Sylvia Plath has become a highly acclaimed poet. Many consider her as a feminist, to have a husband-wife relationship with her father. Sylvia Plath was a depressed and troubled being throughout her lifetime and wrote many poems. Her poems consist of a variety of topics that reflect her depression, bees, her father, and different events in her life. Most of these poems contain a wide range of imagery that is necessary to help portray her message. Throughout most of her poems Sylvia Plath gives someone or something a sense of power or powerlessness. Plath gives insects a sense of powerlessness in the poems titled The Swarm, Stings, and The Colossus because of the types of comparisons that are made and the feelings toward the speaker of the poems.
In Stings, the speaker is the bee. Sylvia Plath gives the bee a sense of powerlessness, because of what the speaker says. In stanza 5, lives 22-25 the poem states, “Honey-drudgers, I am no drudge, Though for years I have eaten dust, And dried plates with my dense hair.” Here, the bee is given a sense of worthlessness because the bee eats dust, and the bee is “no drudge”. Here, there is a comparison between the speaker, the bee and Sylvia’s constant references to “These women who only scurry”. Earlier in the poem, in stanza 4, it is stated, “If there is, she is old, Her wings torn shawls, her long body, Rubbed of its plush--- Poor and bare and unqueenly and even shameful. I stand in a column. Here, Plath gives the queen bee less power, because the speaker is unable to tell whether there is a queen or not. Later on in the poem, we see that the speaker is given some power because the bee is trying to “Have a self to recover, a queen.”
In the Swarm, there is a big comparison between the bees and the imagery of warfare. The bees are looked upon as the ones who have to retreat, they are looked upon as dumb, and eventually this leads to their downfall. First, the bees are being shot upon, as mentioned in line 19, “It must be shot down. Pom! Pom!” Secondly the bees are portrayed as without any sense when in live 20, it is stated, “So dumb it thinks bullets are thunder.” This ultimately forces a comparison between Napoleon because while he won some of the smaller battles for France, he was exiled from the country of which he was everything for. We see that the bees twice are seventy feet high, and in line 26, “The bees have come so far.” Again this makes a similar comparison indicating they have gotten far, but have not succeeded. Eventually, we see the bees just like many countries that have failed in war, when in line 37, it is stated “Pom! Pom! They fall.” This also makes a comparison with the fact that when bees sting, they immediately die.
Lastly, in the poem Colossus, we see a sense of powerlessness in the speaker once again. The speaker is Sylvia Plath. Throughout the poem we see that she not only gives herself less power, but also forces less power on the insect, the ant. Plath makes a metaphor between herself and the insect when she states in line 12, “I crawl like an ant in mourning, over the weedy acres of your brow.” By giving herself a small figure and role in the world, she makes a comparison because of its own diminutive stature.
Overall, Plath’s display of imagery and feelings of the speaker help give the reader an image of powerlessness for the insects in her poems. In other poems she compares different types of imagery to the image of powerlessness, which makes her poems even more interesting. Along with that she ties in some of the happenings and her suicidal attempts as well. All in all, Sylvia gives many persons and objects less authority, such as insects.
Word Count: 663
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Niko Perez
Holocaust Imagery in Sylvia Plath Poetry
Throughout many of Sylvia Plath’s poems holocaust imagery is used to convey different themes. Plath uses holocaust imagery in the poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” to express her suffering, her feelings towards her father, and her sense of entrapment. The use of holocaust imagery in Sylvia Plath’s poetry is one of the factors that make her poems so great.
One of Plath’s most common uses of holocaust imagery is to show her suffering. She uses the Jews suffering during the holocaust as an analogy for her own plight. For example in her poem “Lady Lazarus” Plath writes, “My Skin / Bright as a Nazi lampshade” (4-5). This is a reference to Nazi lampshades which were supposedly made from the skin of murdered Jews. Plath compares her own suffering to being skinned alive and used as a lampshade.
Plath also uses holocaust imagery to express her feelings towards her father. In the poem “Daddy” Plath compares herself to a Jew and her father to a Nazi German, by saying “I think I may well be a Jew” (35), and “ I thought every German was you” ( 29). Plath uses holocaust imagery to show how tortured she felt by her father.
