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Psychological analysis of sylvia plath poems
Struggles of Sylvia Plath in the poem daddy
How sylvia plath's life is reflected in her poem
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Sylvia Plath, an American poet, confessional writer, an intelligent, though emotional sufferer of depression, and ultimately, a bipolar suicidal, is more famous and recognized in death, than ever in life. Her death brought new and deeper meaning to her poetry, which provided an extremely profound and emotional insight into Plath’s innermost feelings and thoughts. Plath used her poetry to explore and to figure out her own life, but she was ever-haunted by the death of her father when she was 8, and by her husband, Ted Hughes, who both caused her a high degree of emotional distress. It is this, though, this resulted in the powerful, intense, and sensitive poems, which have allowed, or even encouraged Plath to release her inner-most self, and hence, to free herself from the oppression and the metaphorical cage that the memory of her father had trapped her in. “Daddy”, one of Plath’s most famous poems, and “Ariel”, the title poem of Plath’s second book of poetry, are two important stepping stones on Plath’s path to freedom. Through this expression is of not just her life, but her innermost being, she is able to confront her relationship with her father, whom she both loves with a passion and hates with an intensity, and release herself from his grip. That Plath “uses poetry to deal with her life” is, I think, quite evident in the poem “Daddy”. In this emotionally intense poem, she explains how her father followed his beliefs with a Nazi-like fervour, putting his faith before his family, and how as a result of this (and his following death) she, like Jews under the Nazi regime, has been trapped and oppressed, and has been forced to live with his shadow looming overhead and the highly charged, mixed emotions she feels for him.... ... middle of paper ... ...ry to deal with her life. A mythological theme is very evident in many of Plath’s poems, and “Daddy” is certainly one of these. It is filled with references to mythical figures, and other subjects that have achieved a myth-like status. Plath’s use of mythology makes her poetry much more powerful, and is important in helping her convey herself to the reader. In the case of “Daddy”, the dark, terrifying, brutal nature of the mythology serves to emphasise and increase the impact of Plath’s writing, her emotions towards her father and Hughes, and the intensity of the torment that she is experiencing. Very evident in “Daddy”, is the constant mention of Nazi tyranny, and their oppression of the Jewish people. In fact, Plath actually likens her relationship with her father to this situation, where she describes herself as a Jew, who is under the control of the Nazis.
In the middle of the poem, she begins to refer to herself as a Jew, and her father the German, who began “chuffing me off like a Jew…to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belson.” What Plath’s intent here is to allow us to understand that her father was a German, and she relates his behavior as a person to a Nazi. But later, she becomes more enraged, and strips the title of God from her father, and labels him a swastika and a brute. “Every woman adores a Fascist” is Plath’s way of ...
“Daddy” contains allusions to World War 2 with images of a swastika in the sky (line 46-47) and references to German concentration camps, “A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen” (line 33). She states her father clearly to be a German man with “I thought every German was you” (line 29), “with your Luftwaffe” (line 42), “And your Aryan eye, bright blue” (line 44). Plath alludes to the popular anti-Semitism of her era in Germany depicted in lines 31-40. She then describes herself as a “Jew” to degrade herself against her German father. The diction of her lines “Chuffing me off like a Jew” (line 32) and “I think I may well be a Jew” (line 35) dehumanizes Jews in which she uses to also describe herself. To describe even more hatred towards her father, the multiple usages of the word “black” (lines 2, 51, 55, 65, 76) depicts her father as a dark menacing shadow in her life that has a evil dark “black” heart. She compares him to the man she married when Plath states, “I made a model of you” (line 64). She then describes that husband as a vampire that drank her blood (lines 72-74), because he reminded Plath of her father in the statement “They always knew it was you” (line 79). In Plath’s mind she only married her husband to be reminded of her father but soon realized it was a toxic relationship in line 80 in which she says “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”.
The Holocaust was a vile and horrific event that took place in Germany under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, gruesomely taking the lives of around 6 million Jews. To compare one self’s experience to that of those gassed and subjected to atrocious conditions is unbecoming at the least. The vast majority agree with this notion as well, including Irving Howe. Irving Howe, writer of the article “The Plath Celebration: A Partial Dissent” describes making Plath’s comparison her life to that of a Jew in her poem “Daddy” as “monstrous” and “utterly disproportionate” (1082). While Howe makes a reasonable argument, I disagree when he states that “Sylvia Plath tries to enlarge upon the personal plight” (1082). Accusing Plath of using the
In American society, the common stereotype is that the father has the role of the dominant figure in the household. Sylvia Plath and Sharon Olds may come across as two seemingly different poets, however, they are really quite similar, especially in their driving forces behind their writing styles in poetry. The lives of Plath and Olds are both expressive of the realities of a father-dominated family, in which both of these poets lost their fathers at a young age. This is significant because both poets have faced a similar traumatic event that has had everlasting effects on their adult womanhood, which is reflected in their writings. For both these woman, their accesses to father-daughter relationships were denied based on life circumstances. Ironically, their fathers were their muses for writing and are what made them the women they are today.
Plath never got over the loss of her father and her failed marriage to well known poet Ted Hughes. She wrote, "Me, I never knew the love of a father, the love of a steady blood-related man after the age of eight .... I hated men because they didn't stay around and love me like a father" (cited in Hughes & McCullough, 1982, pp. 266267). In an article, Jon Rosenblatt describes her poetry by saying “Whether the poems take place inside a house or in the countryside, the identical metaphorical relationships are established between a vulnerable speaker and a destructive environment.” By the end of “Daddy” the speaker comes off as a force to be reckoned with and her message is final
...lems, such as depression, sadness, overbearing and domineering figures. The themes shared in each poem is also a common similarity, such as the example of numbness. The choice in the speaker of each poem is also important, and also share a similarity between the two poets. The idea that the two women wrote poems that shared stories from their own life is not far-fetched, especially in the case of Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”. Of the three poems, I found “Daddy” to be the easiest to understand because of its full sentences and vivid description. Furthermore, since the poets wrote as if the speaker of the poem was themselves, I found that their poems were more emotional and gripping than if they were not. Because of this, I considered their poetry very similar in that the speakers are like-minded emotionally, but the writing style of the poets themselves is different.
