Sylvia Plath's poetry

REFLECTION
1. into herself as a mother, lover,daughter,wife
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
1. vulnerability
2. confessional poetry- private trauma that can also be representative of universal human experience
EXPLORATION OF THEMES
STYLE AND VIEWPOINT
1. LANGUAGE
  1. energetic, intense-(emotionally and intellectually),forceful,
2. IMAGERY
  1. nature, mirrors, darkness and light(contrast)
3. SOUND
  1. used by plath to convey the experience
1.CHILD
1. plath speaking about how she wants to provide her child with all the good things in the world
  1. life she feels should be full of wonder and joy - the child has not yet been tarnished by lies experiences
    1. strong contrast in the last stanza - "pool in which images should be grand and classical ..not this dark ceiling without a star
2.MIRROR
1. describing the pressure that plath felt to look good as a young woman in the 60's
  1. the mirror is the speaker in the poem and it speaks about how true it is
    1. unlike candle light or the moon
    2. image of the woman's youth drowning in the mirror as she visits it everyday with hands wringing
  2. reminds us of our own mortality- time passing
3.PHEASANT
1. celebrates the natural world i.e. greatly contrasting with many of her poems
  1. plath is fascinated by the pheasant and is trying to justify why her husband shouldn't kill it (TENSE)
    1. Plath feels as though she is the one that is intruding on the pheasants space - " i trespass stupidly"
  2. its uniqueness a reason why it should live
  3. becomes a source of inspiration for plath as she thinks about what it would be like to have hundreds of birds
4.POPPIES IN JULY
1. written during a troublesome period of her marriage in 1962- CONFESSIONAL account of her own experiences without a filter
  1. the flowers take on a dark and sinister quality which is unexpected from the title
    1. plath describes the poppies as the flames of hell and is dissapoiinted when she finds out they cannot hurt her
      1. reference to blood - suggests recent violence and suffering
      2. plath searches for the opiates that poppies produce to tranquillise her and allow her to feel unconscious
        dark , pessimistic ending can be viewed as a cry for help
    2. self destructive tendencies
5.THE ARRIVAL OF THE BEE BOX
1. written in 1962 shortly after her separation from husband Ted Hughes
2. DEEPLY personal poem that explores order, power, control, confinement and freedom
  1. CONTROL: I ordered this
  2. DANGER: the box is locked it is dangerous
    1. claustrophobic feeling of being inside the box "black on black, angrily clambering"
  3. POWER: plath doubts her ability to control the bees " i am not a caesar"
3. plaths father was a bee expert and she and ted had recently taken up bee keeping
  1. Awestruck by the collective force of the bees
    1. Image of death - reminding us of her dark thoughts and deciding to let the bees free
  2. NOTE : poem can be read on another level and the box could represent plath and all her negative thoughts
    1. HER BODY is only temporary in this case

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Sylvia Plath's poetry

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	Creado por Stacey O Carroll hace casi 8 años