A third and final way that Plath uses holocaust imagery is to show her sense of entrapment. The holocaust imagery in “Daddy” is used extensively to express Sylvia’s belief that she is trapped and powerless, with no control over her own life. One example of this is on line 26 of “Daddy” “I’m Stuck in a Barbwire Snare,” This is a good metaphor about how Sylvia felt about her life. Plath also wrote, “An engine / chuffing me off like a Jew” (”Daddy” 31-32). Plath felt like she was being forced to conform to what society wanted her to be, and that she had no choice in the matter, like a Jew being chuffed off to Auschwitz.
Using holocaust imagery was a very powerful way for Plath to convey what she felt. She used holocaust imagery as a form of hyperbole, to show just how important certain issues were to her. The use of holocaust imagery in Plath’s poem greatly enhances the readers understanding of how Plath felt when she wrote her poetry.
Throughout many of Sylvia Plath’s poems holocaust imagery is used to convey different themes. Plath uses holocaust imagery in the poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” to express her suffering, her feelings towards her father, and her sense of entrapment. The use of holocaust imagery in Sylvia Plath’s poetry is one of the factors that make her poems so great.
One of Plath’s most common uses of holocaust imagery is to show her suffering. She uses the Jews suffering during the holocaust as an analogy for her own plight. For example in her poem “Lady Lazarus” Plath writes, “My Skin / Bright as a Nazi lampshade” (4-5). This is a reference to Nazi lampshades which were supposedly made from the skin of murdered Jews. Plath compares her own suffering to being skinned alive and used as a lampshade.
Plath also uses holocaust imagery to express her feelings towards her father. In the poem “Daddy” Plath compares herself to a Jew and her father to a Nazi German, by saying “I think I may well be a Jew” (35), and “ I thought every German was you” ( 29). Plath uses holocaust imagery to show how tortured she felt by her father.
A third and final way that Plath uses holocaust imagery is to show her sense of entrapment. The holocaust imagery in “Daddy” is used extensively to express Sylvia’s belief that she is trapped and powerless, with no control over her own life. One example of this is on line 26 of “Daddy” “I’m Stuck in a Barbwire Snare,” This is a good metaphor about how Sylvia felt about her life. Plath also wrote, “An engine / chuffing me off like a Jew” (”Daddy” 31-32). Plath felt like she was being forced to conform to what society wanted her to be, and that she had no choice in the matter, like a Jew being chuffed off to Auschwitz.
Using holocaust imagery was a very powerful way for Plath to convey what she felt. She used holocaust imagery as a form of hyperbole, to show just how important certain issues were to her. The use of holocaust imagery in Plath’s poem greatly enhances the readers understanding of how Plath felt when she wrote her poetry.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Mirela Shendrya
Sylvia Otto Fix It: An Analysis of Repair Imagery
Often times many daughters seek to have a close relationship with their fathers. Very much the same, Sylvia Plath had an extremely close relationship with her father. Sylvia and Otto had a husband-wife routine which suggested an oedipal relationship. In 1940 Otto Plath died, when Sylvia was only eight, as a result of untreated diabetes. She underwent much frustration and discontent at her father’s departure. Sylvia’s poems often times depicted her father as strict, and authoritarian. In both of the following poems the central characters are her father and herself. In the poems “Daddy” and “Colossus” Plath uses repair imagery to show her feeling toward her father and the frustration she went through.
Through using repair imagery in her poems she is able to portray the feelings she had. While in the “Colossus” she writes of putting back together one of the wonders of the world, the Colossus or her father, in “Daddy” Sylvia writes of others piecing her back together. In the “Colossus” she says “I shall never get you put together entirely, / Pieced, glued, and properly jointed”(1-2). Through this statement it is evident that Sylvia wants to bring Otto back, and is expressing a sentiment of longing to be back again with him. In “Daddy”, though she uses the same imagery to bring about a feeling of discontent. As she states that she wished to die and return to her father “but they pulled me out of the sack, and stuck me together with glue”(61-62). Plath uses references to glue in both occasions, and yet once it shows her desire to have someone back, and in the other a despise for the ones who tried to bring her back to life.