In Plath's "Daddy," written just before her death and published posthumously, the most readily accessible emotion is anger, and much of the poem is couched in autobiographical allusions. Plath's own father died of a gangrenous infection, caused by diabetes he refused to treat, when Plath was eight years old, and his death was "the crucial event of her childhood" (Baym 2743). Plath makes personal references to her father as a...
Sylvia Plath’s jarring poem ‘Daddy’, is not only the exploration of her bitter and tumultuous relationship with her father, husband and perhaps the male species in general but is also a strong expression of resentment against the oppression of women by men and the violence and tyranny men can and have been held accountable for. Within the piece, the speaker creates a figurative image of her father by using metaphors to describe her relationship with him: “Not God but a Swastika” , he is a “… brute” , even likening him to leader of the Nazi Party; Adolf Hitler: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look .” Overall, the text is a telling recount of her hatred towards her father and her husband of “Seven years” and the tolling affect it has had on
In the poem, “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath shows her character to have a love for her father as well as an obvious sense of resentment and anger towards him. She sets the tone through the structure of the poem along with her use of certain diction, imagery, and metaphors/similes. The author, Sylvia Plath, chooses words that demonstrate the characters hatred and bitterness towards the oppression she is living with under the control of her father and later, her husband. Plath’s word choice includes many words that a child might use. There is also an integration of German words which help set the tone as well. She creates imagery through her use of metaphors and similes which allow the reader to connect certain ideas and convey the dark, depressing tone of the poem.
Throughout the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath, the author struggles to escape the memory of her father who died when she was only ten years old. She also expresses anger at her husband, Ted Hughes, who abandoned her for another woman. The confessional poem begins with a series of metaphors about Plath's father which progress from godlike to demonic. Near the end, a new metaphor emerges, when the author realizes that her estranged husband is actually the vampire of her dead father, sent to torture her. This hyperbole is central to the meaning of the poem. Lines 75-76 express a hope that they will stop oppressing her: "Daddy, you can lie back now / There ís a stake in your fat black heart." She concludes that her father can return to the grave, because she has finally rid herself of the strain he had caused her, by killing his vampire form. Despite this seeming closure, however, we will see that the author does not overcome her trauma.
...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.
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. Sylvia Plath was one of the greatest poets of her time, but she was very troubled, and struggled with mental health issues her entire life. Plath’s poetry style is known for being confessional, which is: “ Private experiences with and feelings about death, trauma, depression and relationships” were addressed in this type of poetry, often in an autobiographical manner (Poets.org). As a young child, Plath began her writing in journals. Sylvia Plath had a lot going for her, she was popular, smart, and got a scholarship to Smith College, but what was underneath the surface was a dark, and depressed young girl. During her junior year of college she attempted suicide for the first time. Plath was able to recover from her deep depression, and in 1956 she married Ted Hughes (Poethunter.com). At first, their love was strong, and the two writers wrote many poems, and stories together. In 1961 Hughes, and Plath rented their flat at chalcot square to a woman named Assia Wevill. Plath discovered a year later that her husband, Ted Hughes has been having an affair with Assia Wevill. The couple separated in september, and Plath yet again, tried committing suicide (New York Times). Plath decided to move back to London, and figured that the best way to get back at her ex-husband was to write about him. In the winter of 1962-1963 Sylvia’s life hit rock bottom. She was a single mother raising two children, ill with the flu, and low on money. She was at home all day, writing poem after poem. These poems were more darker, and deeper than ever before. January in 1963 the winter was brutal, and it caused her depression to get even worse. Plath put her children to sleep, stuffed a towel ...
Sylvia Plath was American short-story writer, poet and novelist that was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts and died on February 11, 1963. Sylvia Plath is best known for, her books of poems, “The Colossus and Other Poems Collection” and the “Ariel Collection” of Poems.Plath’s poetry was known for its rhyme, alliteration and disturbing and violent imagery. Plath’s poetry is considered part of the Confessional movement, which became very popular in the United States during the 1950s through the 1960s. It is considered a type of poetry about “of the personal”. Confessional poems are more associated with the subject matter of sexuality, mental illness and suicide.
A brief introduction to psychoanalysis is necessary before we can begin to interpret Plaths poems. Art is the expression of unconscious infantile desires and the strongest of these desires is the wish to “do away with his father and…to take his mother to wife” (Freud, “Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis 411).This is what Freud called the Oedipal conflict. For women the desire is of course reversed to killing the mother and marrying the father and is called the Electra complex. Children resolve this conflict by identifying with their same sex parent. Loss of a parent can prevent the normal resolution of the Oedipal conflict and result in a fixation or obsession with the lost object (object is the term used to define the internal representations of others). The desire to have the lost object back is also the desire for what Freud called primary narcissism. ...
Sylvia Plath has brought the attention of many Women’s studies supporters while being recognized as a great American poet. Most of her attention has come as a result of her tragic suicide at age thirty, but many of her poems reflect actual events throughout her life, transformed into psychoanalytical readings. One of Plath’s most renowned poems is “Daddy”. In this poem there are ideas about a woman’s relationship with men, a possible insight on aspects of Plath’s life, and possible influences from the theories of Sigmund Freud.