The poetry of sylvia plath is intense, deeply personal, and. I was pleased to see my critical biography, sylvia plath. Her novel, the bell jar, is strongly autobiographical, and her later poems, such as daddy and lady lazarus, show great power and pathos borne on flashes of incisive wit. Another poem that describes the intense and disturbing life of plath in a deeply disturbing and personal way is poppies in july.
According to encyclopedia britannica, plath s first poem was published when she was eight years old. The editors obviously worked very hard to obtain all of these letters from friends and family. In western literature, the mists of the sea have long been. Plath was buried in heptonstall less than a week after her death. Today many critics describe it as the beginning of a new movement. That volume was criticized for not being complete and for some editing of the letters, although i believe the. A rising literary star during a point in american history when women were beginning to agitate for equal rights and a life outside of traditional gender roles, her poetry combined brutal and sometimes vulgar imagery and language with an honest depiction of depression and mental illness that was. Sylvia plath s gravesite in yorkshire is now visited by hundreds of people each year. Suffering and a vivid imagination are evident in the poetry of sylvia plath. Although i consider her work to be full of quality, i must agree with the above statement as, for me, reading plath s poetry was quite a disturbing experience.
Of course, her response to arnolds poem would not be as intense without. Each purchase of the monograph comes with online access to the book, as well. The best sylvia plath books five books expert recommendations. It is important that you develop your own response to each poem. Sylvia plath follow born in 1932 to middle class parents in jamaica plain, massachusetts, sylvia plath published her first poem at the age of eight. Sylvia plath is commonly seen as a confessional poet, although some critics dispute her placement within this movement, arguing that her work is more universal than commonly assumed. Steinbergjanuary 1999, revised februarymarch 2000, and december 2007 for more information, please read my biography of sylvia plath. Sylvia plath sample paper write a personal response to the poetry of sylvia plath. And since neither of us really knew how to handle it, we handled it with each other.
The poet explores many real life situations through her poetry which makes it very relatable to her readers. Plath uses the elm tree to personify her own mental turmoil. In kindness, plath writes, the blood jet is poetry there is no stopping it. Reading the poetry of sylvia plath can be a disturbing experience. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, the colossus and other poems 1960 and ariel 1965, as well as the bell jar, a semiautobiographical novel published shortly before her death in 1963. This was in response to the previous book, letters home, published in 1975 by sylvia s mother, aurelia plath. Sylvia plath sample answer the arrival of the bee box depicts plath s personal experience of mental suffering just as effectively as finisterre. For what used to be known as the personal response question you should do more than just. When studying sylvia plaths work, the student must consider the poets themes and. Her suffering is exacerbated by the fact that she cannot see into it. He might give it credit for its accuracy at last on the events of plaths life, its substitution of fact for the myriad garbled fantasies hitherto. Sylvia plath was best known as an american author of the bell jar, ariel, and the colossus and other poems. Plath started writing and was a published poet at a very young age.
A life of sylvia plath, writes that plath s, rawedged response to personal sorrows and joys, her apprehensions of the worlds horrors and injustices, as well as its beauty, were excessive to an unusual degree. This volume spans from early on in her marriage to hughes until several days before her suicide. Plath s poetry is intense, deeply personal and quite disturbing. Jan 28, 2021 write a response supporting your points with the aid of suitable reference to the poems you have studied. The elm suffers different torments it is lashed by poisonous rain, burned by the sun, whipped by the wind, and dragged and scathed by the moon.
Plath wrote fiction throughout her life, in a wide variety of genres, including womens magazine romances,new yorker stories, comedy, social criticism, autobiography, teenage fiction and science fiction. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. But these gender roles form an important part of plath s identity that she comes back to again and again in the journals, the bell jar, and sometimes in her poetry as well. Sylvia plath was a brilliant writer and is my favourite writer on our course. Click here for another sample essay for plath i strongly agree with this statement plath is a magnificent, but proudly poignant poet. Rainy weather, finisterre, morning song, child and, of course, poppies in july. A short analysis of sylvia plaths elm interesting literature. Collected poems, sylvia plath sylvia plath october 27, 1932 february 11, 1963 was an american poet, novelist, and shortstory writer. She appeared soft, and was known for the way her difficult, emotionally ravaged life bled itself onto the page.
In these quotes, plath covers poetry, love, shakespeare, and more. A summary of part x section1 in sylvia plath s the bell jar. But sylvia plath was and is powerful, a fact evident in her poems, her autobiographical novel the bell jar, and the success of the major motion picture, sylvia starring gwenyth paltrow. Sylvia plath, like me, was depressed for a very long time. October 27, 1932 february 11, 1963 was an american poet, novelist, and shortstory writer. Based on the poems i have studied for my leaving certificate, i completely agree with the above statement. Mar 02, 2020 the story of plath her troubled life and tragic death was the basis for the 2003 biopic sylvia starring gwyneth paltrow in the title role.
