...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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...Cryptically confronting and subtly depressive, Sylvia Plath’s poetry caught the minds of young writers and poetry enthusiasts whilst disgruntling older, more traditional generations of poetry readers. Her use of imagery depicting a world tarnished, the war of a dysfunctional family and a depressive mind and imagination took the poetry world by storm and even after 55 years, Sylvia Plath is a prominent figure throughout the world of literature. Plath’s work is heavily influenced by, and imbedded in, the confessional poetry movement. A movement between the 1950’s and 60’s, that witnessed the rise of personal or first person writing, “I”, and highly private or emotional subject matter such as trauma, death and depression, all of which can be found in much of Plath’s writing. This element of her work, already ‘outrageous’ for many was heightened by the fact that she was a woman. This movement allowed her to openly and bluntly address and express the outrage she and many other women felt to the periods’ societal and gender norms. Her use of language and poetic technique are lost when not read aloud, most prominently in “daddy” where the poem takes on a sing-song, lullaby rhythm that amplifies the meaning and connotations within...
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...Confessional poetry emerged in the United States in the 1950’s. It was the first time a poet told his or her story through their poetry. It often explored ideas that were thought of as taboo in those times such as mental illness, sexuality, and suicide. Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton were two famous confessional poets. They both also suffered from mental illness which is often expressed in their poetry. Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” and Anne Sexton’s “Her Kind” both use allusions and imagery to convey their emotions to the reader. In Sylvia Plath’s poem, there is an allusion in the title itself, “Lady Lazarus.” Lazarus refers to the biblical figure that was resurrected by Jesus Christ. It’s ironic that the speaker would choose a biblical reference when comparing it to her suicide attempt. Her ”resurrection” happened because she failed at taking her own life. Another allusion occurs at the end of the poem: “Out of the ash, I rise with my red hair, And I eat men like air.” She is referring to the phoenix found in Greek mythology. A phoenix is a long-lived bird that is frequently reborn. The speaker is obviously unhappy with life yet she uses allusions that represent a positive rebirth. The first lines of her poem state “I have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it—“ referring to the fact that she has attempted to commit suicide at least once per decade. “The second time I meant to last it out and not come back at all. I rocked shut as a seashell...
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...Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” There is no 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...
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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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...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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...A prominent figure of modern American literature, confessional poet, Sylvia Plath, works hold grand significance, for it lead to the probe of a feminist-martyr to patriarchal society, sex-based roles, and psychiatric care. Noted for the blend of intense imagery and humorous use of alliteration and rhyme, Plath associating her works with her personal battles of anguish and depression, further solidified her mark on American history. Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Winthrop, Massachusetts, to an academically well-established family. Her father died when she was eight, marking the beginning of her lifelong internal battles of depression, hence her poem Daddy. Ambitiously driven and exceptional student, from a young age she kept journals, published poems in reginal magazines and newspapers. She later attended Smith and Cambridge University, where she met and married the poet, Ted Hughes, birthing two children. Throughout her life, Plath suffered deep depression and...
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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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...chosen symbol that stands for the objective representation of the truth. As Plath mentions:” I have no preconceptions…I am not cruel, only truthful.” In fact, the mirror reflects the author’s subconscious, which is freed by the purity and truthfulness the mirror. The mirror has no magic power in it, but simply portrays the reality to those who use it. “It swallows” the true image just the way it is without any prejudice, unlike the humans that see things distorted through the lenses of their inner bias. We can observe an interesting usage of the figures of speech in the poem. The mirror is not only a symbol, but it is also a personification, because the mirror tells us the story from its standpoint. Therefore, the symbol of the truth tells us a story of the unbiased reality it has to portray to those who seek answers in it. Sylvia Plath was a representative of a confessional poetry genre. She herself was that woman looking in the mirror. That mirror exposed her to much pain through its honesty. She is scared of that true image of herself getting older as the days go by That is why she turns to lake, but the lake does not want to lie to her either. Even that she detests her own reflection, she still becomes dependent on the truth the lake gives her. Therefore, closer to the end of the poem you can see that kind of relationship were it says "I am important to her. She comes and goes." Metaphorically Plath calls the moon and the candles liars, because they do not give the precise...
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...Craziness in Desperation --Reading Ariel Abstract: The American poetess Sylvia Plath with her short, yet brilliant life is a notable figure in the field of twentieth-century American poetry. Ariel is one of her late poems which marks her maturity in poetry and is of great importance to the study of her works. Through interpretation of Ariel, we can learn her psychological struggle which stems from the conflicts of the duality in identity. Key Words: Sylvia Plath, poetess, identity, craziness The poem Ariel is the title poem in the posthumous poem collection of the same name of the American Poetess, Sylvia Plath who plays a remarkable role in mid-twentieth American poetry, especially in the movement of Confessional Poetry. As a woman writer, Plath was always in conflict of her two identity -- a woman as a docile and domestic housewife, mother or daughter and on the other side a writer of independence and free mind. She was forever struggling all her life which she ended at the age of 31. Her suicide, which is often related to her disastrous marriage with English laurel poet Ted Hughes, alongside with her identity as a woman poet drew much public attention right after her death and has remained a contested topic until today. Her poems has been constantly reprinted in the UK and USA as well as in numerous translated versions. She is widely “recognized as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century Anglo-American literature and culture”.1 Her late poems which are often...
