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About the nature of Sylvia plath
Sylvia plath research paper
Sylvia plath research paper
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The Fight For Self Acceptance Sylvia Plath was an American poet that was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston Massachusetts. Plath lost her father at an early age. She was considered to be a phenomenal and troubled poet. At a young Plath won numerous amounts of academic awards. After she took an interest in writing, she obtained a scholarship to Smith College in 1950. Plath living in the 1950s was afflicted with the idea she had to get married, have children, as well as obtaining a career. During her college career, she suffered from major depression. In the summer of 1953 she attempted to kill herself by taking sleeping pills. She was placed in a mental health facility where she was treated with electroconvulsive shock treatments (Wagner- …show more content…
Personification is when human qualities are given to animals, objects or ideas (Literary Devices). For example, in her first stanza she says “It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over” (Plath 7-9). She is giving human characteristics to the mirror. Plath is bestowing feelings to the mirror plus a heart. In this quote she is talking about how everyday a woman comes and goes looking at herself in the mirror. She has spent so much time in front of the mirror, that the mirror believes that the women is part of her heart. Also it shows how judgmental the mirror is about the women, “It is pink, with speckles”, she is talking about her skin tone and her freckles. The mirror, ideally represents the author where it shows the battle of self acceptance with who she is. It also uses repetition to explain how time is going by when she says “Faces and darkness separate us over and over” (Plath 9). Another major use of figurative language that she uses is a simile. A simile is the correlation of one thing with another …show more content…
The “candle”, the “moon” and the “lake” have a way deeper meaning in this quote. The candle and the moon represent a source of light. The light that they obtain is very soft and shallow. In the poem they both represent a lie, because the light that they reflect on one is really soft. It just provides one with shadows of what they look like, it does not show their full features. Also the lake depicts a distorted reflection of one, which is also seen as a lie. While the mirror represents the truth that is why Plyth calls the “candle”, the “moon”and the “lake” liars. The mirror portrays one like the way they are, it does not hide ones true characteristics. As William Freedman points out in his poetry review of the, “Mirror”, “She is the woman as male-defined ideal..... the woman... who "turns to those liars, the candles or the moon" for confirmation of the man-pleasing myth of perpetual youth, docility, and sexual allure” (Freedman 152). Freedman believes the women turns to those liars (e.g the candle and the moon) to find acceptance within herself; even though they do not portray the true her. It is evident that Sylvia Plath was struggling with self acceptance, throughout her life she was trying to find who she was. She portrays these struggles within her poem as one can see. She believes that in search of self acceptance the mirror is the only reliable source. This leads back to the theme of
In the short story “Initiation” author Sylvia Plath suggests that conformity, although the societal norm, is not always as grand as it is made out to be, while also suggesting that even though conformity typically hinders one’s self growth, there are times when the fear of conforming can make one’s sense of self stronger. These two ideas together show that Plath uses this short story to convey the message that even though conformity is not inherently a positive thing, it can drive a person to look in on themselves and develop a unique identity. Plath uses symbolism, and character introspection to assert this idea.
There is no shortage of media encouraging adolescents to ‘be themselves’, promoting self-worth regardless as to what others think. While many may be fed this message throughout music and film, rarely ever is it conveyed to actually have a lasting effect on one’s personal views quite like Sylvia Plath’s “Initiation”. Although formulaic, Plath’s uniquely optimistic short story warns against an obsession with belonging, and explores the importance of individuality through the protagonist Millicent Arnold’s gradual character development, from a self-conscious teenage girl to a stronger and more confident individual.
It tends to be the trend for women who have had traumatic childhoods to be attracted to men who epitomize their emptiness felt as children. Women who have had unaffectionate or absent fathers, adulterous husbands or boyfriends, or relatives who molested them seem to become involved in relationships with men who, instead of being the opposite of the “monsters” in their lives, are the exact replicas of these ugly men. Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” is a perfect example of this unfortunate trend. In this poem, she speaks directly to her dead father and her husband who has been cheating on her, as the poem so indicates.
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.
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, 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.
Plath was born in the seaside town of Winthrop, Massachusetts during the year of 1932. In her first eight years of life, Plath was troubled with the birth of a new sibling, the death of a parent, and the start of a war. These eight years were the calm before the stormy life of Sylvia Plath. As an only child, Plath felt threatened by the new baby in the family. Her new sibling, Warren, sparked a disdain for children that Plath would harbor for the rest of her life. In 1940, Plath’s father died and essentially robbed the children of a proper relationship with their mourning mother. The family moved inland where Plath focused on writing poetry until she began to attend Smith College in 1950.
"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
“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”- Shannon L. Alder, American author. Even with all the temptation and pressure we feel just to fit in today's society, or to be normal, it's crucial that you hold on to your passions, goals, dreams, values, and to hold on to yourself. Being yourself is very hard to do especially in today’s society. Such as the short story “Initiation” by Sylvia Plath.
In the short story “Initiation” author Sylvia Plath uses the internal conflict of Millicent to explore how societal labels are a form of entrapment. A high school girl named Millicent is given the chance to be in a sorority and jumps at the opportunity, but then is faced with some difficult choices. At first she is ecstatic but after joining she realizes the sorority has a strange initiation process and everyone at the sorority seems plastic. The secretary of the sorority explains to Millicent “first of all, each of you has a big sister. She’s the one who bosses you around, and you just do what she tells you” (Plath 1).
By reading Sylvia Plath's poems, "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" and knowing her autobiography, we can make a the conclusion that her constant victimization which began at a young age by male oppressors and a male dominated society completely controlled her life and subsequently her death.
The highly recognized female novelist and poet, Sylvia Plath, lived a hard and tragic life. Plath was diagnosed with depression, a mood disorder that causes consistent feelings of sadness, at a very young age that made her life complicated in many ways. The battle continued on when she was diagnosed with severe depression later on in life which contributed to her death. Sylvia Plath was a very successful novelist and poet in the thirty short years of her life, however, the achievements were not enough to mask her depression battle that ran and ended her life.
In “Moonrise,” Plath depicts a woman contemplating her fertility. The woman “sit[s] in white…doing nothing” (“Moonrise” 2 / 3) as the “grub-white mulberries redden among leaves” (1). The mulberries are undergoing a transformation from white to red, which is the process of their ripening. Their progress is continually tracked by the speaker as she states again that the “berries redden” (13) midway through the poem, and that the “berries purple” (29) at the end. The woman is also “white” (2) waiting to ripen, in this case, to become pregnant, and at the end concludes, “The white stomach may ripen yet” (30). In this way she shows how motherhood is a necessary part of a woman’s life since she is simply waiting to “ripen” (30).
According to “Sylvia Plath” Sylvia Plath struggled with severe depression throughout her life. She first experienced depression during her third year of college because of insecurities and self-esteem issues. Furthermore, Plath’s troubled marriage with Ted Hughes fueled her depression later in life; he had cheated on her with a younger woman and left her to raise their two children. Once again, she was overcome by self-esteem issues and anxiety that led her down a dark path. Plath attempted suicide three times, and she succeeded on her third attempt at the age of thirty. She died
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.