...Persephone” The poem, “Two Sisters of Persephone” by Sylvia Plath, introduces a stage in Plath’s life. Written in 1956, the same year Plath got married, this poem presents two potential paths for Plath and also exposes her severe depression that began as a young girl and endured throughout her adulthood. The speaker’s inability to reconcile two personalities in this poem leads to her demise. This is illustrated though textual and literary devices, as well as mythological allusions. Plath’s background along with Greek myths allows the reader feel a part of Plath’s dilemma and relate her problem to many women. Sylvia Plath was born in 1932. The death of Plath's father in 1940 led to her extreme depression, which never subsided. She had two unsuccessful suicide attempts at ages 10 and 20. However, in 1954, things began to seem optimistic, with Plath receiving scholarship to Harvard summer school and then in 1955 with her graduation from Smith and attending Cambridge University on Fulbright fellowship. On June 16, 1956, Sylvia Plath married Ted Hughes. Plath was known to be a feminist, which is evident in this poem, “Two Sisters of Persephone.” When her hard-working self was presented with marriage, Plath was confronted with a crisis that is represented in the poem. With her new marriage, she questioned whether or not she should remain herself and work, or become the stereotypical wife, stay home, and merely bear children. The emotional effects on Plath from the death...
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...Sylvia Plath had a life full of ups and downs. Her lifelong battle with multiple different illnesses is what made her career but also ended it at the same time. Using her research along with the research of other Dr. Jamison was able to make a “literary, biographical, and scientific argument for a compelling association, not to say actual overlap, between two temperaments--the artistic and the manic-depressive—and their relationship to the rhythms and cycles, or temperament, of the natural world.” Plath is just one poet among an extensive list of poets that have suffered from this illness (Butscher 385). Sylvia Plath was born to Otto and Aurelia Plath on October 27, 1932 in Boston Massachusetts. Plath’s father who was a professor at Boston University, the school Plath’s mom was attending, took a bus, boat, and trolley to get to work every morning (Steinberg, “A Celebration”). This dedication proves that Otto...
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...interpretation of "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath Marlene Williams Eng/125 December 15, 2012 Michele Watson My interpretation of "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath is a dark and solemn journey through the thoughts of a young girl scorned. This young girl becomes the woman who continues to carry the burden of her childhood in her adult life. The setting and feeling of the poem is dismal and full of rage, a rage Sylvia Plath claims to put behind her in the last line “ / Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through. / “(Plath, 1963) but in reality she was never capable of escaping the pain. The poem “Daddy” if the wording is taken literally as opposed to figuratively and or symbolically, the leads the reader to believe that Sylvia Plath was raised in a military family by an oppressive father who brought his work home with him. The poem entails so much more than what is on the surface, there is a darkness buried deep within the words left for the reader to unearth by searching beyond the words and into the soul of the poet. “Daddy” is engorged with metaphoric references to a dark and oppressive past where Plath equates her father’s hand to that of a Nazi. The reader can be eluded to believe in the third stanza that Plath is describing the uniform of a soldier. ” / And a head in the freakish Atlantic. / Where it pours bean green over blue. / “(Plath, 1963). In reality Sylvia Plath’s father was not in the military, Otto Plath was actually “a professor of biology...
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...SYLVIA PLATH Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She is widely recognized as one of the most important American poets of the twentieth century. Her best-known poems are carefully crafted pieces noted for their personal imagery and intense focus. Many concern such themes as alienation, death, and self-destruction. Her vivid imagery, searing tone, and intimate topics cemented her place among the pantheon of great poets. Best known for novel The Bell Jar and her second volume of poetry, Ariel, Plath's reputation has only grown since her death in 1963. She is considered a poet of the confessional movement, which was led by Robert Lowell, but her work transcends this label and speaks to more universal truths than simply her own emotions. Although the sensational nature of her death by suicide has led some critics and readers to conflate the value of her life and art, Sylvia Plath's poetry demonstrates an astonishing capacity to engage with the art of poetry; many of her words and images have become fully entrenched in the literary consciousness. EARLY LIFE Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to Aurelia Schobert Plath (American of Austrian descent) and Otto Emile Plath (immigrant from Grabow, Germany). Her father was a biology and German professor at Boston University. He was also an author of a book based on bumblebees. There was a stark age difference between Plath’s parents, her mother being twenty one years...
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...“Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, before receiving praise as a poet and writer. Sylvia was clinically depressed for most of her life, and committed suicide in 1963. In 1982, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Poems. Plath is a well-known feminist writer. Sylvia has always felt that she is inferior to men and was victimized greatly by her father. Sylvia’s own experiences with the men in her life comes out in a lot of her writing, and this style of writing is common for her. Her writing seems to be her response to the oppression she felt from men. Sylvia could face her father, and never found closure with the abuse she felt so she used her styling techniques and strong metaphors to feel some sort of relief. Sylvia was also tortured by her husband, and she was victimized by him just like she was by her father. She felt that she was inferior to him, and this showed in her early works, like in “A life “. However, in later works, she overcomes the victimization she felt and uses her experiences as an advantage in her writing. She even metaphorically kills her father in “Daddy.” “Daddy” was written on October 12, 1962. The poem is viewed as to be about Sylvia’s deceased father, Otto Plath. They had a very complicated relationship, and Plath felt victimized by her...