Apr 07, 2020 faults could be emotional andor physical and this shows the psychological states explored throughout sylvia plath s work. Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this book to your organisations. It tells a story based on the reallife romance between prominent poets sylvia plath and ted hughes. After studying plath we see mental anguish really applies to her. Sylvia plath s apotheosis from the june 24, 1976 issue to the editors. Like many of her poems, including her mature poems from her late period, elm is an obscure sylvia plath poem which resists straightforward.
Plath seems to have reached a point where her mind is so shocked and tired that it cannot even feel, but colourless. The poem metaphors by sylvia plath, uses an unsettling way to describe a womans pregnancy. Mar 23, 2009 nicholas hughes, the son of poets sylvia plath and ted hughes, has killed himself, 46 years after his mother committed suicide and almost 40 years to the day after his stepmother, assia wevill. Why am i recommending volume 2 initially and not volume 1. This is the first study devoted to sylvia plath s fiction. May 01, 20 i hope in particular the biography of sylvia plath albeit brief around 6000 words is good reading and presents new information on the writer whether the reader is fresh to plath or seasoned. Sylvia plath was one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the 20th century.
Plath uses the form of her poem and many clear metaphors to show her mindset of a womans appearance and anger throughout her pregnancy, this is important because you see a womans perspective. Crossing the water is a 1971 posthumous collection of poetry by sylvia plath that was prepared for publication by ted hughes. Though biographical sensation has often diverted attention from her work, sylvia plath remains one of the finest lyric poets of the twentieth century, argues professor tim kendall, academic director of arts and culture at exeter and author of sylvia plath. The poetry of sylvia plath is intense, deeply personal, and quite disturbing. Sylvia plath united states authors series by barnard hall and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Its a relief to turn to the poems themselves and once more be jolted by their strange beauty, hardwrought originality, and acetylene anger. Here, he recommends the best places to start or return to with plath, from a fresh look at ariel to illuminating an oft. The bell jar is the only novel written by the american writer and poet sylvia plath. Sylvia is a 2003 british biographical drama film directed by christine jeffs and starring gwyneth paltrow, daniel craig, jared harris, and michael gambon.
The life of sylvia plath sylvia plath was a very dedicated author who lived from 19321963. The poems, written during the last phase of her life, shook her readers and earned her the fame she had been yearning for all her life. The first was cheerful and spirited, whereas the last is. May 25, 2020 sylvia plath remains a singular voice in american literature nearly six decades since her death. The eerie, surreal images in plaths poem, elm, filled me with an understand.
Method and madness, sandwiched between aurelia plath s highly selective edition of her daughters dull letters and judith krolls hughessanctioned study of plath s exciting literature nyr, june 24. The poetry of sylvia plath is intense deeply personal and. She tried to kill herself a number of times throughout the early 60s, and in february of 1963, she succeeded. Although sylvia plath was succeeding poetically, she was still deeply unhappy. Plath grew up in an era when woman were expected to be submissive and decorative and to hide their feelings. Sylvia plath died in 1963, and even now her outsize persona threatens to bury her poetrythe numerous biographies and studies often drawing the reader toward anecdote and away from the work.
The bell jar does not read like a classic classic being the term of very old books with very old language the description ive always had for the classic genre. Finisterre is a dark and somewhat disturbing poem that opens with a statement in the past tense. I found plath s poetry to be filled with raw emotion and evidence of the mental turmoil she suffered. Sylvia plaths love triangle which ended in disaster for. Elm beautifully depicts plaths turmoil with constant natural imagery. Originally published under the pseudonym victoria lucas in 1963, the novel is semiautobiographical with the names of places and people changed. Discuss i agree with the statement that sylvia plath s poems are filled with intense and disturbing thoughts. This line concludes the most brutally honest description of an excruciating, suffocating emotional crisis that i have ever read or am likely to read in my life. The film begins with their meeting at cambridge in 1956 and ends with sylvia plath s suicide in 1963. I enjoyed child by sylvia plath because the poem transitioned from positive hopes and dreams for her child into the negative experiences she didnt want them to go through. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the bell jar and what it means. Finisterre by sylvia plath famous poems, famous poets. Introduction to poetry and how to study a poem what your examiner is looking for. However, keep in mind that this 50 minute cassette tape focuses primarily on her early work, and not the infamous ariel poems which epitomize plath s legacy and that made her name.
