Sylvia Plath Essay

Sylvia Plath Essay
Sylvia Plath was a gifted writer, poet and verbal artist whose personal anguish and torment visibly
manifested itself in her work. Much of her angst stems from her warped relationship with her father.
Other factors that influenced her works were her strained views of human sexuality, her
sado–masochistic tendencies, self–hatred and her traditional upbringing. She was labeled as a
confessional poet and biographical and historical material is absolutely necessary to understand her
work.
Syliva Plath was born on 27, 1963, in Boston, Massachusetts to Otto Emil Plath and Aurelia
Schober. Otto Plath was a professor of biology and German at Boston University. He was of
German descent and had emigrated from Grabow when he was fifteen. Her...show more content...
Plath consistently received good grades and earned recognition and publication as a writer, artist,
and editor. Her senior year, her story "And Summer Will Not Come Again" was accepted for
Seventeen magazine. She graduated from high school in 1950 at the top of her class. Her first
national publication of one of her poems was "Bitter Strawberries" which appeared in The Christian
Science Monitor just after graduation.
Plath attended Smith College in North Hampton, Massachusetts, where she continued building her
writing career. As stated in an article on Neurotic Poets website , "she began developing bouts of
depression, insomnia, and thoughts of suicide as evidenced in her journals.
"To annihilate the world by annihilation of one's self is the deluded height of desperate egoism.
The simple way out of all the little brick dead ends we scratch our nails against.... I want to kill
myself, to escape from responsibility, to crawl back abjectly into the womb."
In June 1953, she was diagnosed with depression and was prescribed electroshock therapy which was
thought to the best treatment for her. While undergoing treatment, she developed acute insomnia
where she did not sleep for three weeks and became immune to sleeping pills.
On August 24, 1953, Plath broke into the family lockbox to steal the sleeping pills that had been
taken away from her when she was left alone for the day. She left a note that she was going for a
long walk,
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Essay On Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath is regarded as one of the best writers in history. She was a very talented poet and also
published a semi–autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. Even though she was successful, her life
was full of tragedy. She suffered from mental illness and many personal losses. She used these
experience in her work as an outlet for her anguish. She is known as a confessional poet. Sylvia
Plath was born on October 27, 1932. Her father was a very strict man. He died when she was eight
from complications due to diabetes. She would later use her relationship with her father in the
poem "Daddy". Plath began writing and publishing at a very early age. The Boston Herald was
the first to publish her when she was eight years old. During her high school years, she won many
awards for her short stories and poems. She was also published in Seventeen magazine. In the fall
of 1950, Plath began attending Smith College. This was also when she began to suffer from
depression. She continued to write and be published. She spent the summer of 1953 as a guest
editor. Before returning to school in the fall, she attempted suicide. This forced Plath to withdraw
from school for the fall semester. She returned the Smith in January of 1954 and went on to
graduate in June of 1955. During all this time, she kept journals that included short stories and
poems. After graduating from Smith College, Plath accepted the Fulbright scholarship and began
her studies at Newnham College, Cambridge. It was during this time she met Ted Hughes. The
two were married in June of 1956. Plath returned to Smith College in 1957 to teach. She was
unable to write as much as she wanted and quit in 1958. She and her husband moved to Boston
that year and she worked as a secretary on a psychiatric unit. This allowed her more time to attend
creative writing seminars and to work on her poetry. After traveling through the country and parts of
Canada, Plath and Hughes returned to England in 1959. She gave birth to a daughter a few years
later. Unfortunately, she would have a miscarriage with her second pregnancy. Letters recently
discovered alleged that Hughes beat her two days before this miscarriage. It was sometime after the

