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Biography of sylvia plath
The central theme of Sylvia Plath's Words
The central theme of Sylvia Plath's Words
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"If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days" (Plath). Plath was in fact a schizophrenic, never really being cured and only receiving temporarily relief from her own mind with electroshock therapy. Her novel, The Bell Jar, is almost a self-biography with the veil of fiction over the story of Plath’s own life being so thin that her mother fought its publication (McCann 1631). Nevertheless, Plath’s immense hard work paid off and it was published. Writing was Plath’s passion and when she wrote, her life became an enthralling story. Sylvia Plath’s late teenage years, time right after college, and time in the mental hospital were all influential in writing The Bell Jar.
Being recognized as gifted in writing early on, Plath put all of her energy into this subject by becoming editor of her school’s newspaper and submitting over forty five articles to Seventeen Magazine before finally becoming published. Plath was a perfectionist when it came to writing. In college, the intense pressure of trying to maintain her scholarship and perfect grades started to get to her. She even wrote to her mother saying “I have practically considered committing suicide to get out of it [a science course] (qtd. in Malmsheimer 530). She also felt pressured as to what she would do with her life after college. “Her brilliance and accomplishments have no power to lead her to a place in the world. Instead, they drive her out of it” (Allen 400). As noted by Novels for Students, Part of Plath's frustration lay in what she perceived as a choice between becoming a free-spirited poet or choosing the wife/...
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...lmsheimer, Lonna M. "Sylvia Plath." American Writers. Ed. Leonard Unger, A. Walton. Litz, Molly Weigel, and Jay Parini. Supplement 1 Part 2. New York: Scribner, 1974. 526-49. Print.
McCann, Janet. “Sylvia Plath.” Magill’s Survey of American Literature. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 5. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1991. 1626-39. Print.
Perloff, Marjorie G. “ ‘A Ritual for Being Born Twice’: Sylvia Path’s ‘The Bell Jar’ ”. Contemporary Literature. 13.4, 1972. 507-22. Rpt in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz. Vol 62. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 390-95. Print.
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print.
Allen, Mary. “Syvia Plath’s Defiance: ‘The Bell Jar’,” The Necessary Blankness: Women in Major American Fiction of the Sixties. 1976. 160-78. Rpt in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz. Vol 62. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 395-400. Print.
Plath, Sylvia. The bell jar. [1st U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print.
Sylvia Plath a highly acclaimed twentieth century American poet whose writings were mostly influenced by her life experiences. Her father died shortly after her eighth birthday and her first documented attempt at suicide was in her early twenties. She was married at age twenty-three and when she discovered her husband was having an affair she left him with their two children. Her depression and the abandonment she felt as a child and as a woman is what inspires most of her works. Daddy is a major decision point where Plath decides to overcome her father’s death by telling him she will no longer allow his memory to control her.
Wagner, Linda W., ed. Critical Essays on Sylvia Plath. Boston: G. K. Hall & Company, 1984.
Emily Dickinson is regarded as “America’s most original poet” and was born on December 10th, 1830 (CITATION1). During her life, she spent most of her time alone in her house, spending time with only herself and writing poetry. When she died at the age of fifty-five, her sister decided to publish the 1,800 poems Emily had written. Before her death, Emily had only published ten of her poems. Because of this, she was not widely known before she died, unlike Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath, on the other hand, is a well-known author and poet. She even won the Pulitzer Prize award for Poetry in 1982 (CITATION2). Sylvia was similar to Emily Dickinson in that she was not an outgoing person. In fact, she was often depressed, and eventually took her own life in 1963 (CITATION3). While unfortunate, Sylvia Plath had written many popular poems, such as “Daddy”, short stories, and a semi-autobiographical novel called “The Bell Jar”.
...Sylvia Plath's Defiance: The Bell Jar." EXPLORING Novels. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Academy of Holy Angels - NJ. 4 Dec. 2013
Plath, Sylvia. The unabridged journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-1962. New York: Anchor Books, 2000. Print.
Fetterleg, Judith. The Resisting Reader: “A Feminist Approach to American Fiction.” Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1978.
"About." Personal Blog, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. [When finding an explanation for the similarities between the writers, it is important to play close attention to biographies. In case the psychoeconomic factors that Ruonco describes are true, then biography constitutes most of the development of the Sylvia Plath affliction. Moreover, the biography provides an insight into the views of the author for a better and more accurate understanding of her poetry. Furthermore, it is imperative to use her auto-statement since she referres to her "muse" as something out of her control which can be traced to Kaufman's
... her poetry plays her off as neurotic at times. At an early age of losing her father and living from the period of post and pre world war 2, Plath related herself to those who suffered. On various occasions, Plath relates herself to the treatment of Jews. She sympathizes, depicting her pain relating to others, although still is unable to grasp or fully relate because of her state of mind. She as well weaves in feminist ideas when her marriage collapses, subliminally boosting her ego. Both Camu and Plath throughout their text creates a form of pattern of being able to recognize the inevitable on situations. Plath though makes attempts to create meaning to everyday situations because she, just like Meursualt obtained some ambition that quickly faded when reality of an uncaring, senseless world paints both as irrational and a threat to societal expectations.
Besides the Pulitzer Prize that her work would win after her death, Plath did not win many awards for her work. Her work garnered much critical praise, especially for her technical accomplishment and stark insight into severe psychological issues (Sylvia). Plath has received some criticism for her writing style as well especially the idea that Plath has a notion of herself as a victim of two domineering men
Giles, Richard F. “Sylvia Plath.” Magill’s Critical Survey of Poetry. Ed. Frank N. Magill, b. 1875. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1992.
After reading the poem “Mad Girl’s Love Song” and doing some research on Plath, I came to find out that the poem was very similar to Plath’s personal life. The poem is basically about a young girl who fell in love and gave her all to a boy who never came back to love her. The young girl fell in a depression and made herself believe that she was making it all up. She still had hope that she and the boy could be happy someday, but it never happened and it drove her insane. Perhaps the boy could have been Plath’s husband, Hughes. Everything about the poem is so similar to her marriage with Hughes; the story makes the reader believe the poem could possibly be about Plath herself.
Plath wrote a significant amount of poems, which got a lot of recognition. The speaker of the poem would not specifically be Plath herself talking but, Plath used her life events to surround her poems. One of her earliest writings “Daddy”, was one heavily centered on her father’s death.
Through her dark and intense poetry, Sylvia Plath left an eternal mark on the literary community. Her personal struggles with depression, insecurities, and suicidal thoughts influenced her poetry and literary works. As a respected twentieth century writer, Sylvia Plath incorporated various literary techniques to intensify her writing. Her use of personification, metaphors, and allusions in her poems “Ariel,” “Lady Lazarus,” and “Edge”, exemplifies her talent as a poet and the influence her own troubled life had on her poetry. According to “Sylvia Plath” Sylvia Plath struggled with severe depression throughout her life.
Plath’s father died early in her life leaving her with unresolved feelings, and this brought a lot of troubles later on in life. Sylvia was a great student but when she was overwhelmed with disappointments after a month in New York, she attempted suicide (“Sylvia Plath”). After receiving treatment and recovering, she returned to school and later moved to England where she met her future husband, Ted Hughes (“Sylvia Plath”). Their marriage with two children didn’t last when Ted had an affair. They separated and Ted moved in with the new woman, leaving Sylvia and their two children. Battling depression during this time, Sylvia soon ended her life. She left behind numerous writings that many might see as signs of her depression and suicide attempts.