Sylvia Plath

Poets and Poetry Task 8 Noel Mains Biography of Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath was known as an American poet, novelist, and a short- story writer. She was born on October 27, 1932. Boston, Massachusetts was where she was born. Her parents Aurelia Schober Plath and Otto Plath were so happy to have a baby girl. Three short years later Sylvia gets to meet her new little brother Warren Plath. Who was born on April 27, 1935. A little later Sylvia and her family moved to Winthrop Massachusetts. This is…

Lavelle Midterm March 6, 2015 Sylvia Plath: the Writer, the Pioneer, the Idol. In her brief and productive life, Sylvia Plath produced some of the more notable and controversial work than that of any of her contemporaries. Plath’s distinctive themes ubiquitous in her work enables her to broach a body of material that many other writers are incapable of: her dedication to exploring certain themes that others did not left an ineradicable mark on American literature. Plath is considered a…

of her: to have a husband, children, and a “happy home” (Plath 84). Other branches symbolize a combination of what society expects of her and what she expects of herself: to be a “famous poet,” a “brilliant professor,” or an “amazing editor” (Plath 84-85). Lastly, other branches reflect her innermost desires that will only please herself: to travel, have “a pack of…lovers with queer names and offbeat professions” and to be an Olympian (Plath 85). Esther feels torn between which life she wants to…

Sometimes, we escape from sorrow and distress by writing what we feel on a piece of paper. Other times, we express our thoughts that don’t reflect our reality, rather than showing what we need because of the lack of it in our lives. Sylvia Plath was an amazing American novelist and poet. She excelled academically during her attendance in Smith college. Also, she got awarded a coveted position as guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine. Despite the success in her life, she got into depression that…

Both “Daddy,” by Sylvia Plath, and “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke are poems centering around the parent-child relationship between the authors and their fathers. At first glance, Plath’s “Daddy” pivots around an abusive father, and Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” revolves around the joy filled evening of play that the narrator and his father participate in. While Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” parent-child relationships are seemingly quite different, once one…

Sylvia Plath’s ‘gothic’ and realistic writing style captured readers with either interest and curiosity or shock and unease. Marie Ahearn wrote that Plath used her themes to relate her “particular view of fear, of the unknown reaches of the mind, of madness.” Starting her writing career at a young age, her poems developed from cheerful poems based on nature into an authentic view of her life and struggles. Becoming more in touch with herself and suffering from mental illness contributed greatly…

While reading the poem, one can perceive that Mrs. Plath is blossoming from a child into an adult. Symbolism plays a vital role in order to perceive her aging process. In the first stanza, it mentions a black shoe that she lives in. One can observe and compare this to the children’s nursery rhyme, “There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe”. Another example of her childhood within stanza one is in line five when she says, “Achoo”. Most adults would say sneeze, but to a child, it is acceptable…

there is Plath. As it was earlier mentioned critics define Sylvia Plath as a confessional poet, pre-feminist, suicidal poet who is obsessed to a certain extent with the theme of death. In Lady Lazarus the narrator is in 1st person this is shown through the use of “I”. The narrator is a narcissist who is obsessed with the idea of death and makes herself be undefeatable against death as she is “a sort of walking miracle.” This is one of the reasons why critics associated it as if Sylvia Plath…

Society, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a social circle or a group of social circles having a clearly marked identity.” Obtaining a clearly marked identity is easier said than done. The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, is a novel about nineteen year-old Esther Greenwood struggling to find her place in society. In her struggle, Esther falls into a deep depression and attempts suicide, causing her to be admitted to a mental hospital. Societal expectations of everyone, women…

deteriorate in their life. In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther Greenwood’s mental illness is sparked by her father’s absence, her attempt to fit into society’s expectations, and her rejection towards forming intimate relationships. Esther’s initial spark to her depression is caused by her father’s absence from her life at such a young age. At the start of the novel, Esther comes to a realization that she “was only purely happy until I was nine years old” (Plath 75). This was the age that…