, Ov. R. Am. 318; cf.: confessae manus, i. e. confessing defeat, id.
M. 5, 215.—
(d) With de: de maleficio, Cic. Rosc. Am. 41, 119; so id. ib. 42, 123;
Tac. A. 14, 59; cf. supra, a fin.—
b Part. perf.: "confessus", a, um, in a pass. signif.: aes, Lex XII. Tab.
ap. Gell. 15, 13, 11, and 20, 1, 45; Dig. 42, 1, 15; v. under P. a.—Hence,
II Esp., after the Aug. per., sometimes, to
reveal
manifest
make known
show.
(a) With acc.: confessa vultibus iram, Ov. M. 6, 35: motum animi sui
lacrimis, Quint. 6, 1, 23: admirationem suam plausu, id. 8, 3, 3; 9, 4, 39:
cupidinem coëundi, id. 1, 28, 2. —
(b) With acc. and inf., Quint. 1, 6, 15; 4, 2, 122; Plin. Ep. 3, 14, 3;
Pall. Jun. 7, 6.—
III In eccl. writers, to
confess
own
acknowledge
Christum, Prud. στεφ. 5, 40.
— With dat.: tibi, Domine, Vulg. Psa. 137, 1: nomini tuo, id. ib. 141, 8.—
Absol., Cypr. Ep. 15.
—confessus, a, um, P. a.
1 Act.,
confessing, that has acknowledged, pleaded guilty, etc.: reus, Ov. P. 2, 2,
56: in judicio reus, Dig. 48, 4, 4, § 1.—Subst.: confessi, ōrum, m.,
criminals who have confessed their guilt: de confessis supplicium sumere,
Sall.
C. 52, 36.—
2 Pass., lit.,
acknowledged; hence,
undoubted
evident
certain
incontrovertible
(most freq. in the post-Aug. per.): ut omnes intellegant, quam improbam,
quam manifestam, quam confessam rem pecuniā redimere conetur, Cic. Verr. 2,
3, 56, § 130: confessā in re, Plin. 7, 49, 50, § 164; 20, 11, 45, § 116.
—Esp., subst.:
confessum, i, n.,
an undoubted, certain, acknowledged thing, matter
a confessis transeamus ad dubiā, Sen. Q. N. 2, 21, 1: adhuc versamur in
confessis, Quint. 7, 1, 48: de confessis disserere, Plin. 10, 49, 70, § 138
al.
—Hence the phrases:
ex confesso,
confessedly
beyond doubt
Quint. 3, 5, 3; Sen. Ep. 76, 12: in confesso esse,
be notorious
be everywhere known
id. Ben. 3, 11, 2; id. Brev. Vit. 2, 3; id. Q. N. 2, 22, 2; Vell. 2, 85, 4;
Plin. 35, 8, 34, § 54; Tac. Or. 25; 27: vita cervis in confesso longa est,
Plin. 8, 32, 50, § 191; Amm. 21, 1, 3: in confessum venire,
be generally acknowledged
be well known
Plin. Ep. 10, 81 (85), 8; cf.: ad liquidum confessumque perducere omnia,
Quint. 5, 14, 28: pro confesso habere aliquid, Lact. 2, 8.
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