Plath further uses the same imagery to show her experience and the frustration she went through. In “Colossus”, the entire poem has a much more technical feel. Plath writes lines such as “dredge the silt from your throat”(9) and, “scaling little ladders with glue pots and pails of Lysol”(11). These tasks are ones that require lots of energy, and the ways they are presented seem immensely large, and eventually unable to be completed. Plath tries but her efforts in restoring the Colossus equal zero. This is where Sylvia’s frustration can be seen, in the fact that she just can’t seem to get her father back together; that it is a task to great for her. In “Daddy” the expression of frustration takes a slightly different path. “And they stuck me together with glue. / And then I knew what to do. / I made a model of you”(62-64). Since people kept rescuing Plath form her attempted suicides, and would not let her join her father, her alternative was to get married. Her husband in turn became the model f her father. In the need to fill the void of her father’s presence, her frustration resulted with a model, a marriage.
The imagery use in both of the poems is very beneficial o the overall understanding of the poems. In “The Colossus” the repair imagery is essential to create the mood of a repair site, which is ultimately hopeless, that the damage done is too great to restore. Besides that it helps the reader visualize what Plath was going through in a more practical manner. The structure itself of the Colossus allows the reader to see at what level Sylvia saw her father. Through this method she is capable of creating an over inflated image of Otto in the eyes if the reader and to accord him more importance than in reality. The overall tone of “Daddy” is much more pessimistic though, and minimizes her father, and degrades him to that of a Nazi, and herself to the position of a Jew. Sylvia views her father as a cruel German, because he deserted her and left her to be glued together by others. In “Daddy” without the repair imagery we would be missing Sylvia’s emotions about life and death, and particularly her father, whom she made a model of. Plath’s use of repair imagery is very successful and essential to these two poems.
word count:695
Often times many daughters seek to have a close relationship with their fathers. Very much the same, Sylvia Plath had an extremely close relationship with her father. Sylvia and Otto had a husband-wife routine which suggested an oedipal relationship. In 1940 Otto Plath died, when Sylvia was only eight, as a result of untreated diabetes. She underwent much frustration and discontent at her father’s departure. Sylvia’s poems often times depicted her father as strict, and authoritarian. In both of the following poems the central characters are her father and herself. In the poems “Daddy” and “Colossus” Plath uses repair imagery to show her feeling toward her father and the frustration she went through.
Through using repair imagery in her poems she is able to portray the feelings she had. While in the “Colossus” she writes of putting back together one of the wonders of the world, the Colossus or her father, in “Daddy” Sylvia writes of others piecing her back together. In the “Colossus” she says “I shall never get you put together entirely, / Pieced, glued, and properly jointed”(1-2). Through this statement it is evident that Sylvia wants to bring Otto back, and is expressing a sentiment of longing to be back again with him. In “Daddy”, though she uses the same imagery to bring about a feeling of discontent. As she states that she wished to die and return to her father “but they pulled me out of the sack, and stuck me together with glue”(61-62). Plath uses references to glue in both occasions, and yet once it shows her desire to have someone back, and in the other a despise for the ones who tried to bring her back to life.
Plath further uses the same imagery to show her experience and the frustration she went through. In “Colossus”, the entire poem has a much more technical feel. Plath writes lines such as “dredge the silt from your throat”(9) and, “scaling little ladders with glue pots and pails of Lysol”(11). These tasks are ones that require lots of energy, and the ways they are presented seem immensely large, and eventually unable to be completed. Plath tries but her efforts in restoring the Colossus equal zero. This is where Sylvia’s frustration can be seen, in the fact that she just can’t seem to get her father back together; that it is a task to great for her. In “Daddy” the expression of frustration takes a slightly different path. “And they stuck me together with glue. / And then I knew what to do. / I made a model of you”(62-64). Since people kept rescuing Plath form her attempted suicides, and would not let her join her father, her alternative was to get married. Her husband in turn became the model f her father. In the need to fill the void of her father’s presence, her frustration resulted with a model, a marriage.