Theme Of Death By Sylvia Plath
Plath was a famous American poet; often described as a feminist poet. She was born in Boston,
October 27, 1932 and died on February 11, 1963. She had two children but disappeared on them at
a young age as she closed the rooms between herself and her children, left them some bread and
milk and trapped her head in the oven whilst the gas was turned on. She committed suicide at the age
of 30. Sylvia used a wide variety of themes in her poems to express the thoughts that she constantly
felt, to express her feelings that she felt no other person could, to tell stories which she went
through and poured out all her emotions to let us know she could feel. I will be discussing death /
depression as my first theme and victimization / patriarchy as my second: those being apart with her
themes, along with her poems.
Death plays a huge role in Sylvia Plath's poetry; she reveals it in different ways. The main common
theme is the emptiness gone by her father's death at the age of eight. She speaks about his death and
burial remembering that she is forever separated from the love of her father....show more content...
She felt lowered to a less "feminine" place which stripped from her independence. Plath's poetries
from "the Colossus" age specifies her frustration over the criticisms under which she has worked
for. It was a giant 500 feet tall statue and the statue was basically her father, it was beyond repair
but she was trying her best to fix it: she says "O father, all by yourself" she's saying that her father
is lonely because of his death. For example, "A Life" shows a threatening and unwelcoming future
for Plath. However, she finally seems to be able to exceed her significance as victim, in her later
poems by including her creative gifts "Ariel", metaphorically killing her father "Daddy", and
committing suicide in poems "Lady Lazarus" and

Sylvia Plath
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...show more content...
Eileen M. Aird analyzes and comments, "The danger of such criticism lies in its assumption that
the poem is objectively 'true', that it bears a precise relationship to the facts of the poet's life."
The direct criticism Plath puts upon her father is very crucial, yet evidently true if one was
research her life. Sylvia Plath's autobiographical poetry can be easily connected to her life and the
answers to the many questions are easier to uncover than one may suspect. As her poetry
developed, it became more autobiographical and although through her teenage years she possessed
what seemed to be a rounded personality, the anguish and grief of her father's death was easily
linked with her mental instability that haunted her in the later years. Her time period is easily
reflected in the poem with the severity in her reference to Nazis, swastikas, barbed wire, fascists,
brutes, devils, and vampires. In "Daddy", Plath refers to herself as a Jew multiple times, "An
engine, an engine Chuffing me off like a Jew. A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen. I began to talk
like a Jew. I think I may well be a Jew."
The extremity Plath went to to emphasize these references during her time period were enough to
make any soul cringe. World War II's concentration camps are still enough over half a century later
to make one shudder in despair. The rage Plath has for her father is so easily conveyed to the reader
that an illiterate individual could pick up on it, let

Mirror by Sylvia Plath Essay
In the poem "Mirror", Sylvia Plath employs many different poetic devices to develop her message
that people need the truth although it may be hurtful. Plath uses a mirror and then a lake as a
metaphor for the truth. She also makes the mirror come alive with personification, simile and
metonymy. These other devices are important to the poem and the scene it creates, but the mirror
being a metaphor for truth is the most important. The poem is basically about a woman looking into
a mirror. As she ages and grows less attractive, she is hesitant about looking into the mirror but
realizes that she needs the truth, even if it is hurtful. This shows that the mirror is a metaphor for the
truth. Some lines that help show this are "I have no...show more content...
Plath incorporates metonymy into the poem in the line "The eye of a little God, four–cornered."
(line 5). Before this line, the mirror was the speaker. Now, Plath introduced the notion of a little
God. The mirror is the only eye of this little God, but it is certainly a form of metonymy. The final
poetic device that I think Plath uses for creating this poem is a simile. "In me she has drowned a
young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish." (lines 17
and 18).This is basically saying that the lady has grown old. She has watched her youthfulness
age away to reveal an old lady. The new and old/mature lady is becoming closer as the young one
slowly leaves. It is being compared to a terrible fish because even though it is horrid, it is still
approaching and is the truth. The lady just has to deal with her problem of aging. Sylvia Plath
most certainly utilizes many devices in her poem "Mirror", all of which help to develop that both
the mirror is metaphor for the truth and the illustration that the poem composes for the reader. The
first few lines help to reveal that the mirror is a metaphor fot the truth, but they also hide
personification and metonymy. The last line(s) conceal a simile, which gives a very vivid picture of
the truth (of growing old) and that even though it is bitter, people long after it. The lady was hesitant
at first of

