Of Poetry And Death - Decoding Sylvia Plath

Literature and Psychology explores the relationships between text and reader as well as relationships within the text, with particular emphasis on emotion/affect. One central thematic focus of the course, in addition to affect, will be trauma–an experience of maximal affect and long term disruption. Whether we read to escape, to discover or even to fulfill requirements, we have a purpose, a motive, and more than likely some expectations. Moreover, we have a number of years of existence during which time we have adopted a large variety of rules, and we are likely to apply those rules to any new system we encounter. Generally speaking ,Sylvia Plath is one of those feminists who have sought to represent the suffering of women in a particular world. Focusing on feminist issues through the lens of her own experience, she was equally driven by a desire to achieve this while coping with a desperate lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. The loss of her father at an early age contributed to her fears of abandonment and insecurity. The point that will receive much emphasis throughout the present paper is her psychological state and its drastic consequences. Nearly all her poems convey a sense of melancholy, gloom and death. In a case like this, poetry is a kind of temporary bulwark against mounting despair and pain.

Journal of University of Garmian, 2020

One of the most outstanding poets, novelists and short story writers in American literature is Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). A confessional poet whose texts are genuine in style and subject matter. Death is a dominant theme in the poetry of Sylvia Plath. She had dealt with this topic from various perspectives. Her father's death left her dejected. Besides, her husband's betrayal made her more forlorn and desperate. All of these events in her life caused her mental state disorder and this is clear in the poems I chose to analyze, "Daddy", "Lady Lazarus", and "Edge". This paper examines Plath's depiction of death in her poetry and the illustration of death related to her biography. It also aims at presenting the existence of death in her life and the absence of the fear of death in her poetry as well; which is her observation of death. Moreover, it will examine how Sylvia Plath"s mental state did affect her works and how it is important for the reader to know the background of Sylvia Plath to understand her works. Hence, the paper will start with introducing her style of writing. Then, the paper analyzes the selected poems accordingly. For this purpose, the paper will give a deep dive into the selected poems of the poet"s posthumously poem collection book "Ariel", and conclude the overall picture of each poem for better understanding the reasons behind the poet"s behaviors. Finally, the paper concludes the findings of the study.

The study of literature, nowadays, has shifted the focus, from the

2006

The aim of this article is to give an insight into the use of the echo or repetition in the poetry of the American poet Sylvia Plath. The echo or repetition covers most of the poems of the poetic volume Ariel, but many questions arise on the use of this technique by Plath. There are different opposing viewpoints that discuss the fact if this technique was used deliberately or not. The reason of using it is most appropriately given by the psychological approach. According to Freud's case-stories, in "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", repetitions are done unconsciously and are related to isolation. In most of her poems Plath shows the speaker entrapped in the cage of her mind and in the state of a child, this is also shown by the fact that she continuously repeats words or phrases. Plath, herself, was very addicted to Freud and Jung and very often found herself in their case-stories. Repetitions are mostly used during the last years of Plath's life during which she became one with the speaker of her poems and this was a way of expressing and controlling her anger in the "shriek" poems. This technique is part of the rebirth and transcendence poems, which are symbols of repetition.

International Journal of Advanced Research, 2019

This paper aims at the concept of Feminism in the select poems of Sylvia Plath. It analyses Plath's poems Mushrooms, Daddy and Lady Lazarus in the context of the second wave of feminism. She never considered herself a feminist. In her poems she criticized the predicament of women in 1950's. The present paper analyses her select poems in terms of sexuality, family and search for identity. These are the main issues of the second wave of feminism. The main aim of this paper is to find out to what extent Plath's work corresponds to the principles of the second wave of feminism in 1960's.

SSB, 2019

Sylvia Plath's distinction as one of the most captivating and heart-rending women writers of the 20th century is well-known, as is the work which won her literary respect and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982. Plath is also hailed as a leading figure of the confessional poetry movement and an important feminist writer. The aim of this paper is to study the elements of second wave feminism and emotional bankruptcy in Sylvia Plath's selected poems and works. It examines Plath's poems The Applicant, Daddy and Lady Lazarus in the context of the second wave of feminism. Though she never considered herself a feminist, her poems reverberate with criticism and dislike of the predicament of women in 1950's.

Virtutis Incunabula, 2016

This study is a descriptive literary analysis aimed to appreciate and evaluate the four selected poems of American author Sylvia Plath using the Psychoanalytic Approach in literary criticism. The said approach in evaluating and interpreting literature is based on the theories of Psychoanalysis founded by Sigmund Freud, as well as from other theories from other schools of thought in psychology. The poems, chosen based on the publication and creation dates, underwent literary analysis and criticism using the Psycho-criticism model of Charles Mauron. The said process includes close reading of the materials, locating symbolisms and metaphors, interpreting symbols akin to a dream-like sequence, juxtaposing symbols and literary devices, and synthesizing common and recurring themes. Another methodology used in the study is the process of three C's for data analysis by Marilyn Lichtman. The process mentioned above synthesized the recurring and common themes of the selected poems. Description, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and interpretation were conducted using quantitative data derived from Plath's posthumously published poetry anthology, Ariel. The analysis showed the author's creative process as strong implications of Electra complex, manifestations of fear and desire concealed through symbolisms and metaphors, and obvious tendencies to feminism. Further recommendations for the study include analysis of local and contemporary authors and a sample lesson plan in teaching literature while integrating behavioral and humanistic studies. The study advocates a more in-depth understanding of how literature works in a psychological point of view, a more humanistic view in interpreting and appreciating literary works, and an opportunity for an inter-disciplinary approach in research.