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...Tulips by Sylvia Plath Tulips, by Sylvia Plath seems to be a poetic expression of depression. The speaker who I assume is Plath is describing the psychological effects after a surgical procedure,which I feel is the time when sadly Plath miscarried her baby. The poem was written through her own view in a hospital room, where the reader is given an insight to the inner thoughts of a woman who has gone through a terrible ordeal, and the objects around her which influence her mentality. The poem follows Plath's admission into hospital and the heart-rendering account of her attempt to recover. There are nine stanzas in the poem, each with five lines, there is no evident rhyme pattern and there is little structure to the poem, although the lack of organization in each stanza seems to be a reflection of the confusion and the loss of control that Plath feels, the only structure shared between the stanzas is the abundance of punctuation, creating a slow rhythm throughout the poem, although Plath uses alliteration to increase fluency in parts of the poem, “plastic-pillowed”, “water went” and “light lies on white walls”. Plaths tone is serene throughout the poem, however there is a sarcastic tone when she says “The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here”. The tone of the poem starts out as depressed and bleak then changes into more dynamic and hopeful and the imagery more surreal: “the mouth of some great African cat”. In the first two stanzas, Plath talks about the situation...
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...In Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Daddy”, Plath explores resentment, fear, and abuse in a father and daughter relationship. Throughout the poem, it is discovered that the narrator is describing a corrupt relationship with her father; comparing him to disturbing things such as a nazi, devil, Hitler, and eventually her husband. It is evident that the speaker is struggling to get over his memory and the destruction he brought in her life. The strong emotion of anger and fear of her father is presented in an unsettling way. By the end of the poem, readers can start to see the victims desire for real freedom from her father's wicked ways. Sylvia Plath uses literary devices such as metaphors and imagery to highlight the significance of the disturbing behavior and relationship the father had with the speaker. The use of imagery within the poem gives a base that allows readers to imagine the appalling events in the speakers life. The speaker uses imagery to describe her father as a “ghastly statue with one gray toe” (Plath, 1962). Plath uses the word “ghastly” to emphasize the horror and fear he brought into her life. She describes the statue stretching from the atlantic to the pacific ocean. This gives readers a...
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...Sylvia Plath and Her Poetry Sylvia Plath was a short story writer and poet who was mostly known for her collections of poetry. Plath is considered the emancipator of “confessional poetry”: poetry that focuses around personal trauma (“A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry”). In her lifetime, she wrote many poems that were gathered together into seven collections; only one of them published before she committed suicide in 1963. It was very obvious that the struggles in Plath’s life such as the passing of her father, her severe depression, and a vicious divorce, heavily influenced her poetry (Mays). Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 27th, 1932. Her mother was a student at Boston University and her father was a German immigrant...
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...True Confessions In Sylvia Plath’s poem “Metaphors” there are several references and comparisons that are made between various images and pregnancy. Plath’s life experiences and the perception of women’s roles of the 1950’s shaped her poems and was of particular importance in this poem. As the poem progresses, the reader can infer that her attitude towards her pregnancy is not static. Through her ironic use of various metaphors, Plath is able to convey her feelings of bearing a child, and how her perception and emotions of herself change over the course of her pregnancy. Plath was born in 1932 the first child of Otto and Aurelia Plath in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents “demanded superior academic performance” and this resulted in Plath...
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...may give an idea of what the poem is actually about, or what themes the poet is trying to draw on. 2) The use of repetition in the 11th stanza – Love, love There are other uses of repetition such as “You are” and “Let the” Repetition is usually used within poetry because the writer is trying to express an emotion or a phrase. In Plath’s case, 3) In the eighth stanza of the poem, the focus begins to change. In the first seven stanzas, Plath appears to be talking about herself, however, after her use of the rhetorical question “O love, how did you get here?” she seems to be talking about her baby instead, and talking to her baby as a pose to talking about herself and her feelings. 4) The use of rhetorical question in the eighth stanza could be the poet attempting to understand her feelings as she is unsure of what to think, and perhaps the poet does not expect anyone to comprehend how she feels or know what she means. 5) In the tenth stanza, the poet compares her child to a ruby. A ruby is a jewel and the fact she is comparing her child to something so precious and delicate is very positive. Before calling her child a ruby, she says “the blood blooms clean in you, Ruby” suggesting there is no sin in this jewel of a child. 6) “The pain you wake up to is not yours” It is the world's pain to which the innocent child must gradually accommodate, but not yet, and not in this poem. 7) You are the baby in the barn." Plath is awed by the baby’s ability...
