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Psychological analysis of sylvia plath poems
Sylvia Plath' s poetry
Sylvia Plath' s poetry
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Sylvia Plath was a depressed young poet, who sadly ended her life early on. Her poetry consisted of psychologically meaningful text and had great depth. In her 20’s, she wrote Mad Girl’s Love Song, speaking of a lost love. She tells the thoughts that constantly flood her brain on repeat about what went wrong and questioning if her love would ever come back like he said he would. She contemplates if she imagined how strong their love really was and if she possibly imagined it. As she does all this, her depression sinks in deeper. Sylvia commits suicide 2 years after she writes this poem. It is reasonable to question that this failed relationship impacted her stronger than most and the negativity and sadness of the failed relationship played
In the short story “Initiation” author Sylvia Plath suggests that conformity, although the societal norm, is not always as grand as it is made out to be, while also suggesting that even though conformity typically hinders one’s self growth, there are times when the fear of conforming can make one’s sense of self stronger. These two ideas together show that Plath uses this short story to convey the message that even though conformity is not inherently a positive thing, it can drive a person to look in on themselves and develop a unique identity. Plath uses symbolism, and character introspection to assert this idea.
There is no shortage of media encouraging adolescents to ‘be themselves’, promoting self-worth regardless as to what others think. While many may be fed this message throughout music and film, rarely ever is it conveyed to actually have a lasting effect on one’s personal views quite like Sylvia Plath’s “Initiation”. Although formulaic, Plath’s uniquely optimistic short story warns against an obsession with belonging, and explores the importance of individuality through the protagonist Millicent Arnold’s gradual character development, from a self-conscious teenage girl to a stronger and more confident individual.
...connection to Sylvia Plath is so strong that her story has become a means of coming to terms with elements of my own life. Her unflagging spirit and perseverant frame of mind have inspired me to define for myself my own inner worth, as opposed to allowing others’ approval to be responsible for characterizing who I am.
Two of the most popular poets of the 19th and 20th centuries are Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, respectively. These women were born nearly one hundred years apart, but their writing is strikingly similar, especially through the use of the speaker. In fact, in Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy”, she writes about her father and compares him to domineering figures, such as Adolf Hitler, a teacher, and a vampire; and in Emily Dickinson’s poem “She dealt her pretty words like blades—“, she talks about bullies and how they affect a person’s life—another domineering figure. Despite being born in different centuries, Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath are parallel in a multitude of ways, such as their choice in story, their choice for themes, and their choice of and as a narrator.
"About." Personal Blog, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. [When finding an explanation for the similarities between the writers, it is important to play close attention to biographies. In case the psychoeconomic factors that Ruonco describes are true, then biography constitutes most of the development of the Sylvia Plath affliction. Moreover, the biography provides an insight into the views of the author for a better and more accurate understanding of her poetry. Furthermore, it is imperative to use her auto-statement since she referres to her "muse" as something out of her control which can be traced to Kaufman's
A Mad Girl’s Love Song In Sylvia Plath’s poem “A Mad Girl’s Love Song”, it is hard to determine whether the speaker is mad or going mad. Plath, along with all women in this time period, were defined by their relationship to a man. When a woman was abandoned by her beloved, it was Earth-shattering, as it still can be for many women today. Before the reader even gets into the poem itself, the speaker is already described as “mad” and this word has multiple connotations.
Sylvia Plath’s life was full of disappointment, gloominess and resentment. Her relationship status with her parents was hostile and spiteful, especially with her father. Growing up during World War II did not help the mood of the nation either, which was dark and dreary. At age 8 Plath’s father of German ancestry died of diabetes and even though their relationship was never established nor secure, his death took a toll on her. “For Sylvia, who had been his favorite, it was an emotional holocaust and an experience from which she never fully recovered” (Kehoe 90). Since she was so young she never got to work out her unsettled feelings with him. Even at age eight, she hid when he was around because she was fearful of him. When she was in his presence his strict and authoritarian figure had left an overpowering barrier between their relationship. Sadly enough by age eight Plath instead of making memories with her dad playing in the yard she resented him and wanted nothing to do with him (Kehoe). These deep-seated feelings played a major role in Plath’s poetry writings. Along with his “hilterian figure,” her father’s attitude towards women was egotistical and dismissive, uncondemning. This behavior infuriated Plath; she was enraged about the double standard behavior towards women. Plath felt controlled in male-dominated world (Lant). “Because Plath associates power so exclusively with men, her conviction that femininity is suffocating and inhibiting comes as no surprise” (Lant 631). This idea of a male-dominated world also influenced Plath’s writing. Unfortunately, Plath married a man just like her father Ted Hughes. “Hughes abandonment apparently stirred in her the memories and feelings she had struggled with when her ...
Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” (1951), shows how the speaker was very drastically and negatively affected by the end of a relationship. The poem tells the thoughts of the heartbroken speaker and how the speaker is trying to create a type of comfort by coming up with different ways to try to feel better while possibly being mentally unstable and ill. This poem is written with great passion and deals with the darkness and sadness produced by heartbreak which then broadens to the subjects of fantasy, reality, and suicide. These subjects are demonstrated throughout the poem with the poet’s use of repetition, word choice, figurative language, and theme.
Even with the differences in relationship with their fathers, both Sylvia Plath and Theodore Roethke struggled with depression and mental illness due to losing a major parental figure like their fathers at young ages. It is difficult to lose someone and you can see in Plath’s and Roethke’s writings that they had complicated relationships with their fathers that shaped and influenced their
Could Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” simply be a form of self-therapy or is it instead an artist who is remarkable at calling up the emotions of her personae and characters? In addition to this quandary, is the examination of the persona herself and matching her actions to the Freudian theory of ‘Family’ and Jung’s theory of ‘Electra.’ Sylvia Plath’s psyche could be screaming out in her poem “Daddy,” on the other hand, it could be a fully developed character creation with a few artists’ liberties being taken. An analysis of the poem “Daddy” reveals an underlying carnal desire to be both consumed by and yet destroyed by the male figures in Plath’s life.
It is possible that the suicidal process set off before Sarah Kane started to write her best play and before Sylvia Plath wrote the best poems of her life. They might have been either created in an attempt to set the suicidal process back (Viewegh, 1996) or as a pure manifestation of this suicidal process which might have brought about sudden burst of strong internal creative powers. In both cases we might take these works as suicide notes and poetic accounts on a dramatic search for the meaning of life and existence.
“And we, too, had a relationship--/Tight wires between us,/Pegs too deep to uproot, and a mind like a ring/Sliding shut on some quick thing,/The constriction is killing me also” (“The Rabbit Catcher” l. 26-30). Sylvia Plath is widely regarded as one of the most groundbreaking poets of her era. As a writer, and more importantly, as a woman, Plath burst through countless barriers. She wrote about life, in it’s purest, most imperfect form. Delving into the world of depression, Plath described how being a daughter, wife and mother affected her feelings of unhappiness. This shed a new light on the formerly accepted-as-normal negatives to being a woman.
Plath’s father died early in her life leaving her with unresolved feelings, and this brought a lot of troubles later on in life. Sylvia was a great student but when she was overwhelmed with disappointments after a month in New York, she attempted suicide (“Sylvia Plath”). After receiving treatment and recovering, she returned to school and later moved to England where she met her future husband, Ted Hughes (“Sylvia Plath”). Their marriage with two children didn’t last when Ted had an affair. They separated and Ted moved in with the new woman, leaving Sylvia and their two children. Battling depression during this time, Sylvia soon ended her life. She left behind numerous writings that many might see as signs of her depression and suicide attempts.
Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” is debated as form of self-therapy or as just an artist who is remarkable at calling up the emotions of her personas and characters. In addition to this quandary, is the examination of the persona herself and matching her actions to the Freudianism theory of Family and Jung’s theory of Electra. Digging into the overall question of Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” is, what is the greater message in Sylvia Plath’s poem? Does even the author understand what the larger question of her psyche through an in-depth analysis of her poem could mean for her self-development? An analysis of the poem “Daddy” reveals an underlying carnal desire to be both consumed by and yet destroyed by the male figures in her life.
Through her dark and intense poetry, Sylvia Plath left an eternal mark on the literary community. Her personal struggles with depression, insecurities, and suicidal thoughts influenced her poetry and literary works. As a respected twentieth century writer, Sylvia Plath incorporated various literary techniques to intensify her writing. Her use of personification, metaphors, and allusions in her poems “Ariel,” “Lady Lazarus,” and “Edge”, exemplifies her talent as a poet and the influence her own troubled life had on her poetry. According to “Sylvia Plath” Sylvia Plath struggled with severe depression throughout her life.