Research Paper On Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath

A small girl whose father dies when she was only ten years old grows up to become to be one of the most iconic poets of the confessional movement. This is the story of Sylvia Plath, a poet who grew up during The Great Depression and was a big part of the feminist movement. She wrote in a unique and mostly dark kind of style, which made herself recognizable throughout the poetry community. Sylvia Plath’s relationship with her father and husband are revealed in the content and confessional style of poetry.

Biography

Sylvia was born in the bustling city of Boston, Massachusetts on October 27, 1932. She was born to her mother, a woman of Austrian descent who was one of the students of her father, who was a professor of biology at

Women were treated terrible and were oppressed. They were thought as lowly and uneducated, which most of them were. (Anne Stevenson) The feminist movement was a big thing back in Sylvia’s childhood, which made Sylvia a big part of the movement as a poet. Anne Stevenson describes it by saying, “In quarter-century following her suicide, Sylvia Plath has become a heroine and martyr of the feminist movement (Anne Stevenson)” Her poems reflected this in a way that showed her dedication to the feminist movement. Sylvia’s kind of poetry is called the “confessional movement.” The confessional movement was a kind of poetry where the poet makes their poems resemble their life stories and ultimately their confessions of life. This style of poetry was popular during Sylvia’s time and many poets used this style of poetry to express themselves. According to Poets.org, Sylvia’s poems were usually disturbing, and intense, and sometimes even violent. Many times her poems were even compared to poems by Lowell and Anne Sexton because of their close similarity in style.

They go on to say, “...wryly funny and of extreme importance to the understanding of her poetry. (World Authors)” The Bell Jar was one of the only light and good hearted works of Sylvia Plath. However, most of her poems were pretty intense. The focused on hard subjects and very disturbing themes, such as suicide and death. (Poets.org) Sylvia’s poems express many emotions and makes the reader go into the twisted and dark mind of Sylvia Plath and transform their life.

Life Through Literature

Sylvia’s poems represented the confessional movement, by using her childhood trauma and her depression to express herself and be a part of the feminist movement. Throughout her poems, Sylvia expressed the thoughts of her childhood trauma and her hardships. She wrote in a way that would help people understand the struggles of her childhood and the importance of the feminist movement through her way of words.

Sylvia expresses her thoughts about her father's death through her poem “Daddy.” on lines 57-60 She shows the struggle and betrayal of her father. Sylvia describes when her father had