The imagery use in both of the poems is very beneficial o the overall understanding of the poems. In “The Colossus” the repair imagery is essential to create the mood of a repair site, which is ultimately hopeless, that the damage done is too great to restore. Besides that it helps the reader visualize what Plath was going through in a more practical manner. The structure itself of the Colossus allows the reader to see at what level Sylvia saw her father. Through this method she is capable of creating an over inflated image of Otto in the eyes if the reader and to accord him more importance than in reality. The overall tone of “Daddy” is much more pessimistic though, and minimizes her father, and degrades him to that of a Nazi, and herself to the position of a Jew. Sylvia views her father as a cruel German, because he deserted her and left her to be glued together by others. In “Daddy” without the repair imagery we would be missing Sylvia’s emotions about life and death, and particularly her father, whom she made a model of. Plath’s use of repair imagery is very successful and essential to these two poems.
word count:695
Phil Stout
Sylvia Plath; Idealizing a Nazi day-dream
Both day-dreaming and idealization are defense mechanisms used by many people to cope with stress and their problems. Plath uses both these mechanisms in her life as can be seen clearly through her poetry. She often uses these two devices in conjunction to greatly overemphasize and exaggerate her problems to make them easier to accept. This over-exaggeration can be clearly seen by her use of holocaust imagery in Daddy and Lady Lazarus to compare her own problems to those faced during the holocaust to make them and herself more important.
Sylvia Plath uses lots of holocaust imagery to exaggerate and emphasize her problems with her deceased father in Daddy. Sylvia compares her father to Nazis throughout the holocaust by using this imagery. She does this to demonize her father and make him out to be the perpetrator of many crimes. However the only crime, which her father is responsible, however was dying at the hands of a disease, which fifty percent of its patients go, undiagnosed. By comparing her father to Nazis this shows that she blames him for dying and is comparing it to the atrocities committed during the holocaust. She then Makes herself out to be a Jew in the middle of the holocaust, as seen in this passage “A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belson/I began to talk like a Jew/I think I may well be a Jew.” she feels like she is being reduced to little more than the Jews at the death camps by her relationship with her father. This Idealization of the Jews is comparing her problems to theirs in an effort to make herself and her problems to be just as bad and important as those during the holocaust. Now by comparing herself to a Jew and her father to a Nazi she puts her father in a great position of power in this day dream of hers. This is seen in the passage “Every woman loves a fascist/The boot in the face the brute/The brute heart of a brute like you.” In this passage she is still in love with her father, the Nazi, however he holds all the power in the relationship by virtue of being a Nazi. This is similar to Plath’s real relationship with her father, because as he is deceased it is a completely one-sided relationship. This power over Plath follows her until her death. Sylvia Plath uses holocaust imagery in daddy to idealize herself and her father into the holocaust to compare, describe, and exaggerate the relationship she has with her father.
Holocaust imagery is used again in Lady Lazarus to idealize the cremated Jews to exaggerate her own suicide attempts and to imagine revenge on those who would drive her to those ends. Silvia compares herself in her suicide attempts to Jews ready for cremation as seen in this passage “I am your valuable/The pure gold baby/That melts to a shriek.” In this she describes herself as someone of great importance who would be cremated wrongly. This is also saying she feels pressured by someone else or the world to commit suicide. By thinking that someone else is forcing her to commit suicide it makes it easier for her to go through with. She also compares herself with the cremated Jews and compares the forces pushing her to commit suicide to an examiner waiting for her death as seen in this passage “Ash, Ash---/You poke and stir/Flesh, bone there is nothing there.” This reflects her belief that she is completely innocent and had nothing to do with her suicide attempts and that it was all from outside influences, an interesting day-dream. Finally she compares the people who pushed her to commit suicide to the devil. “Herr god, Herr Lucifer/Beware, Beware.” She then tells those who she believes pushed her to attempt suicide to beware, as she will make an effigy of them in words. Sylvia path uses holocaust imagery again to idealize the Jews and compare her problem to hers in a fantastical day-dream about herself as Jew of her suicide attempts being forced upon her like the cremation of Jews.
