Sylvia Plath and the Bell Jar

1115 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes and poetic style of Sylvia Plath

"The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head…” For most people, when the name Sylvia Plath comes to mind, the word “psychotic” is the word that follows; however, there was more to Plath than her demented works. Throughout her shortened life, Plath had a variety of titles bestowed upon her: daughter, sister, student, wife, mother, teacher, author, and poetess However, Sylvia Plath was a haunted soul, as she also had the labels of “manic depressive” and “bipolar.” Her constant struggles with her mental illnesses are evident in her writing, especially her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. 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). Symptoms of severe depression began to plague Plath in her early years of college (Poetry Foundation). One of Plath’s short stories, “Sunday at the Mintons,” was published in 1952 in the magazine Mademoiselle while ... ... middle of paper ... ...Books, 1981. Gilson, Bill. "Sylvia Plath Bio." 2014. ibiblio.org. 9 April 2014 . Griffin, Marie. "Sylvia Plath - Poet, Author." 11 October 2011. About.com Bipolar Disorder. 9 April 2014. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. "'The Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath Book Summary." 2013. Cliffsnotes. 12 April 2014. Liukkonen, Petri. "Sylvia Plath." 2008. kirjasto.sci.fi. 9 April 2014 . Poetry Foundation. "Sylvia Plath." 2014. Poetry Foundation. 6 April 2014 . The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Sylvia Plath (American author)." 23 September 2013. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 9 April 2014 . Topham, James. "'The Bell Jar' Review." 2014. About.com Classic Literature. 8 April 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Ambiguity in J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Sylvia Plath’s The Ball Jar, and Richard Heller’s Catch 22

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ing them how they should behave, and what they should feel. A sense of self is bigger than what one person or group of people can tell you; it is found from within. Salinger, Plath, and Heller capture ambiguity on a personal level; their characters must look within themselves and beyond the ambiguity to discover who they are. They could easily accept what society tells them, but they would be embarking on a journey of misery. They must be strong enough to resist what others tell them about war, themselves, and everyone else. The experiences are truly unique, even if they are painful. They reveal the journey of self.

    Read More

  • Esther Greenwood in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bonds, Diane S. "The Separative Self in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar." Women's Studies 18.1 (May 1990): 49-64. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.

    Read More

  • Blackberrying By Sylvia Plath Meaning

    1854 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • Comparative Analysis of Brooks' and Plath's Poetry

    1610 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poetry stands beyond agreement or disagreement and reinforce all ideas of mysteriousness (671). In “Lady Lazarus”, the story of Plath’s life with her tendency of self-destruction sheds light the meaning of the poem. A poem can be a reflection of the writer’s life; to understand the particular poem better, a study about the writer background helps to construct the subliminal meaning within the lines. Plath reconstructs the meaning of being a survivor from destruction, as she sustains the trauma of life that causes her to be suicidal. “Although “Lady Lazarus” draws on Plath’s won suicide attempt, the poem tells us little of the actual event. It is not a personal confession, but it does reveal Plath’s understanding of the way the suicidal person thinks.” (Dickie). The courageous endeavor to survive proves that the death is no longer terrifying. “Peel off the napkin/O my enemy./D I terrify?---“. On the contrary, the character in the poem, Lady Lazarus comes out to the light and challenges to whoever the enemy is, by saying, “I am you opus,/I am your valuable,/The pure gold baby”. She addresses how worthy she is as a human being, and she is revived and stronger than

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath: A Novelist and her Brief Life

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The highly recognized female novelist and poet, Sylvia Plath, lived a hard and tragic life. Plath was diagnosed with depression, a mood disorder that causes consistent feelings of sadness, at a very young age that made her life complicated in many ways. The battle continued on when she was diagnosed with severe depression later on in life which contributed to her death. Sylvia Plath was a very successful novelist and poet in the thirty short years of her life, however, the achievements were not enough to mask her depression battle that ran and ended her life.

    Read More

  • Circumstances that Exacerbated Esther's Mental Illness

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM). Sylvia Plath and the depression continuum, J R Soc Med. Jun 2003; 96(6): 296–301. PMCID: PMC539515. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539515/

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath and the Occult Revival

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Sylvia Plath's Spirit Guide." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .

    Read More

  • Owl Song Analysis

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    "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

    Read More

  • Identity in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    ---. The Journals of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Ted Hughes and Frances McCullough. 1982. London: Anchor-Doubleday, 1998.

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath's Life and How It Influenced Her Poetry

    1847 Words  | 4 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Mirrors by Sylvia Plath

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Giles, Richard F. “Sylvia Plath.” Magill’s Critical Survey of Poetry. Ed. Frank N. Magill, b. 1875. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1992.

    Read More

  • A Women's Relationship With Men in The Poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath Research Paper

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1950’s, American poetry began to evolve into a new style known as Confessional poetry, which involved a more personal approach to poetry and broached topics such as sexuality, death, and personal relationships. The movement encouraged an unconventional expression of thoughts and emotions. Filled with images of death and anguish, Sylvia Plath’s work falls perfectly into this line of poetry. Having committed suicide at the age of thirty-one, Plath’s final collection of poems, like most of her work, details the depression that led to her untimely death. Plath’s depression greatly influenced the content of her work. She conveyed feelings of entrapment in society that was deemed an inappropriate topic for women. However, it was this candid and uncensored quality of work that made her an icon of the confessional movement. Some considered her later work to be too graphic, as it often detailed suicide, sexual relations, and -on many occasions- concentration camps. However, like all

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath: Writing Through The Pain Of Life

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sylvia Plath, born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts was famously known for her effect on the literary world. Her parents, Aurelia and Otto Plath, played a major role when it came to encouraging her to listen in school and learn the English language but it was not until after Plath’s father died suddenly when she was eight years old that she really began to keep diaries and begin writing (McKenna). Her father’s death sparked a sad and depressing lifestyle for Plath, and this was seen in her writing as a well. She was very successful as a writer of only eight years old when it came to her poetry, novels and short stories. Plath may have not loved her life at times and she continued to show that in

    Read More

More about Sylvia Plath and the Bell Jar

Open Document