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...Q: To what extent can Marxism be applied to the poem, ‘Daddy’, written by Sylvia Plath? WORD COUNT: 1,503 A: Marxist Literary Criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which they originate. This being said, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author. It includes analysing the class constructs conveyed in the literature and examines the ways in which texts reveals ideological oppression of a dominant economic ruling class over the subordinate working classes. It is here used to analyse ‘Daddy’, written by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). The poem is supposedly to be about the psychological relationship Plath had with her father, Otto Emil Plath. Her poem makes great use of metaphor, alliteration, repetition, symbolism and imagery. The poem was written by Plath on the 12th of October, 1962. It was written a year before Plath’s suicide on the 11th of February, 1963. The poem was published posthumously, in her vast collection of poetry named Ariel, in 1965. It is a rancorous and brutal poem, consisting of sixteen-five line stanzas. Within the poem, the language alternates between a lyrical tone and an ironic critique of the endless depth of despair Plath feels. ‘Daddy’ works in its entirety by creating a replica of Plath’s supposed psychic state in the readers, so that we almost re-live her despair, horror, rage, revenge, insanity and masochism...
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...raised in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts during the Great Depression, Sylvia Plath endured an oppressive and depressing childhood. On the surface, Plath appeared to be intelligent, sensitive, and flawless, but inside she was living in misery. Sylvia Plath's emotional life, and her arduous past with her father's death, her tragic break up with Ted Hughes, feminism, and bipolar disorder played an immense part in her career as a poet by inspiring her to create her somber masterpieces. Despite all her troubles, Sylvia Plath excelled as a student at Smith College, won awards, and prizes for her writing, and was a straight a student. Then, she met her future husband and ex-husband, Ted Hughes, whom she would have two children with. Sylvia Plath, was an extremely prodigious poet, she published her first poem, Circus in Three Rings, at age eight. By writing over 121 compelling poems and one stellar novel based on her life experiences, women's rights and injustices, she became the face of 20th century feminism. Sylvia Plath’s poetry is mainly about 20th century feminism and women’s social injustices. "The poem Daddy criticizes the male aggression and depicts men being responsible for all the social injustices" (Hunt). In Sylvia Plath's versification Daddy, she illustrates how men are dominant over women, by comparing herself to Jews, and men to the Nazis. “I may be a bit of a Jew. I have always been scared of you” (Plath, "Daddy"). She outlines how women are a minority, and don’t have a voice...
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...doubt that Sylvia Plath is definitely one of the most diverse controversial poets of our time. Sylvia Plath was born October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts and unfortunately passed away on February 11, 1963 in London, England due to her battle with suicide. The poem relates to her life and also her perspective of the world. As a matter of fact, critics often characterized her as “extreme,” due to the deep emotional issues that she would write about. As time has passed, Plath is often referred to as a “cult figure.” “Lady Lazarus” is one of Plath’s most popular works. To make it simple this poem is about death and her suicidal experiences. (Sanazaro) “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath is a very complex poem. Sylvia Plath wrote this intense poem during her most fruitful and imaginative period. “Lady Lazarus” has been a topic of a lot of literary criticism since it was published. It is mostly understood as a collection of Plath’s thoughts, suicidal efforts and urges. (“SYLVIA LADY LAZARUS REVISITED”) The tone in this poem veers between threatening and scornful; it draws attention to itself for its use of Holocaust imagery, reading this poem anybody could figure out that the character and even Plath is not happy with her life and obviously has some deep emotional resentment that unfortunately she never got to resolve. In 1970, M. L. Rosenthal wrote an essay entitled “Sylvia Plath and Confessional Poetry” for Charles’ Newman’s collection, The Art of Sylvia Plath. In this essay Rosenthal...
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...Gianna Sacco Pursuit – Sylvia Plath This poem begins with a vivid image of someone being followed by a panther. Plath feels like “there is a panther stalking” her down. The title of this poem, being “Pursuit” summarizes the poem. It is the pursuit of her doom, she is trying to get away from the panther which is chasing her until the end, however, at times she feels guilt and a sort of drive towards him. She is attracted to this panther which will eventually lead to trouble. Hence, Plath uses many themes in this poem such as color and feelings and the aggressiveness of nature, which leads to the way she feels about being followed. The pursuer is double faced, as the first two lines demonstrate. “there is a panther stalks me down/ One day I’ll have my death of him.” On one side it is clear that the panther is pursuing the author, while on the other it could be the author pursuing her doom, being the panther. Fear and running are the elements that express the fact that the pursuer is the panther. Plath is being pursued as she uses words such as “I run, I rush, sacrifice, bait”. The contrast is seen when she says “the hunt is on”, they are after each other. It is a never ending cycle. Even though Plath is quickly considered the one being pursued by the panther, she can also be considered the pursuer. Plath writes “one day I’ll have my death of him” instead of something along the lines of ‘one day he will kill me’. Plath is also chasing the panther, pursuing her own death. Her...
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...edge of death it is said they are reborn with wisdom and speak of it as renewal. In Lady Lazarus Sylvia Plath demonstrates this feeling of renewal with lines like “Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well…,” displaying her feelings that suicide is easy enough to do, but it’s doing it “theatrically” is what makes it an art. This motif of death is the foundation to Plath’s aspiration to revenge that is felt by her as female victim of male domination from her father’s general level of brutal domination. Males by nature are marked by the position of leaders,...
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