Silvia Plath uses holocaust imagery to exaggerate her problems by idealizing Jews during the holocaust in fantastical day-dreams if the holocaust. By seeing this it lets the readers see the things she truly deemed important. Though by realizing this though, readers cab sift through her poetry by keeping in mind she is using imagery like this to purposely exaggerate her problems
Both day-dreaming and idealization are defense mechanisms used by many people to cope with stress and their problems. Plath uses both these mechanisms in her life as can be seen clearly through her poetry. She often uses these two devices in conjunction to greatly overemphasize and exaggerate her problems to make them easier to accept. This over-exaggeration can be clearly seen by her use of holocaust imagery in Daddy and Lady Lazarus to compare her own problems to those faced during the holocaust to make them and herself more important.
Sylvia Plath uses lots of holocaust imagery to exaggerate and emphasize her problems with her deceased father in Daddy. Sylvia compares her father to Nazis throughout the holocaust by using this imagery. She does this to demonize her father and make him out to be the perpetrator of many crimes. However the only crime, which her father is responsible, however was dying at the hands of a disease, which fifty percent of its patients go, undiagnosed. By comparing her father to Nazis this shows that she blames him for dying and is comparing it to the atrocities committed during the holocaust. She then Makes herself out to be a Jew in the middle of the holocaust, as seen in this passage “A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belson/I began to talk like a Jew/I think I may well be a Jew.” she feels like she is being reduced to little more than the Jews at the death camps by her relationship with her father. This Idealization of the Jews is comparing her problems to theirs in an effort to make herself and her problems to be just as bad and important as those during the holocaust. Now by comparing herself to a Jew and her father to a Nazi she puts her father in a great position of power in this day dream of hers. This is seen in the passage “Every woman loves a fascist/The boot in the face the brute/The brute heart of a brute like you.” In this passage she is still in love with her father, the Nazi, however he holds all the power in the relationship by virtue of being a Nazi. This is similar to Plath’s real relationship with her father, because as he is deceased it is a completely one-sided relationship. This power over Plath follows her until her death. Sylvia Plath uses holocaust imagery in daddy to idealize herself and her father into the holocaust to compare, describe, and exaggerate the relationship she has with her father.
Holocaust imagery is used again in Lady Lazarus to idealize the cremated Jews to exaggerate her own suicide attempts and to imagine revenge on those who would drive her to those ends. Silvia compares herself in her suicide attempts to Jews ready for cremation as seen in this passage “I am your valuable/The pure gold baby/That melts to a shriek.” In this she describes herself as someone of great importance who would be cremated wrongly. This is also saying she feels pressured by someone else or the world to commit suicide. By thinking that someone else is forcing her to commit suicide it makes it easier for her to go through with. She also compares herself with the cremated Jews and compares the forces pushing her to commit suicide to an examiner waiting for her death as seen in this passage “Ash, Ash---/You poke and stir/Flesh, bone there is nothing there.” This reflects her belief that she is completely innocent and had nothing to do with her suicide attempts and that it was all from outside influences, an interesting day-dream. Finally she compares the people who pushed her to commit suicide to the devil. “Herr god, Herr Lucifer/Beware, Beware.” She then tells those who she believes pushed her to attempt suicide to beware, as she will make an effigy of them in words. Sylvia path uses holocaust imagery again to idealize the Jews and compare her problem to hers in a fantastical day-dream about herself as Jew of her suicide attempts being forced upon her like the cremation of Jews.
Silvia Plath uses holocaust imagery to exaggerate her problems by idealizing Jews during the holocaust in fantastical day-dreams if the holocaust. By seeing this it lets the readers see the things she truly deemed important. Though by realizing this though, readers cab sift through her poetry by keeping in mind she is using imagery like this to purposely exaggerate her problems
Carissa Avalos, period 5
Clever as a Fox; Animal imagery
If someone were to describe Sylvia Plath’s last compilation of poetry as “clever as a fox” the overall message of this description could be easily interpreted and understood. The message being: Plath’s last poems were cunning and will forever uphold its’ legacy. Although her poems could be considered depressing and feministic by some, she is still seen as one of the most influential American poets. In “Morning Song” and “Tulips”, Plath uses animal imagery to give a commonly relatable illusion to a specific thought, ultimately developing a unanimous consensus to the tone of each poem.
