Sylvia Plath, author of “Lady Lazarus”, is “widely considered one of the most emotionally evocative and compelling American poets of the postwar period” (“Plath, Sylvia: Introduction”). Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts and her father died when she was eight. Plath attended Smith College and due to overwhelming conditions, she lapsed into a severe depression and overdosed on sleeping pills. After receiving psychiatric care, Plath enrolled in Newnham College where she met and married English poet Ted Hughes. Subsequent to Hughes affair and their divorce, Plath became progressively despondent and she committed suicide by inhaling gas from her kitchen stove (“Plath, Sylvia: Introduction”). American writer Sylvia Plath had many outstanding works including “Lady Lazarus”. This work illustrates Plath’s use of autobiographical influence, theme, and style, especially her use of imagery.
“Lady Lazarus” is an “extraordinarily bitter dramatic monologue in twenty-eight tercets” (Heaton). A female Lazarus that takes pleasure in rising from the dead several times is the speaker of this poem. The narrator begins by saying, “I have done it again,” in reference to dying. She then proceeds to compare herself to a Holocaust victim and says that she has nine lives, similar to that of a cat. Plath writes that this is the third time she is dying and she describes the first two deaths, saying, “Dying / Is an art”. Plath then compares herself to a Holocaust victim again, being burned at a concentration camp. At the end, she seems to have gained some power through death and she is resurrected once again (Shmoop Editorial Team).
“A complicated literary personality whose biography is nearly impossible to disentangle from her writing,” Sylvia Plath in...
... middle of paper ...
...on of: 'Lady Lazarus' by Sylvia Plath." LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2000. LitFinder for Schools. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Dahlke, Laura Johnson. "Plath's Lady Lazarus." The Explicator 60.4 (2002): 234+.Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Heaton, David M. "Lady Lazarus." Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition (2002): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
"Overview: “Lady Lazarus”." Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
"Plath, Sylvia: Introduction." Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 6: 20th Century, Authors (H-Z). Detroit: Gale, 2005. 293-295. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Lady Lazarus Summary."Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath: 1950-1962. 430 Ed. Karen V. Kukil. Transcribed from the original manuscripts at Smith College. New York: Anchor, 2000.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Sylvia Plath (American author)." 23 September 2013. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 9 April 2014 .
Plath, Sylvia. The Journals of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Ted Hughes and Frances McCullough. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.
Sylvia Plath, a great American author, focuses mostly on actual experiences. Plath’s poetry displays feelings and emotions. Plath had the ability to transform everyday happenings into poems or diary entries. Plath had a passion for poetry and her work was valued. She was inspired by novelists and her own skills. Her poetry was also very important to readers and critics. Sylvia Plath’s work shows change throughout her lifetime, relates to feelings and emotions, and focuses on day to day experiences.
LaPierre, D. (1997). Mother Teresa and the leprosy of the soul. New Perspectives Quarterly, 14(4), 35.
"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
"Sylvia Plath poem written two weeks before she died reveals 'disturbed' state of mind." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 1 June 2014.
Giles, Richard F. “Sylvia Plath.” Magill’s Critical Survey of Poetry. Ed. Frank N. Magill, b. 1875. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1992.
Five years later her father retired from his job to take care of all of the children and happened upon Lazarus’ poetry notebooks. After reading them and taking a great liking to them, he carried the poems off without Lazarus’ consent and had them published for private circulation. When Lazarus was informed, her poems had already received much praise so, adding t...
Kehoe, John. "Young, Talented, And Doomed: The Life Of Sylvia Plath." Biography 3.5 (1999): 88. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
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.
Leenaars, A. A. & Wenckstern, S. (1998). Sylvia Plath: A protocol analysis of her last poems. Death Studies, October 1, 1998, Vol. 22, Issue 7, ISSN: 0748-1187. Retrieved May 6, 2005 from Academic Search Premier Database.
Although, I find the ending somewhat predictable, I would use Gordimer’s short story, “A Beneficiary,” to highlight how the author uses figurative language and rhetorical devices to develop characterization. Not only did I enjoy examining the protagonist’s journey to enlightenment, I also appreciated studying how Gordimer utilizes certain figures and strategic devices to bring the deceased mother to life. For instance, Charlotte notes that her mother, Laila “had baptized herself professionally” as an actress since she lied about her age, her name, and her marriage (568), suggesting that she worshipped the superficial and the artificial just like her career. This concept is reinforced as Charlotte and her friends clean out Laila’s apartment and one her carries on about “the
The poetry of Sylvia Plath can be interpreted psychoanalytically. Sigmund Freud believed that the majority of all art was a controlled expression of the unconscious. However, this does not mean that the creation of art is effortless; on the contrary it requires a high degree of sophistication. Works of art like dreams have both a manifest content (what is on the surface) and latent content (the true meaning). Both dreams and art use symbolism and metaphor and thus need to be interpreted to understand the latent content. It is important to maintain that analyzing Plaths poetry is not the same as analyzing Plath; her works stand by themselves and create their own fictional world. In the poems Lady Lazarus, Daddy and Electra on Azalea Path the psychoanalytic motifs of sadomasochism, regression and oral fixation, reperesnet the desire to return to the incestuous love object.
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.