Sylvia Plath 's Life And Accomplishments
Sylvia Plath's work is marked with her trademark style, one full of enigmatic analogies and
ambiguous metaphors. Sadly though, the life of Sylvia Plath was indeed shorter than anyone
expected. Nevertheless, in the thirty years Plath meandered through the world, she left an everlasting
impact. Remembered as one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the twentieth century, Plath
cultivated a literary community unlike any predecessor. Additionally, since a sizable portion of
Plath's work was read posthumously, her suicide brought the much needed attention to physiological
illnesses. Unfortunately though, Sylvia Plath will never know the perennial impact she left from
her distinguished works that have touched numerous lives. Plath was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, on October 27th, 1932 ("Sylvia Plath" 1). She was an only child for just two years
when her brother Warren was born, and it was at this time, her family moved to Winthrop,
Massachusetts due to financial reasons. Winthrop is located on a peninsula and it was days spent on
the docks where Plath became infatuated by the sea, which is apparent in her novel, The Bell Jar
(Steinberg 1). Plath's parents were Otto Emil Plath and Aurelia Schober Plath. Otto taught Biology
and German at Boston University and was also a distinguished author. Unfortunately in 1940, he
suddenly died of cancer, which ultimately haunted Sylvia and scarred her for the rest of her life. Due
to the loss of income, Plath's mother, Aurelia, began

Cut by sylvia Plath Essay
"Cut" Sylvia Plath
Persona
In terms of content the persona in "Cut" is Sylvia Plath herself. Plath was one of the first American
women writers to refuse to conceal her true emotions. In articulating her aggression, hostility and
despair in her art, she effectively challenged the traditional literary prioritization of female
experience. Plath has experienced much melancholy and depression in her life.
Scenario
The scenario of the poem starts off in a seemingly domestic scene, perhaps preparing for dinner
and develops into this amazing association and blurring of the physical and emotional senses,
where a great joy has been found in an 'accident'. Plath dedicates "Cut" to her new au pair (nanny),
Susan O'Neill Roe as a "welcome to...show more content...
The story is told through images of war. The reference to the Indian/frontier wars through "little
pilgrim, the Indian's axed your scalp" is referring to the historical notion of pilgrims in escaping in
fear of religious persecution. Plath's thumb is being associated to being a "little pilgrim". The link
to the American War of Independence is through "Redcoats, everyone" meaning that the blood is
not a simple liquid but is composed of a million tiny parts, each with an individual and collective
purpose, hence the military analogy. This is also done through the reference to "Saboteur" of the
French Revolution representing the sabotage of one's own well being and one's physical body, her
own undoer as saboteurs often come from within. The link to Kamikaze "Kamikaze man" from
World War 2 signifies the recklessness towards herself when "cutting", pointing to the idea that for a
moment she is her own killer. The Ku Klux Klan reference from the Civil War "Gauze Ku Klux
Klan/Babushka" from the cold war represents the outward act of anger, hatred and bathing against
self. This image is significant as historically the white linen was a hood worn by men in the Ku
Klux Klan and the Babushka contradictory was a scarf worn by women in Russia. All
metaphorical for the stained bandage, showing sins committed. The military references represents
both the control one feels when exercising a deliberate act, as well as the feeling of submission to
the need to do it as if it were a command

A Biography on the Life of Sylvia Plath Essay
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents were Otto and
Aurelia Plath. Plath's father, Otto, immigrated to America from Germany when he was just sixteen
years old. He wanted to study ministry at the Northwestern College, which was a small Lutheran
school. According to his wife, Aurelia, Otto changed his ambitions because he didn't feel a true
"calling" for the ministry. He received a master of the arts from Washington University, and the
doctor of science from Harvard. After that, in 1928, he became a biology professor at Boston
University. Sylvia's mother, Aurelia, taught German and English at Brookline High School until
January of 1932, when she married Otto. She quit teaching because Otto wanted her...show more
content...
Otto's work was the center of the house, which was organized and scheduled, including Sylvia,
and her brother Warren, around his needs for privacy and work space. Sylvia and her brother
didn't have active social lives. They mostly associated with their parents, maternal grandparents,
each other, and a few nice neighbors. Plath established a strong relationship with her father. Otto
was proud of his daughter's early accomplishments, and Sylvia appeared to idolize him. However,
in 1940, he became very ill due to a neglected case of diabetes, and he died in November from
complications due to the disease. This was a major turning point, and traumatic event in Plath's
life, which she associated with her early childhood. Plath described her father's death, in "Lady
Lazarus", as her own first death. After her first suicide attempt, at the age of nineteen, she told a
friend that she adored and hated her father. She also said that she wished him dead many times,
and when he finally obliged her, she imagined that she had been the one to kill him. Due to the
death of her father the family moved inland to a town called Wellesley, where Sylvia spent nine
years of her life. As a student, Plath was always a high achiever. Her teachers said she was
especially gifted in writing and served as editor of the school newspaper, participated in student
theatrical productions, and placed a story in "Seventeen." She was inducted into the National Honor
Society; and received a