In order for the public to be able to accept Plath’s works, they must first be able to understand it. By using common animals for her images, Plath allows the general audience to perceive her underlying messages. In “Morning Song” Plath writes, “Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s” (line 15). Once this line is read, the image of a gentle domestic cat opening its mouth to yawn is envisioned in most reader’s heads. “Morning Song” was written about Sylvia Plath’s recollections of the birth of her new child, so the connection between a sweet, gentle cat and a new born baby is easily made. The reason this connection was so easily made was because she used the tool of a common illusion, or an illusion most readers can relate to. Another use of a relatable illusion is seen in the poem “Tulips” on line 13 which reads, “They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat.” Although not everyone may know exactly what an “African cat” is, the description of this animal generally leads readers to believe it is a royal lion, or a strong superior feline. This use of imagery is slightly more ambiguous, but equally relatable for the independent perspective of each reader. But much like in “Morning Song”, this animal imagery is given a heightened perspective when read in context of the poem, which has a great effect on its overall tone.
The animal references used in “Morning Song” and “Tulips” provide the reader with an immediate sense of the tone that Plath was trying to portray in each poem. In “Morning Song”, the image of a gentle domestic cat provides the reader with a positive representation of the new born baby described in the poem. The overall tone of “Morning Song” is nervous but excited, and the comparison of a yawning cat and a waking baby reflect these joyous feelings. In this example, the illusion of a cat gives a positive connotation to the poem, but the exact opposite is found in “Tulips”. “Tulips” was written after Plath had a miscarriage and was severely depressed. The tone of the poem displays this suicidal feeling and the “great African cat” used in the poem aggrandizes this. When read in context, the cat is portrayed as a beastly predator, waiting to feast on Sylvia. The blood red tulips described throughout the poem are so harming they are compared to this dangerous “African cat”. The tulips are representation of the interruption of her suicidal attempts, which makes the “cat” a representation of those aggressively trying to pursue her death. This animal imagery contributes to the negative undertone of the poem and the negativity is felt immediately after being read. Although the animal references used in each poem present the reader with a different perspective of the poems, the animals used were essentially the same.
In both “Morning Song” and Tulips”, a cat is the animal of which Plath uses to depict her overall message of each poem. But how is it that the same animal can have such a great alternating effect on the different poems? The gentle house cat described in “Morning Song” is nothing like the ferocious feral cat seen in “Tulips”. This shows Plath’s ingenious ability to alter typical ideas used in society to reflect her own life. This skill may have also been a way for Plath to feel a sense of power. Controlling the effect that the imagery had on her poems was a way for her to have the control of some aspect of her life and those around her. At this time in Plath’s life she felt very powerless over everything but her poems, and this is seen in the examples I have given. The animal imagery used in Plath’s poems gives the reader a strong understanding of her message and give Plath a chance to caper with distortion.
If someone were to describe Sylvia Plath’s last compilation of poetry as “clever as a fox” the overall message of this description could be easily interpreted and understood. The message being: Plath’s last poems were cunning and will forever uphold its’ legacy. Although her poems could be considered depressing and feministic by some, she is still seen as one of the most influential American poets. In “Morning Song” and “Tulips”, Plath uses animal imagery to give a commonly relatable illusion to a specific thought, ultimately developing a unanimous consensus to the tone of each poem.
In order for the public to be able to accept Plath’s works, they must first be able to understand it. By using common animals for her images, Plath allows the general audience to perceive her underlying messages. In “Morning Song” Plath writes, “Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s” (line 15). Once this line is read, the image of a gentle domestic cat opening its mouth to yawn is envisioned in most reader’s heads. “Morning Song” was written about Sylvia Plath’s recollections of the birth of her new child, so the connection between a sweet, gentle cat and a new born baby is easily made. The reason this connection was so easily made was because she used the tool of a common illusion, or an illusion most readers can relate to. Another use of a relatable illusion is seen in the poem “Tulips” on line 13 which reads, “They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat.” Although not everyone may know exactly what an “African cat” is, the description of this animal generally leads readers to believe it is a royal lion, or a strong superior feline. This use of imagery is slightly more ambiguous, but equally relatable for the independent perspective of each reader. But much like in “Morning Song”, this animal imagery is given a heightened perspective when read in context of the poem, which has a great effect on its overall tone.