But until all the uncensored, uncut facts become available, partial and fragmentary truths will continue to be discussed and feed the needs of all interested parties. It is hard to forget that she suffered from severe depression and took her own life, when reading her poetry. Plaths poetry never transcribes events in the real world, or. Plath was a fiercely intelligent ambitious, beautiful american poet who was a talented artist. Unlike other poems by plath, such as blackberrying and finisterre. The poetry of sylvia plath is fundamentally a combination of suffering, desolation. She wrote incessantly during her short life poetry, short stories, essays.
The darkness here allows for nothing positive and contrasts greatly with the colour and innocence of earlier lines, effectively portraying the internal confliction in plaths mind. Sylvia plath s ecopoetics scott knickerbocker despite the new criticisms warning against the intentional fallacy, post structuralisms assertion that the author is dead, and new historicisms emphasis on ideology and historical context, much of the literary criticism devoted to sylvia plath has relied heavily on her biography. Dec 07, 2010 suffering and a vivid imagination are evident in the poetry of sylvia plath. If he would read bitter fame calmly, shedding for a moment the illusion that only his view of plath is valid, he might see that anne stevensons book is such a rounded biography. By the time she took her life at the age of 30, plath already had a following in the literary community. Sylvia plath was a bright, intelligent and determined young woman with a burning desire to write. Before studying sylvia plath s poetry i understood mental anguish only as its definition, sustained, dull, painful emotion. Oct 27, 2019 here are 12 sylvia plath quotes for writers and about writing from the author of the colossus and other poems, ariel, and the bell jar. Dec 07, 1989 no longer wanting sylvia shown only in a good light, he now favours a rounded biography with her personal failings as well as strengths. One answer to that is to say, well, this isnt the real sylvia plath this is sylvia performing for a particular audience, in this case her own mother. Support the points you make by reference to the poetry of plath you have studied. Mirror is a fascinating poem and worthy of inclusion i.
A sensitive person who tended to be a bit of a perfectionist she was what many would consider a model daughter and student popular, a straight a student, always winning the best prizes. Nevertheless, ariel, published posthumously in 1965, deals with the very personal issues of suicide, sex, her children, and, most dramatically, her complicated. A life of sylvia plath, writes that plaths, rawedged response to personal sorrows and joys, her apprehensions of the worlds horrors and injustices, as well as its beauty, were excessive to an unusual degree. Jul 26, 2019 sylvia, like me, did not understand how she was supposed to summon a level of confidence that was nonexistent to pursue her writing dreams, let alone to be a functioning adult human being. Feb 26, 2021 and with the sylvia plath movie coming out soon, i thought reading this book might be a nice complement to that. Sylvia plath reads is an asset to any plath fan or scholars collection. These are transitional poems that were written along with the poems that appear in her poetic opus, ariel.
Sylvia plath a personal response sample answers english. The eerie, surreal images in plaths poem, elm, filled me with an understanding of the. My favorite part about the poem was the contrast between the first and last sentences. Sylvia plath books list of books by author sylvia plath. Her first published book, the colossus, includes only poems written after. Plath has a dark mind filled with doubts and demons of all shapes and sizes which provides rich imagery to draw from. Malignity symbolizes evil and the intensity of how disturbed her life was.
Her writing talent and ambition to succeed was evident from an early age. Sylvia plath was a confessional poet, using her personal experiences and very real situations to give negative emotions the artistic charm and characteristics traditionally saved for positive emotions. The poetic persona, here the poet herself talks about several things associated with the. Born in boston, massachusetts, she studied at smith college and newnham college at the university of cambridge before receiving acclaim as a poet and writer. Selected poems by sylvia plath meet your next favorite book. She brings to it, just as every viewer would, her own preconceptions and concerns. Feb 07, 2021 sylvia plath 193263 was an american poet and novelist whose bestknown works explore the themes of alienation, death, and selfdestruction.
In the ensuing years her work attracted the attention of a multitude of readers, who saw in her singular verse an. This is a hefty tome as is volume 1, but really worth it. There are feelings of anxiety in the case of motherhood in morning song and child. Dec, 2015 sylvia plath tries to enlarge upon the personal plight, give meaning to the personal outcry, by fancying the girl as victim of a nazi father. Sylvia plath is best remembered for ariel, a book of poems published posthumously in 1965. The sight and sound of the locked box fills the speaker with dread as she mentions the box is locked, it is dangerous. She was also highly accomplished in other fields, was an intense and complex. This poem reflects on the vast sea and the cliffs of the cape finisterre. Many feminist critics find in plath s poetry and death evidence of what why see as a patriarchal oppression. Personal response to the poetry of sylvia plath sylvia plaths poetry appeals to many for many reasons.
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