Sylvia Plath Influences
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Her love for poetry
started young as her father, Otto Plath, suddenly passed away after Sylvia's 8th birthday, dying from
undiagnosed diabetes. This would greatly influence her later works. After his passing, her mother,
Aurelia, took Sylvia and her brother, Warren, to Wellesley Massachusetts to live with the
grandparents. She had good memories when her father was around, this inspired her to write her
first poem, that was published in The Boston Traveller. She wrote all throughout her childhood and
eventually started writing short stories to be published in magazines. For example, she wrote a total
of 45 pieces of work to the magazine and they eventually published

Sylvia Plath who is hailed as one of the most renowned and influential poets commit suicide on
Monday, February 11, 1963. Many theories arose as this atrocious deed shook the public in multiple
ways.
Poet Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a daughter to Otto
Plath and Aurelia Plath, and an older sister to Warren Plath, who is three years younger than Sylvia.
Aurelia Plath was an adviser at Boston University's College of Practical Arts and Letters. The
relationship between Aurelia and her daughter, Sylvia Plath, was ambiguous and problematic which
can be observed when scrutinized Sylvia's work.
Otto Emil Plath was a German American author, who specialized in biology and was an instructor
Boston University. Otto had also studied bees extensively. When the death of her father was
disclosed to innocent eight year old Sylvia, she proclaimed "I'll never speak to God again." In an
interview, Sylvia said, "When my father passed away, I felt very betrayed because I looked up to
him."
Plath had an affection towards writing and began writing at an early age. She published her first
poem when she was just eight years old and had her first official poem published at the age of
eighteen. Sylvia has achieved many accomplishments, one of being that she was elected as guest
editor of 'Mademoiselle' at the age of twenty. Due to stress related complications, at the age of 23
Sylvia Plath unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide. According to some

Sylvia Plath Poetry Analysis
Sylvia Plath, Judith Right and Emily Dickinson all express through their poetry the diverse feelings
and beliefs they have in regards to life and death. Throughout Plath's poems it is evident that she
resents life and obsesses over the purity and perfection that she associates with death. Contrastingly,
Wright demonstrates through her poems how she accepts the cycle of life, and embraces the gifts
and challenges that it holds. Then, unlike Plath and Wright, Dickinson regards death and the afterlife
with uncertainty and she portrays through her poetry the curiosity she has for life after death and the
secrets it holds. These poets all use the similar technique of imagery to express the intense emotions
they associate with both life and death. Furthermore, throughout the poems by Dickinson, Plath and
Wright it is evident that each employ language techniques to portray their diverse beliefs and
emotions regarding life and death. Finally, all three poets employ structure to illustrate the depth to
which they regard life and death and the power each holds.
Throughout the imagery in the poems 'Tulips', 'Woman to Child' and 'Just lost, when I was
saved!' by Plath, Wright and Dickinson, respectively, each poet explores their views in regard to
life and death. This is evident within 'Tulips' as Plath states "Their smiles catch onto my skin, little
smiling hooks." Thus, illustrating through the personification of hooks, how her family do not
know the pain that they cause her as their smiles dig into her skin and hold her to a life that she
does not want. Furthermore, the metaphor of the hooks draws a direct comparison between being
unwillingly held to her life, just as a hook catches fish which do not want to be caught. Conversely,
Wright expresses her acceptance of the lifecycle as she states in 'Woman to Child' "Out of darkness
rose the seed. / Then all a world I made in me" and "I am the stem that fed the fruit,/ the link that
joins you to the night." Thereby, through employing nature imagery, Wright demonstrates the
serenity and naturalness with which she regards death, just as the death and regeneration of plants is
natural. Additionally, the imagery of darkness is portrayed in a positive sense as the gift of her

Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton
" Confessional Poets" Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) and Anne Sexton (1928–1974) both explored similar
themes such as tone, structure, and symbolism. Many of their poems were cries for help, which
resulted into metal illness, depression, and suicide. In 1958, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath met, and
much to their surprise had a few things in common. They both were fascinated with death and
suicide. Both Sexton's and Plath's poetry are considered as confessional poetry in which they were
very honest, depressed, and had suicidal or homicidal tendencies. Sylvia and Anne's views on what
happened in their life and on independence, are what nearly separates them from other confessional
poets. Sexton and Plath's poetry range over a variety of topics such as death, suicide, rage, and
mourning. They both utilize a convincing use of symbolism, deep image, metaphors, and
soul–searching. Plath's "The Colossus", "Full Fathom Five", "Daddy", and Sexton's "And one for
My Dame" and "All My Pretty Ones", are very enraged and different feminist perspectives, giving
different views on the relationships with a father and a husband. Inspired by their true–life
memories, Plath and Sexton explore a variety of themes in their poems. They both have different
aspects of the relationship between a father and a daughter. The fathers in Sexton and Plath's life had
a major position and made an influence on their life and in their

Sylvia Plath Research Paper
The Life of Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was a very dedicated author who lived from 1932–1963. She is best known for her
poetry. Plath started writing and was a published poet at a very young age. According to
Encyclopedia Britannica, Plath's first poem was published when she was eight years old.
"Plath's poems explore her own mental anguish, her troubled marriage to fellow poet Ted
Hughes, her unresolved conflicts with her parents, and her own vision of herself"(Poetry
Foundation). Plath was a devoted English student in high school. She performed so well in
English that she was awarded a merit scholarship for Smith College where, eventually, she went on
to pursue a degree in English. She was often referred to as "The Golden Girl" by her professors and
her peers. It is also a well–known fact that she struggled immensely with depression. Some setbacks
with her mental health forced her to take a break from college and graduate a year late. She
eventually graduated from Smith College with highest honors in English. She took time off of
school because she suffered from a mental breakdown. She had disappeared for a few days and was
found close to death. She had attempted suicide and was hospitalized immediately. Several years
and many attempts later, Plath was successful in taking her own life at the young age of 30. Plath's
constant struggle with depression showed up in her poems time and time again. Her writing very
clearly reflected off of her life. Sylvia Plath lived a life

Essay on Analysis of Daddy by Sylvia Plath
Analysis of Daddy by Sylvia Plath In the poem "Daddy," Sylvia Plath describes her true feelings
about her deceased father. Throughout the dialogue, the reader can find many instances that
illustrate a great feeling of hatred toward the author's father. She begins by expressing her fears of
her father and how he treated her. Subsequently she conveys her outlook on the wars being fought
in Germany. She continues by explaining her life since her father and how it has related to him. In
the first stanza the reader realizes that Sylvia Plath is scared of her father. It is quite clear that she
never spoke up to him to defend herself. In the first line it is apparent that something is ending.
"You do not do, you do not do any more,...show more content...
"In 1940, Otto developed a sore on his toe and ignored the condition until gangrene overtook the
toe and he was hospitalized. Doctors performed surgery, but it was too late. Otto's toe was
amputated in hopes of saving him. Sylvia's father passed away in November, 1940." (Butscher)
The next passage, "And a head in the freakish Atlantic where it pours bean green over blue, in the
waters off beautiful Nauset." describes how Sylvia felt when she heard of her fathers' infection
in his foot. She thinks of it in a kind of hideous way that makes her sick. "I used to pray to recover
you. Ach, du," shows me that she still cared about her father and prayed for him while he was ill.
It is amazing that even though she knew her father didn't care for her, Sylvia still cared enough
for him to worry. But he still didn't care that she worried. The passage "In the German tongue, in
the Polish town scraped flat by the roller of wars, wars, wars,"shows the plot of the poem, where
everything took place. This also hints on the period in history when this happened, however, it
doesn't tell us exactly. In the following stanza it explains further. "But the name of the town is
common. My Polack friend says there are a dozen or two. So I never could tell where you put your
foot, your root, I never could talk to you." This tells me that she is looking for where he is from.
She doesn't exactly know where he was raised or what his background is because there are many
towns

