Sylvia

The responsibility of the female poet is two pronged: to “give name to the nameless” and “answer the received cultural imagination of the subject with something utterly different.” Sylvia Plath and Gwendolyn Brooks do it exceptionally well. Their poetry tackles subject matter vital to the task of complicating cultural imagined archetypes for women. Almost immediately, first line Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “The Mother” fulfills its responsibility of meeting culturally imagined standards with…

The idea of loss is prevalent in both “Stop all the Clocks” by W.H Auden and “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath. Auden employs the narrative voice of a distraught partner to reveal the travesty of death and the consuming emotions which accompany the devastation of physical a loss, whereas, Plath depicts the symbolic loss of identity through the inevitable process of ageing as told from the narration of a mirror. The initial stanza of Auden’s “Stop all the Clocks” introduces the idea of loss by allowing…

“Metaphors” represents how Sylvia Plath viewed pregnancy. From the emotional state to the physical state, Plath gives us visuals of the frame of mind when one is pregnant. She expresses that she feels huge and that there is a large amount of responsibility to go along with this season in her life. Being pregnant isn't a very flattering time for some women which Plath shows. Plath seems to focus on the negative feelings with the ever-changing body of a pregnant woman. Plath uses a riddle,…

The “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath is a novel about a girl named Esther Greenwood. The novels setting first begins in New York City. There Esther and eleven other girls works for a fashion magazine. A flash back to college is seen when Esther tell about how when she dated a man like her age named Buddy Willard. Esther believed that Buddy and his family was great but later she feels betrayed by Buddy when Esther ask and Buddy says yes, this scares Esther since she has never been intimate with…

Sylvia Plath’s satire on marriage, The Applicant, explores the pitfalls and double-standards often associated with marriage. Stanza seven begins with the allusion to anniversary milestones, “in 25 years she’ll be silver, in 50, gold”, with a constant reference…

The Sylvia Plath Effect coined by famous psychologist James C. Kaufman in 2001 explores the idea that poets are often more susceptible to mental illness than other writers (Bailey). Many say that poets are more susceptible to depression due to their more realistic outlook on life however, it is more likely that creative people are more depressed due to how much time they spend ruminating on their thoughts. One of the most recognized artist that suffered from mental illness was, in fact, Sylvia…

In the book “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, Esther Greenwood has changed into a new person. At the beginning, Esther started off as a wild girl. Also, she was not that social with her family and did not have a bond with them. Additionally, Esther would always get herself in trouble. She would go hang out with boys and drink. First of all, Esther at the beginning was very strict, prima donna, and a very jealous person. Esther was the one who would drink a lot. “ ‘I’ll have a vodka, I said’ ” (11)…

The Bell Jar is written by Sylvia Plath and published by William Heinemann Limited in London in 1963. This is the only novel written by American author and poet Plath and was first published under the name Victoria Lucas. This semi-autobiography based in New York City in 1953 tells the story of Esther Greenwood and her journey in the city and road down depression. Plath focuses on theme such as restricted roles of women in the 50’s in America and with sub-themes like success equals career.…

The idea of maintaining an idealistic image of what a woman should be can be daunting for many women. In the novel written by Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar is a feminist classic as it entails the struggle that the main character, Esther Greenwood, faces as she battles relationships, motherhood and the ideal image of women brought to her by the magazine internship she works at, all while slowly losing her sanity. Esther unravels and begins to show signs of her mental illness early on. High-class…

Being an editor for my publication Unnamed Trademarked Patent Pending has its up and its downs but writing an anthology for Gwendolyn Brookes, Sherman Alexie, Lucille Clifton, Sylvia Plath and Gary Soto was eye opening. These are some of the best poets that I have had the opportunity to read and appreciate in my lifetime. The diversity among the bunch was very fulfilling, from poetry about racial tension, native American culture, women empowerment, depression to young love. Initially the poems…