Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature. Show how the poet creates the mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your appreciation of the poem as a whole.
Sylvia Plath’s disturbing, malevolent poem, ‘Lady Lazarus” is one in which the creation of atmosphere is a crucial feature. The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue and describes an, obviously, disturbed woman’s failed suicide attempts and eventual success and resurrection. In addition the poem focuses on Lady Lazarus’ suffering under female oppression and alienation from the rest of the world. A dark, disturbing atmosphere is made apparent in the first tercet and the theme of Death is carried throughout the poem and this theme aids …show more content…
Lady Lazarus is somewhat boasting about how well she has done, this is ironic as she has never successfully killed herself. She comments: “I am only thirty” this shows that she is proud of a young death and sees it as an achievement rather than a negativity - this is one of the genuine emotions felt by Lady Lazarus. Plath uses the capitalisation of “This is Number Three” to make it a matter of fact and to show that Lady lazarus is hell-bent on continuing her annual suicide attempt. She compares herself to a cat by …show more content…
This creates a darker perversion. The fact that Plath took such a positive saying and made it negative shows that Lady Lazarus will remain undeterred in her ultimate goal of suicide. Plath’s use of word choice ‘annihilate’ emphasises how much Lady Lazarus desires death. It shows how she is wanting complete destruction and obliteration of her old, oppressed self. This works in conjunction with the previous holocaust word choice. It shows that just as the jews, homosexual and physically and mentally handicapped prisoners were destroyed so to is the desire of Lady Lazarus for herself. This make the reader feel an eeriness to the poem and emphasises the dark atmosphere.
Plath lists body parts and expresses her love for death throughout the poem, this dehumanises Lady Lazarus and emphasis female oppression. When Lady Lazarus says “These are my hands,my knees” it gives the sense that she is dehumanising herself and exposing herself to her male dominators. However, it also seems that she enjoys the attention of people shoving to see her ‘preform’. She is echoing the words of christ. She resents the crowd that gather to view her, this leads to the idea that the people may come to see her out of sexual desirability. Lady Lazarus
Sylvia Plath’s disturbing, malevolent poem, ‘Lady Lazarus” is one in which the creation of atmosphere is a crucial feature. The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue and describes an, obviously, disturbed woman’s failed suicide attempts and eventual success and resurrection. In addition the poem focuses on Lady Lazarus’ suffering under female oppression and alienation from the rest of the world. A dark, disturbing atmosphere is made apparent in the first tercet and the theme of Death is carried throughout the poem and this theme aids …show more content…
Lady Lazarus is somewhat boasting about how well she has done, this is ironic as she has never successfully killed herself. She comments: “I am only thirty” this shows that she is proud of a young death and sees it as an achievement rather than a negativity - this is one of the genuine emotions felt by Lady Lazarus. Plath uses the capitalisation of “This is Number Three” to make it a matter of fact and to show that Lady lazarus is hell-bent on continuing her annual suicide attempt. She compares herself to a cat by …show more content…
This creates a darker perversion. The fact that Plath took such a positive saying and made it negative shows that Lady Lazarus will remain undeterred in her ultimate goal of suicide. Plath’s use of word choice ‘annihilate’ emphasises how much Lady Lazarus desires death. It shows how she is wanting complete destruction and obliteration of her old, oppressed self. This works in conjunction with the previous holocaust word choice. It shows that just as the jews, homosexual and physically and mentally handicapped prisoners were destroyed so to is the desire of Lady Lazarus for herself. This make the reader feel an eeriness to the poem and emphasises the dark atmosphere.
Plath lists body parts and expresses her love for death throughout the poem, this dehumanises Lady Lazarus and emphasis female oppression. When Lady Lazarus says “These are my hands,my knees” it gives the sense that she is dehumanising herself and exposing herself to her male dominators. However, it also seems that she enjoys the attention of people shoving to see her ‘preform’. She is echoing the words of christ. She resents the crowd that gather to view her, this leads to the idea that the people may come to see her out of sexual desirability. Lady Lazarus