Daddy By Sylvia Plath Essay
In Sylvia Plath's free verse poem "Daddy", the speaker, assumingly a female, kills their father's
memory through a metaphorical murder. Plath employs multiple themes, dark and violent imagery
as well as war to emphasize the speakers internal struggle with her father and his memory. Plath
incorporates multiple themes within her poem to highlight the someone to social issues occurring
at the time it was written as well as emphasize the nature of her relationship with her father.
Freedom and confinement a prominent subjects in Plath's piece. In the first stanza, the speaker
describes her father as a black shoe. She describes herself as having "lived like a foot For thirty
years, poor and white, Barely daring to breathe or Achoo."(1.3–5). From the very opening of the
poem, Plath gives an impression on confinement. The speaker is confined by her father and his
memory. In stanzas 13 and 14, the speakers says that even years after his death, she still remains
confined by his memory by marrying a man that reminds her of him. This man is described as a
vampire, one that drank...show more content...
During the 1960's there was a strong Feminist movement in America. Plath committed suicide in
the 1963(BostonGlobe.com). The speaker is entrapped by her father as a child, and even when
he passes she remains trapped by his memory. As an adult, she is overpowered by a husband that
drains the life from her. However, by the close of the poem, the speaker has broken free from both
of these suppressive males. She is not allowing herself to be dictated by either of these men any
longer. Mortality is also a defined aspect to the speaker's story. The epicentre of the poem is
illustrated in the first two lines of the second stanza with two contradictory statements. "Daddy, I
have had to kill you. You died before I had time––"(2.1–2). This paradox is the reason for poem. The
speaker's father has died and she cannot emotional confront and handle his

Theme Of Death In Sylvia Plath's Colossus
Maria Ponn Sindhuja. P
II MA English Literature
PG & Research Department of English
Holy Cross College
Trichy – 620002
Theme of Death in Sylvia Plath's Edge and Lady Lazarus Sylvia Plath was born in Boston. Her
first collection of poems, Colossus, was published in England in the year 1960 and two years later
in the United States. Her marriage was a failure and Ted Hughes, her husband left her in the year
1962. In deep depression, Plath wrote most of her poems that comprised her most famous book Ariel.
On 11th February 1963, Plath wrote a note to her neighbour instructing him to call the doctor. Then
she committed suicide using her gas oven. Plath's poetry is often related with the confessional
movement. Although only Colossus was published when she was alive, Plath was a fertile writer,
and in addition to Ariel Hughes published three other volumes of her works, including The Collected
Poems, which was the recipient of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize. Death is a ubiquitous reality in Plath's
poetry and manifests in different ways. The void created by the death of her father could be seen in
some of her poems. In Full Fathom Five she speaks about his death, burial and mourning. In
Colossus she tries in vain to put him back together again and make him speak. In Daddy she goes
further in...show more content...
Here also death is not shown as an end. It is portrayed as a challenge. The poem begins with a
confident or rather accomplished tone. The poet says, "I have done it again". This means that it not
the first time the task is being done. But the task is unknown to the reader in the beginning. The title
is an insinuation to the Biblical character, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. The
interpretation of the poem suggests that it is about multiple suicide attempts. She explains how she
has recovered from her suicide. However the recovery is not celebrated, rather considered being a
failure. Here suicide attempts are considered as

Sylvia Plath Essay
Sylvia Plath was a troubled writer to say the least, not only did she endure the loss of her father a
young age but she later on "attempted suicide at her home and was hospitalized, where she
underwent psychiatric treatment" for her depression (Dunn). Writing primarily as a poet, she only
ever wrote a single novel, The Bell Jar. This fictional autobiography "[chronicles] the circumstances
of her mental collapse and subsequent suicide attempt" but from the viewpoint of the fictional
protagonist, Esther Greenwood, who suffers the same loss and challenges as Plath (Allen 890). Due
to the novel's strong resemblance to Plath's own history it was published under the pseudonym
"Victoria Lucas". In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath expresses the...show more content...
The pain and trauma that stem from Esther's illness have warped her view of the world around her.
However, this symbol also represents the pressures put on women in the 1950s to be what was
considered ideal for women during this era. The bell jar "suggests more than Esther's inner alienated
world", it also "signifies society which destroys Esther" and "symbolizes 'scientific punishment' for
non–conformists" (Evans 105). She "must combat the additional alienation of being an aspiring
woman in an era of strict limitations for women" which only hinders her further from her goals in
life (Axelrod). While many women at the time planned on marrying and settling down, Esther does
not view these expectations for women in the same way and instead wishes to be her own
independent person. While working as the guest editor of Mademoiselle, a fashion magazine, Esther
"suffocates under the bell jar forced on her by a competitive, male–oriented society"(Evans 105).
During the fifties women were not expected to have successful careers in general and the male
dominant world held a high level of competition; while trying to come out on top in this society
Esther ends up cracking under the intense pressure. Representing both the stifling social limits set on
women and the protagonist's dismal mental state, the bell jar is a robust symbol in this novel. Using
an atypical heroine, Plath adroitly