The animal references used in “Morning Song” and “Tulips” provide the reader with an immediate sense of the tone that Plath was trying to portray in each poem. In “Morning Song”, the image of a gentle domestic cat provides the reader with a positive representation of the new born baby described in the poem. The overall tone of “Morning Song” is nervous but excited, and the comparison of a yawning cat and a waking baby reflect these joyous feelings. In this example, the illusion of a cat gives a positive connotation to the poem, but the exact opposite is found in “Tulips”. “Tulips” was written after Plath had a miscarriage and was severely depressed. The tone of the poem displays this suicidal feeling and the “great African cat” used in the poem aggrandizes this. When read in context, the cat is portrayed as a beastly predator, waiting to feast on Sylvia. The blood red tulips described throughout the poem are so harming they are compared to this dangerous “African cat”. The tulips are representation of the interruption of her suicidal attempts, which makes the “cat” a representation of those aggressively trying to pursue her death. This animal imagery contributes to the negative undertone of the poem and the negativity is felt immediately after being read. Although the animal references used in each poem present the reader with a different perspective of the poems, the animals used were essentially the same.
In both “Morning Song” and Tulips”, a cat is the animal of which Plath uses to depict her overall message of each poem. But how is it that the same animal can have such a great alternating effect on the different poems? The gentle house cat described in “Morning Song” is nothing like the ferocious feral cat seen in “Tulips”. This shows Plath’s ingenious ability to alter typical ideas used in society to reflect her own life. This skill may have also been a way for Plath to feel a sense of power. Controlling the effect that the imagery had on her poems was a way for her to have the control of some aspect of her life and those around her. At this time in Plath’s life she felt very powerless over everything but her poems, and this is seen in the examples I have given. The animal imagery used in Plath’s poems gives the reader a strong understanding of her message and give Plath a chance to caper with distortion.
Matthew Luszczak
Reductum ad Hitlerum: Nazism in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath.
Everybody hates Nazis, and with good reason. They perpetrated one of the most destructive conflicts in modern history and executed the 20th century’s most infamous act of genocide. Since the scale of the crimes of Fascism is so vast, it is easy to be accused of hyperbole when comparing a person to the Nazis. Care must be exercised to ensure that the comparison is appropriate. Imagery of Nazism in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” is used to cast Plath as a victim and those who have hurt her as villains. However, due to the emotionally charged nature of the subject, Plath’s imagery is not always successful in convincing the reader that the portrayal is valid.
The primary purpose of the Nazi imagery in “Daddy” is to vilify Otto Plath and Ted Hughes by associating them with Nazism. Imagery is important in forming this association; if Plath’s father is to be a Nazi, he must be described as one. And so in lines 43-44, he is given a “neat mustache / And… Aryan eye, bright blue.” (“Daddy” 43-44). Since Ted is a copy of her father, he is described as “A man in black with an Mienkampf look” (“Daddy” 65)—the image of an SS man. Sylvia states that she is a Jew (“Daddy” 35), and lists the names of death camps (“Daddy” 33), but what happens in those camps is not described. The Nazi imagery tells us they are villains, it does not tell us a plausible reason why.
In “Lady Lazarus” Sylvia’s imagery of Nazism serves less to vilify her tormentors than to demonstrate her grievances. The most notable Nazi imagery is of objects the Nazis extracted form the Jews they killed—Sylvia’s skin is “bright as a Nazi lampshade” (“Lady Lazarus” 5), and after she is burned in a crematorium all that is left is “A cake of soap,/ a wedding ring,/ a gold filling” (“Lady Lazarus” 25-27). All of this seems to indicate that Sylvia feels exploited. The doctors have taken away her ability to die, a crime she equates to that of the Nazis using the fat from Jews to make soap.
