The Violence of Plath’s Daddy
"Daddy" is probably Plath’s most famous poem. The critic George Steiner has said that, "It is a poem by which future generations will seek to know us." He has also called it, "the Guernica of modern poetry." The violence of its imagery and tone, the references to concentration camps, torture and fascism certainly evoke Picasso’s most celebrated painting.
Plath claimed that in this poem she was adopting the persona of a girl with an Electra complex whose father had been a fascist, but while the poem is not completely autobiographical, it contains several obvious references to her own life. For example, here she refers to the picture of her father:
"You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you"
This is a direct image of the actual photograph the Plaths possessed of Otto in front of his blackboard at the University. Similarly, the "man in black with a Meinkampf look" and the "vampire" who "drank my blood" for "seven years" is a reference to her perception of Hughes to whom she had been married for seven years when t...
Plath is a very personal poet. She also uses symbolism throughout the majority of her poetry and prose. Plath writes based on everyday occurrences during her lifetime. Most of her work is actually diary entries without punctuation. Plath gets most of her inspiration from her everyday life. She enjoyed writing about the things that happened day to day.
“Feminism”, as defined today, is “1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” and “2: organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”2 Many critics claim that feminism has been active longer than the word itself has existed.3 The word, “feminist” was not in true use until the late 1800s and early 1900s, but activism for women’s rights was alive and well a...
An interesting note is how similar their concept of god is to the Christian God. This was likely done by More to establish support for some of the other ideas expressed in Utopia. This motive is reinforced even more because large numbers the utopians converted to Christianity when they learned of it. They were described as intensely interested in Christianity and its tenants. Their system of religion was also very like Christianity. Unfortunately, even Christians that did not follow the smaller traditions of other sects were looked down on in England. This description of their interest in Christianity reveals how much pressure More was in to portray Christianity in a
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The hip-hop community has been greatly influenced by the Black Arts Era. Both groups have addressed social, political issue as well as giving voice to the emotional discord of the black man. These groups push the boundaries using words meant to inflame the black man and shock the Caucasians.
Green Tara has a rich mythical history. So rich, in fact, that there are two myths narrating the origins of the Bodhisattva Green Tara. In the first myth, she is depicted as a celestial being, coming forth from the tears of another Bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara. In this myth, as Avalokiteshvara gazed upon all of the suffering in this world, he cried tears of compassion until a lake formed (Vessantara, 1994). A blue lotus emerged from the lake of tears and Avalokiteshvara cried into its center, turning it into a white full-moon disc (Vessantara, 1994). Green Tara, the saviouress, rose from this white full-moon disc (Vessantara, 1994).
Followers of Theravada Buddhism would say that their form of Buddhism is the far most traditional form of Buddhism today. Their beliefs start with the stories that follow The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama’s life. He was believed to discover the path to enlightenment after
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Rossetti describes the speaker’s suitor as a honey-seeking bee, a careless swallow, to convey he lacks commitment. The reader can infer she is talking about her suitor because the stanza starts off in lines 16 and 17 saying, “Where my heart is (wherever that may be)/ Might I but follow.” The speaker does not literally mean the heart in her chest but the metaphoric heart she gave her suitor that contains all of her love for him. The imagery in the fourth stanza effectively develops the theme of finding lost love by painting a picture with words of the carefree nature of her love and her hope of him soon returning to
Overall, the imagery that Plath creates is framed by her diction and is used to convey her emotions toward all relationships and probably even her own marriage to Ted Hughes, who had rude, disorderly habits. Even the structure of the poem is strict in appearance as each stanza ends with a period and consists of exactly six lines. In addition, the persona of the poem is very detached and realistic, so much that it is hard to distinguish between her and Plath, herself. However, Plath insinuates that the woman actually wants love deep down, but finds the complexity and unpredictability of love to be frightening. As a result, she settles for solitude as a defense against her underlying fear.
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Plaths Poetry can be understood through the psychoanalytic model. The motifs of oral fixation, sadomasochism and the desire to return to primary narcissism are consistent throughout Plaths Poetry. Overall these motifs represent the desire to return to the state of primary narcissism and to be reunited with the incestuous love object.
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.