[Nick McRae]

Originally Posted by Hilary Biehl

Not uninformed, I just don't find it all that helpful. To use Plath again, if you are reading her work - not teaching it or writing an essay, just reading her - is it really helpful to think of her as a "confessional" poet? I would argue that it isn't. While it's probably good to know that she is widely identified as such (and I'm not sure how one could not know it), and that there was a connection between her and Lowell, an attachment to the idea of her as confessional might actually interfere with one's ability to read the poems as they are.

Blake is generally considered a Romantic poet, but is that helpful in reading and understanding Blake outside of the classroom?

etc.

I agree, I was more thinking of the 'help with writing' aspect. When I started out I knew very little about the history of poetry or different schools, which may have actually worked to my advantage. At the time I wasn't trying to emulate anyone or anything and my voice was allowed to develop naturally.

These days, however, it feels like this forum has gotten me over the hump of obvious mistakes and I find myself looking to pick and choose approaches (so in that sense learning about different schools may be helpful to me now, at least in an indirect way).

Although the more I read, and the more I learn, the more I find myself thinking: this is really beautiful poetry but completely antithetical to my voice. I'd just never write this way.