Research Paper On Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath's Life Shown in Her Work Sylvia Plath is often described as a feminist poet who
wrote about the difficulties women faced before women's right were a mainstream idea. From
reading her poetry, it is quite obvious that Plath's feminism is extremely important to her, but she
also wrote about a lot of day to day experiences and made them significant through her use of
literary devices such as metaphors and symbols. Plath may also be best known for her
autobiographical poetry written in a confessional style that appeared during the 1950s. She is
considered a very important poet of the post–World War II era. She became widely known following
her suicide in 1963 (Bawer). Through Sylvia Plath's poetry, readers are able to get a glimpse into
her personal life. The particular time and place in which she wrote her poetry, the death of her
father, her failed marriage, her battle with depression and others who influenced her all lead to the
writing of some of her most cherished works. By examining the works and events in the life of
Sylvia Plath, readers are able to get a better understanding of her work and her as a woman in the era
that she lived in. Born in 1932, Plath grew up in an educational family environment in Winthrop
Massachusetts, which was a fitting childhood home for a poet whose words are more intensely
chilling than almost any other (Round). Plath would, later on, dedicate a poem to Winthrop and the
surrounding areas called "Point Shirley". Through the poem,

In 1963 on a cold winter day of February 11th, Sylvia Plath ended her life. She had plugged up her
kitchen, sealing up the cracks in doors and windows before she was found with her head inside of
her gas oven inhaling the dangerous fumes. She was only thirty years old, a young woman with two
small children and an estranged ex–husband. A tragic detail of her life is that this is the second time
she had tried to commit suicide. Plagued with mental illness her whole life, which is evident
within her poetry. She would write gripping, honest portrayals of mental illnesses. Especially
within Ariel, the last poetry book she wrote, right before she took her life. Although it's hard to
find a proper diagnosis for Sylvia Plath, it is almost definite that she at least had clinical depression
with her numerous suicide attempts and stays in mental hospitals undergoing electroshock therapy.
Sylvia Plath is now famously known for her writing and the more tragic parts of her life. Such as
the separation from her husband, Ted Hughes, mental illness, etc... Plath may not have intended for
her life and art to become inspiration to many people but that has become the end result. Sylvia
Plath writing shows symptoms of her suicidal thoughts. To study specific moments in Sylvia Plath's
life, it can be connected to certain writing's of her's, such as "Daddy", The Bell Jar, and "Lady
Lazarus".October 27th in 1932, Sylvia Plath was born, to parents Otto Plath and Aurelia Schober
Plath. One of the

Sylvia Plath Metaphors Essay
A writer may use poetry as a way to release his or her emotions without directly stating how he or
she may feel and why. Poets use elements of literature such as metaphors and symbolism to draw the
attention of their readers to specific meanings that lie within the poem. For example, Sylvia Plath –a
noted poet of the mid–20th century– grossly uses metaphors and symbolism to denote her own
emotions. Metaphors grab attention by connecting two opposing components while symbolism is
used to convey deeper meaning than the words themselves could alone. Plath often intertwined the
two as a way to pull focus to the message of her poem. To further elaborate how the use of
metaphors and symbolism can convey a much deeper meaning we are going to analyze the poems of
one particular poet that utilizes the elements...show more content...
Plath uses the components of symbolism and metaphors to create depth in her works of literature.
For example, Plath's poem "Tulips" can be perceived to illustrate the dismay she felt for the loss of
her unborn child. In "Tulips" Plath writes, "They have propped my head between the pillow and the
sheet–cuff–Like an eye between two white lids that will not shut." Plath is using a metaphor to
refer to herself as a trait on the human body that is not correlated with the emotions a human may
feel. With the use of a metaphor she is drawing the reader in to analyze what message she is
incorporating into the line. Again, in "Tulips" Plath writes, "My body is a pebble to them, they tend
it as water–Tends to the pebbles it must run over, smoothing them gently." In these lines, Plath is
exemplifying that she does not have emotional attachments to the individuals that tend to her, again
utilizing the use metaphors to constrict attention to the

Sylvia Plath Essay

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Sylvia Plath Essay