Analysis Of Sylvia Plath's Poetry

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If Sylvia Plath lived in the era of Aristotle or Plato, or even Horace or Longinus, these entire great names might not even take a second glance of her poem because all the four hold different perspectives of art and literature. The critics from Plato to Shklovsky might all treat the poem differently. Plato makes the feeling artist important. He addresses authenticity in a work of art, otherwise artist not having experienced what he writes about, would be a liar. Aristotle emphasized credulity, consistency, and emotional identification of the reader to the work of art. Horace and Longinus talk of moral, aesthetic experience and effect of and intention of the work. However, Shlovsky, the one who introduce the term of defamiliarization sees art for innovation, in language as well as form, and seeks to bring poetry into the realm of science and emphasizes technique. He wants poetry to shock the readers into true perception. Plath has managed to do that. Her poem hardly fits in the conception of what a poem should be as envisioned by the Aristotle, Plato, Horace and Longinus. The way s...

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