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Distressing imagery in sylvia plaths poetry
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Sylvia Plath is an American author, poet and novelist. She was born in 1932 and lived only 30 years due to suicide. She is most recognized for her semi-biographical novel titled The Bell Jar. She was writing poems, novel, and through her entire life, she was writing journals. Despite her short life, she managed to become one of the most relevant poets of her time. Sylvia Plath poetry is tough. She filled her poems with depressing thoughts. Her style is descirbed as confessional poetry, which assumes writing focusing on themselves, writing about their individual experiences, describing shameful things. Her poetry was very personal. Sylvia Plath was definately a sensitive person. She had a turbulent life, and she put her deepest feelings on the paper. Plath's poems were divided into short …show more content…
Elizabeth Bishop is another succesful American poet. She wrote poems and short stories. She was awarded for her work. Nevertheless, her poetry is distant from Sylvia Plath in many cases. Unlikely to Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop did not write in a confessional style. Although, she was a friend of Robert Lowell who was a confessionalist. She found inspiration in his work, but she never became a part of confessionalists. She wrote her poems in a different style. After his death, Bishop composed a poem in a memory of Lowell. It was titled North Heaven. Nevertheless, she usually avoided writing about personal issues or affairs. She focused on the external world. She did not write too much about her internal feelings, even though she faced some difficult experiences in her personal life. Her father died when she was under the age of 1. There is a similarity to Sylvia Plath. They both lost a parent in their childhood. Neverthless, Bishop's father was not a subject of her poems like in Plath's case. She choosed to write about the external
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.
Pollitt, Katha. "A Note of Triumph [The Collected Poems]". Critical Essays on Sylvia Plath. Ed. Linda W. Wagner. Boston: G. K. Hall & Company, 1984. 67 - 72.
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”.
"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
Giles, Richard F. “Sylvia Plath.” Magill’s Critical Survey of Poetry. Ed. Frank N. Magill, b. 1875. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1992.
Her distinct literary voice stands as another one of her admirable traits. She managed to make even the bleakest of situations elegant and symbolic. Remarkably, she also managed to put her intense feelings and emotions into words, which is hardly an easy feat. “I felt very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo.” (Plath, 3)
Known for her distinctive voice and exploration of dark, violent emotions, Sylvia Plath was one of the most acclaimed poets of the twentieth century. In her poems she discusses many common themes such as family relations, marriage, self-image and death in unique ways. Among these topics, she expresses a particularly original perspective on motherhood and its effect on the individual that often deviates completely from the traditional view of child rearing. In her poems “Moonrise,” “Heavy Woman” and “Morning Song,” Plath conveys the idea that motherhood, although necessary, is a personal as well as physical sacrifice that involves much pain and suffering.
Sylvia Plath, a talented yet stressful poet fulfilling her dreams. Many of her poems were based on the tragic events that have happened in her life. But still to this day she’s still studied and admired. Plath, in the 20th Century was one of the most spirited and respected poets. Her unique style of writing attracted many readers back then and still now today.
(2)Plath, Sylvia, and Ted Hughes. The collected poems. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. Print.
Sylvia Plath’s life was full of disappointment, gloominess and resentment. Her relationship status with her parents was hostile and spiteful, especially with her father. Growing up during World War II did not help the mood of the nation either, which was dark and dreary. At age 8 Plath’s father of German ancestry died of diabetes and even though their relationship was never established nor secure, his death took a toll on her. “For Sylvia, who had been his favorite, it was an emotional holocaust and an experience from which she never fully recovered” (Kehoe 90). Since she was so young she never got to work out her unsettled feelings with him. Even at age eight, she hid when he was around because she was fearful of him. When she was in his presence his strict and authoritarian figure had left an overpowering barrier between their relationship. Sadly enough by age eight Plath instead of making memories with her dad playing in the yard she resented him and wanted nothing to do with him (Kehoe). These deep-seated feelings played a major role in Plath’s poetry writings. Along with his “hilterian figure,” her father’s attitude towards women was egotistical and dismissive, uncondemning. This behavior infuriated Plath; she was enraged about the double standard behavior towards women. Plath felt controlled in male-dominated world (Lant). “Because Plath associates power so exclusively with men, her conviction that femininity is suffocating and inhibiting comes as no surprise” (Lant 631). This idea of a male-dominated world also influenced Plath’s writing. Unfortunately, Plath married a man just like her father Ted Hughes. “Hughes abandonment apparently stirred in her the memories and feelings she had struggled with when her ...
The poems themselves, while containing this style constantly, vary in poetic form – this is a welcome change from the monotonous form of poetry of other poets on the Leaving Certificate course. Finally, her range of themes adds to the variance in poetic form, making each Bishop poem original and of worth in its own right. The poems I have studied are: First Death In Nova Scotia, Filling Station, In the Waiting Room, A Prodigal, The Armadillo and The Fish. As said, an appealing aspect of Bishop’s poetry is that her poetry links with her life. Bishop has some connection to each poem, and this adds credibility to her poetry.
Sylvia Plath, an innocent scarred by her memories, shares her story through her considerably dark poems. On October 27, 1932 in
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.
Sexton and Lowell became a significant influence in Sylvia’s life. They encouraged her to write about private and personal experiences in life. This form of poetry was known as confessionalism, where poets focused on intimate moments that they’ve encountered in their lifetime. For instance, their personal and severe traumas that society viewed as taboo. Through this style, Plath found a voice where she could express how she felt towards the universe.
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.