DIVERSIFYING FEMINISMS IN THE LITERARY WORLD, 2023

Within the framework of Feminist Psychoanalysis of Julia Kristeva, this study aims to trace the subversive feminist pattern of the daughter-speaker within the selected poetry of Sylvia Plath. Puzzling the conventional patriarchal myths on such concepts as femininity and maternity, Plath’s poetry adroitly denounces the so-called values of universality and constructed reality of the patriarchal discourse; meanwhile, she also reveals her poetic pursuit for non-patriarchal and non-hierarchal paths instead of these covenants. Her poetry basically rejects any idea of self which is preestablished, stable and stagnant. Emphasizing the absence of female subjectivity and experience within patriarchal domains, her poetry signals the disturbed mother-daughter relationship as a crucial dimension of this denial. Her poems usually expose the tendency of her poetic persona to go back to the semiotic order, where the daughter is peacefully united and bonded with the maternal figure without the thread of the symbolic order, where the patriarchal codes rest. Consequently, through her poetry, Plath’s poetical persona usually reveals a poetical pattern of attitude that casts a strong resistance to the language, the Name of the Father, the symbolic order and the pre-set rules, which altogether seem to encapsulate her own existence. Then, Plath’s daughter-speaker makes use of the very same language, which initially had persecuted and devoured her, in order to persecute both the father, the symbolic order and eventually death, therein her persona turns out to be self-destructive. Thus, her speaker sometimes goes as extreme as figuratively killing the father, as seen in “Daddy”. All the same, it is not only the father figure that is counter-attacked, but also the language of the father, the symbolic order and the violence it casts are also confronted with the similar degree of ferocity. In this way, Plath’s poetic persona makes use of the persecuting apparatus in metaphorically murdering the demonic father and ‘the vampire’, the father-like husband and eventually the patriarchy and the language in which she is made create her art of dying. Furthermore, these Kristevan concepts of resisting and attacking the language of the father and the paternal discourse and also persecuting the persecutor through its own apparatus, are also intensified by the interrupted Electra complex and unaccomplished mourning processes of Plath’s poetic persona. Inevitably, as she resists and then attacks on the symbolic order through its own means and casts a return to the semiotic order and the womb in order to get united with the mother, Plath’s daughter-speaker turns out to be self-destructive in achieving this impossible mission. Relatedly, this study aims to trace and analyze this subversive Kristevan pattern of Plath’s poetical persona meticulous woven in her ‘Art of Dying’, her confessional and suicidal canvas of poetry. To this end, through their dominant theme of ‘resisting and then persecuting the persecutor’, Plath’s “Daddy”, “Lady Lazarus” and “Medusa” will be psychoanalyzed within the context of Kristevan Feminist Psychoanalysis. Keywords: Confessional Poetry, Sylvia Plath, Feminist Psychoanalysis, Julia Kristeva.

University of Karbala , 2020

The present article is to appear the Sylvia Plath‟s psychological traumas in light of the psychological analysis theory, and how they reflected in some of her confessional poems. The article is divided into two divisions: First one is the psychological dilemmas because of traumas, male dominance, and social pressures. The second is public disclosure of her controversial circumstances and her desire to commit suicide repeatedly. The study emerges Freud‟s interpretation of Electra complex and the congruence with the case of Silvia Plath. According to Ted Hughes, she uses autobiographical details in her poetry more figuratively than Robert Lowell (1917-1977) who does in his works. Plath's confessionalism was clearly expressed in her famous poems just like "Daddy", "Electra on Azalea Path" "Tulips", "Lady Lazarus", and "Full Fathom Five" which are explained and covered in this paper to reflect also the dominance of men and her passion towards her father at the same time. Finally, a conclusion is summed up the results at the end of this study.

Sylvia Plath’s poetry has been a widely discussed subject ever since her death and the posthumous release of her final collection of poems, Ariel. As Linda Wagner-Martin notes: Ted Hughes' releasing of his version of the collection, started the “cult of Plath.” (Wagner-Martin, 1999: X) This is a most fitting statement, as her poetry is often read through a biographical approach, trying to find the person Sylvia Plath in her work. It is a culturally constructed search for a unique author, trying to force an imaginary person upon the text. One of the most susceptible poems is “Lady Lazarus”, part of Ariel and the famous “October Poems.” However, a fully biographical reading of the poetry will not do justice to the multiple layers of meaning to be found in these texts. The following paper will make an attempt in reading Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” under the aspect of “the author.” The assumption is that while the poem invites a biographical reading due to its theme of suicide and depression, it ultimately tries to accomplish the very opposite task, actively defying the construction of a genuine author. By utilizing Roland Barthes' ideas in his influential essay “Death of the Author” as the theoretical basis, the narrative structure of the poem will be analyzed to understand how exactly the author as a real existence is negated and instead deconstructed. Emphasis will be put on the Holocaust imagery Plath makes repeated use of. Furthermore, an analysis of the spaces represented in “Lady Lazarus” through Michel Foucault’s “On Other Spaces” will extend the motif of the imaginary author onto a spatial level. The last chapter will negotiate in how far Sylvia Plath’s poem can be read as “Camp” when being analyzed under the theoretical idea of the “death of the author.” Beforehand, the initial chapter will make a short attempt in reading the poem biographically, trying to find Sylvia Plath in the figure of Lady Lazarus. It will give insight into why such a reading might be easy to accomplish, eventually though fails to capture the various levels of meaning and inconsistency. As Susan Gubar notes: “Plath's poetry broods upon […] the contamination of the very idea of the genuine.” (Gubar, 2007: 181)