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Theme of death and suicide in sylvia plath poems
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Sylvia Plath, one of the most dynamic and well-known poetry and prose authors of the twentieth century, accomplished many things before her untimely death. She is best known for her novel The Bell Jar and for the ability to draw readers in with her playful use of alliteration and rhyme when covering harsh topics, such as suicide and the human dread of dying. Her literary work was greatly influenced by her personal life, earning her many awards and critiques for her writing.
Born October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, Sylvia was the oldest child of Otto and Aurelia Plath (Perini, pg. 241; “Sylvia Plath”). Her father was a German immigrant and a professor at Boston University while her mother was an Austrian-American high school teacher (Davidson, pg. 665). Together, they lived in Jamaica, Massachusetts, a town right outside of Boston, before the birth of her brother, Warren, in 1935. They relocated to Winthrop, Massachusetts, where Sylvia lived a fairly happy childhood up until the demise of her father, Otto, when she was eight years old (Perini, pg. 241). Losing her father a...
In American society, the common stereotype is that the father has the role of the dominant figure in the household. Sylvia Plath and Sharon Olds may come across as two seemingly different poets, however, they are really quite similar, especially in their driving forces behind their writing styles in poetry. The lives of Plath and Olds are both expressive of the realities of a father-dominated family, in which both of these poets lost their fathers at a young age. This is significant because both poets have faced a similar traumatic event that has had everlasting effects on their adult womanhood, which is reflected in their writings. For both these woman, their accesses to father-daughter relationships were denied based on life circumstances. Ironically, their fathers were their muses for writing and are what made them the women they are today.
Aurelia Schober, Plath’s mother, was studying at Boston University when she fell in love with her professor that taught German and biology, Otto Plath, whom she would marry in January 1932. Later in that same year on October 27, Plath was born to the couple. Plath’s father passed away when she was only eight. (Academy of American Poets) From then on, Plath began publishing her poems. In everything she did, she strived towards being flawless; she had straight A’s, was a good daughter, and earned prestigious prizes (Gilson). Schober aided in pushing her daughter towards excellence and always made sure Plath knew how proud she was of her. In fact, Sylvia’s mother collected her daughter’s achievements and praised her highly for them (Liukkonen). By 1950, she had been given a scholarship to attend Smith College and had hundreds of publications, which she would add to substantially in the time she spent at Smith (Gilson).
During a time when women didn't have many rights or received much recognition, Sylvia Plath was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts on Oct. 27, 1932 (Rosenberg 10). Her parents would've never expected their daughter would one day become such a success in a male-dominated profession of writing. At an early age, her writing career started to kick off, as well as the start of many dark events that would become the inspiration for her writings. When I first read "Blackberrying" by Plath, I simply thought that it was a simple story about going to pick blackberries only to then get distracted by the lure of the sea. But after reading it a few more times, I started to pick up on the subtleties that lay within the poem.
...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.
Sylvia Plath was born on 27 October 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. Plath’s father was a very strict man with dictatorial attitudes that stuck with and scarred Plath. Her father died due to complications with his diabetes when Plath was only eight years old, inspiring her poem “Daddy” (Academy of American Poets). “Daddy” is one of her most famous works that basically declares her hatred for her father.
Emily Dickinson is regarded as “America’s most original poet” and was born on December 10th, 1830 (CITATION1). During her life, she spent most of her time alone in her house, spending time with only herself and writing poetry. When she died at the age of fifty-five, her sister decided to publish the 1,800 poems Emily had written. Before her death, Emily had only published ten of her poems. Because of this, she was not widely known before she died, unlike Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath, on the other hand, is a well-known author and poet. She even won the Pulitzer Prize award for Poetry in 1982 (CITATION2). Sylvia was similar to Emily Dickinson in that she was not an outgoing person. In fact, she was often depressed, and eventually took her own life in 1963 (CITATION3). While unfortunate, Sylvia Plath had written many popular poems, such as “Daddy”, short stories, and a semi-autobiographical novel called “The Bell Jar”.
Plath was not always such a disturbed person. She was born October 27th, 1932 (¡°Sylvia¡± n.p.). Her mother was a German and English teacher and her father emigrated from Germany at age sixteen to study ministry, and later, science. Sylvia was very close to her father, Otto Plath (Malmsheimer 527). In 1940, Otto, who had neglected to take care of his diabetes, fell ill and died that November. At this point in her life, Sylvia made a 180¢ª turn from being a happy, healthy child, to a shattered, lonesome soul (Malmsheimer 529).
"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
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).
Plath spent most of June 1953 as a guest editor at Mademoiselle’s magazine, she was one of twenty people to be involved in this. In August 1953 Plath stole the sleeping pills that had been locked away and crawled in the crawl space under the porch through the cellar, She took forty of them. Her parents found her 2 days later after hearing moaning coming from the cellar, when they found her she was covered in her vomit and dazed but alive.
Sylvia Plath wants to travel back in time and walk through a journey of what life was like before today’s generation by describing how men and women lived and how each of them were treated. Plath is extremely descriptive with the specific words she picks and her descriptive appearances. Women were looked at as people who offered “red silk flares of pedaled blood”, and men offered “sun’s blade”. When you look at what is thought to be two different women, but in a different universe, can most likely be just one person who suffers from some kind of disease. Duality describes this ability. Given how it is never proven to be two different women, it could very easily be the same character, except with two different personalities. Whether an
looked at it so long I think it is part of my heartâ?¦Faces and darkness
Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 27th, 1932. She attended Smith College with a scholarship in 1950 and was married to Ted Hughes. Plath was a gifted and troubled poet, known for the style of her work. On October 12th, 1962 Plath wrote a very unique poem called “Daddy” that was then published in 1965. “Daddy” is perhaps Sylvia Plath’s best-known poem that she has written. Through the use of violet imagery, figurative language and descriptive metaphors, Plath conveys the speaker’s journey of coming to terms with her father who died when she was eight years old.
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.
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.