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...Anne Sexton was born in 1928, the lastborn in her family, in Newton, Massachusetts. She was the third after her two older sisters. Most of her childhood was spent in Boston. She got her education in Wellesley public schools. When she was 17, she enrolled for boarding school and graduated from Roger Hall Lowell, Massachusetts. She later spent a year at Garland School, a finishing school for women. She modeled for Boston’s Hart Agency. In 1948, she eloped with Alfred Muller Sexton, and married in North Carolina, and remained married to until their divorce on 1973. She had two children, both girls. Anne gave birth to their second child in 1955, and she could not cope with the pressure two small kids with the absence of his husband due to his nature of work. The following year, Anne was hospitalized for treatment of anxiety. She was treated by psychiatrist Dr. Martha Brunner-Orne, diagnosing her with post-natal depression. The psychiatrist later said that Anne suffered from depression of biological nature. Six months later, Anne was treated under the care of Dr. Martin Orne, who took over from the mother. (Wood) It is when receiving psychiatric treatment that she started writing poetry. Dr. Orne encouraged Anne to take up poetry. Driven by her state of mind, illness and depression Anne sort poetry. It was after her suicide attempt that her doctor told her she still had a purpose in life. In 1957, she attended her first poetry led by John Holmes. She joined the John Holmes’s poetry...
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...work of a variety of creative workers who have come from tragic backgrounds, it only the most unfortunate that some have tragic endings as well. Marilyn Monroe’s archived poetry and diaries depict an artful yet quite sad soul, she writes of her love for her craft, defying her difficult past, “working (doing my tasks that I/ have set for myself)/ on the stage—I will/ not be punished for it/or be whipped/ or be threatened/ or sent to hell to burn with bad people feeling that I am also bad./ or be afraid of my [genitals] being/ exposed known and/ seen—”, but also confesses that she is “very lonely” and paints the narrative of an exploited figure in short verse [Source F]. As aforementioned, Plath also depicted her personal experienced in her books, as well as being at the forefront of the confessional poetry movement. Her poem “The Applicant”specifically examines the construct of marriage, gender stereotypes and social pressures, while poems such as “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” and the last poem written before her death, “Edge,” are popular for their dark themes, provocatively sad tone, and distinct language. Despite the chain reaction of abusive environments female artists may enter when they professionalize their creative work, a result of women’s psychological augmentation, women express their emotions, potential mental...
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...Alita Fonseca Balbi “The Less Deceived”: Subjectivity, Gender, Sex and Love in Sylvia Plath's and Philip Larkin's Poetry Belo Horizonte Faculdade de Letras Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2012 i “The Less Deceived”: Subjectivity, Gender, Sex and Love in Sylvia Plath's and Philip Larkin's Poetry by Alita Fonseca Balbi Submitted to the Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras: Estudos Literários in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Mestre em Literaturas de Expressão Inglesa. Thesis Advisor: Sandra Regina Goulart Almeida, PhD Belo Horizonte Faculdade de Letras Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2012 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my father, Tadeu, for always reminding me of the importance of having dreams and being true to them; for motivating me to be creative and to believe in my potential; and for teaching me to seek beauty and happiness in everything I see and do. To my mother, Socorro, for always making sure I enjoy all the possibilities that cross my path, and for reminding me that hard work is the only means to achieve my goals. To my brothers, Bruno and Diego, for being my best friends. To my sister-in-law, Sabrina, for embracing me as family and making me feel at home even when I’m not. To Paulo, for his company, for his love and care, and for all his witty remarks. To the professors of Letras, Julio Jeha, José dos Santos, Eliana Lourenço and Gláucia Renates, for being extraordinary professors, and for all the knowledge each...
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...B.A. (HONOURS) ENGLISH (Three Year Full Time Programme) COURSE CONTENTS (Effective from the Academic Year 2011-2012 onwards) DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF DELHI DELHI - 110007 0 Course: B.A. (Hons.) English Semester I Paper 1: English Literature 4(i) Paper 2: Twentieth Century Indian Writing(i) Paper 3: Concurrent – Qualifying Language Paper 4: English Literature 4(ii) Semester II Paper 5: Twentieth Century Indian Writing(ii) Paper 6: English Literature 1(i) Paper 7: Concurrent – Credit Language Paper 8: English Literature 1(ii) Semester III Paper 9: English Literature 2(i) Paper 10: Option A: Nineteenth Century European Realism(i) Option B: Classical Literature (i) Option C: Forms of Popular Fiction (i) Paper 11: Concurrent – Interdisciplinary Semester IV Semester V Paper 12: English Literature 2(ii) Paper 13: English Literature 3(i) Paper 14: Option A: Nineteenth Century European Realism(ii) Option B: Classical Literature (ii) Option C: Forms of Popular Fiction (ii) Paper 15: Concurrent – Discipline Centered I Paper 16: English Literature 3(ii) Paper 17: English Literature 5(i) Paper 18: Contemporary Literature(i) Paper 19: Option A: Anglo-American Writing from 1930(i) Option B: Literary Theory (i) Option C: Women’s Writing of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (i) Option D: Modern European Drama (i) Paper 20: English Literature 5(ii) Semester VI Paper 21: Contemporary Literature(ii) Paper 22: Option A: Anglo-American Writing from 1930(ii) Option B:...
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