Cinderella Sylvia Plath Analysis

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Sylvia Plath, born to a middle-class family, was a delicate person who has a tendency to be a perfectionist that most people would consider her as an archetype academically. She is well-known for her exceptional ability to express into words her dreadful memories and experiences as well as her delightful ones; she was an extraordinarily gifted writer with a natural feel of the language, simply intelligent and calculated. Behind the struggles expressed in Plath 's work is the fact that she suffered from depression, suicidal tendency which made her underwent mental therapy, and that included electro-conclusive therapy (ECT) (Cooper, 2003). Most of her published works act almost as her autobiography, portraying her tragic life and death. This …show more content…

One that can be realized instantly upon reading this poem is the vivid imagery and symbolization. There is subsequent portrayals of the color red with the scarlet shoes, wine, and roses, which could symbolize death, as in blood, and/or passion, as in red fire in some cultures. This could also mean that her passion comes from death. This is a polysyllabic poem with 10 syllables each lines and slant rhymes can be seen in the poem. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b with repetitions of end letters in the last two stanzas. Each lines in the last couplet end with the letter K, which are strikingly sharp upon reading, just like how she hears the "caustic" clock chimes. Assonance is rich and is present throughout the poem and can be first seen in the first line: "The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels", which also directs the atmosphere to a romantic scene. Furthermore, in the third stanza, the line "Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince" demonstrates consonance. Plath created a sense of movement quite dramatically by using the words "reels," "revolving," "slide," "gliding," and "whirling". She is a master at putting layers upon layers of meanings and elements of …show more content…

It expresses the mixed feeling of this new experience of motherhood: delight, optimism, and doubt in some ways. The poem was structured of six tercets (stanzas consisting three lines). In the title, "Song" may refer to the newborn 's cry and "Morning" could be a play of word, intending to articulate 'mourning ', as she is afraid of losing her time, just as in "Cinderella"; she is afraid of losing her youth. Metaphors are scattered throughout the poem. The line "Love set you going like a big fat clock" is a simile, a metaphor for the baby 's future, a new life to look for as a product of love. In the second stanza, the word "Our" is making reference to the couple, Plath and her husband, quite obviously, "magnifying" her arrival, objected here as a "New statue." "Your nakedness" from the next line emphasizes the innocence of the baby, which "shadows [Plath 's and her husband 's] safety", bringing a sense of uncertainty and fear to them. The poem then displays Plath 's look at this experience: as something that has been taken away from her to have its own life, an "Effacement at the wind 's

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