Sylvia Plath

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Sylvia Plath is said to be one the most prodigious, yet interesting, confessional poets of her time. She was an extremely vital poet of the post-World War II time period and expressed her feelings towards her father and husband through her poetry. Plath’s mental illness had a dramatic influence upon her work in which she demonstrated the hatred she had for her father specifically. The poem “Daddy” is an easily applicable example. Within this piece of work, Plath uses direct references to how she feels towards her father who was the greatest influence on her poetry. The bond, or lack of, between Sylvia Plath and her “Daddy” is commonly associated with the purpose of her poetry. Her father died when Plath was only ten years old and this created a tremendous amount of stress on the family as her mother was trying to raise her children as a single mother. Her father’s death forced her mother, Aurelia, to work two jobs, sell her home, and move in with her family to support the children. Dealing with the death of a husband is extremely hard to cope with, without the added stressor of a limited amount of money to try to buy food and put a roof over your children’s head. The reason that Plath created such an extreme hatred is very easily visible if one was to analyze the situation Sylvia had to mature through. Many of the most elite critics have analytically focused on Plath’s work and have come to the conclusion that the relationship between Plath and her father in her earlier years had an impact that continued on to reflect her poetry for the many years after.

Whenever read aloud for one to hear, the anger within the poem “Daddy” can force one to shake with fear as the abandonment Plath felt is easily conveyed. Critic Paul...

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...etry with the negative relationship she had with her father is the actual facts. Examining the actual biography of Sylvia Plath is enough to connect the two parallels. Any child who was abandoned by a parent at a young age is subject to blaming the parent for all the problems they had through their childhood. Plath’s father was obviously going to have to take at least partial blame for the struggle Plath’s family encountered after his death. Plath’s mother had to face a substantial battle and give up most of the life she once had to focus on her children and make an attempt to provide a concrete home life for them to mature into. The sacrifices she had to make angered Plath, as she has been commonly thought of as a feminist. Although critics may evaluate Plath’s work and other people’s opinions on her work, her own biography is enough to support my thesis.

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