In “Daddy” the task of explaining Sylvia’s grievances against her father and her husband is left to the black shoe (“Daddy” 2-5) and vampires (“Daddy” 72-74). These seven lines which could justify casting Otto as a Nazi are pitiful next to the seven stanzas Sylvia uses do the casting. There is less concentration on why Sylvia hates her father, instead the focus is on the fact that she does. She makes accusations but does not show much evidence, and so her credibility falls.
However, she might have salvaged some of her credibility if she had chosen to compare her father to something other than Nazis. However terrible it could be, to compare whatever psychological suffering one person could reasonably inflict on another to the systematic murder of 11 million men, women, and children seems a bit ridiculous. “Daddy” is a good example of how not to bring Nazis into poetry.
“Lady Lazarus,” on the other hand, is a good example of how to reference Nazism without seeming hyperbolic. Nazism is not the only prism through which the reader is allowed to see her doctors; there are also comparisons to a striptease (“Lady Lazarus” 29) and a carnival freak show (“Lady Lazarus” 58-59). In both the doctors are barely mentioned. This serves to take the emphasis off the comparison to Nazism, making it seem less like name-calling and more like observation.
Her credibility is further enhanced when, instead of referencing the entirety of the Holocaust, she instead gives us images of personal suffering. In Stanza 24she provides an image of the crematoriums—“I turn and burn” (“Lady Lazarus” 71). She does not compare herself to Poland, as she does in “Daddy” (“Daddy” 16-21). The comparison seems proportional, and so is accepted.
Care should be exercised when dealing with any emotionally charged subject. In the rush to vilify one’s opponents or exalt one’s allies, it is easy to exaggerate and make a comparison that will not withstand scrutiny. This will only result in the person who made the comparison looking foolish, and, if the comparison involved the death or pain of many people, tactless. Comparisons should always be proportional and to alike situations. If the comparison is not valid, then the person making it will appear to know nothing of either subject.
Word count: 737
Everybody hates Nazis, and with good reason. They perpetrated one of the most destructive conflicts in modern history and executed the 20th century’s most infamous act of genocide. Since the scale of the crimes of Fascism is so vast, it is easy to be accused of hyperbole when comparing a person to the Nazis. Care must be exercised to ensure that the comparison is appropriate. Imagery of Nazism in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” is used to cast Plath as a victim and those who have hurt her as villains. However, due to the emotionally charged nature of the subject, Plath’s imagery is not always successful in convincing the reader that the portrayal is valid.
The primary purpose of the Nazi imagery in “Daddy” is to vilify Otto Plath and Ted Hughes by associating them with Nazism. Imagery is important in forming this association; if Plath’s father is to be a Nazi, he must be described as one. And so in lines 43-44, he is given a “neat mustache / And… Aryan eye, bright blue.” (“Daddy” 43-44). Since Ted is a copy of her father, he is described as “A man in black with an Mienkampf look” (“Daddy” 65)—the image of an SS man. Sylvia states that she is a Jew (“Daddy” 35), and lists the names of death camps (“Daddy” 33), but what happens in those camps is not described. The Nazi imagery tells us they are villains, it does not tell us a plausible reason why.
In “Lady Lazarus” Sylvia’s imagery of Nazism serves less to vilify her tormentors than to demonstrate her grievances. The most notable Nazi imagery is of objects the Nazis extracted form the Jews they killed—Sylvia’s skin is “bright as a Nazi lampshade” (“Lady Lazarus” 5), and after she is burned in a crematorium all that is left is “A cake of soap,/ a wedding ring,/ a gold filling” (“Lady Lazarus” 25-27). All of this seems to indicate that Sylvia feels exploited. The doctors have taken away her ability to die, a crime she equates to that of the Nazis using the fat from Jews to make soap.
In “Daddy” the task of explaining Sylvia’s grievances against her father and her husband is left to the black shoe (“Daddy” 2-5) and vampires (“Daddy” 72-74). These seven lines which could justify casting Otto as a Nazi are pitiful next to the seven stanzas Sylvia uses do the casting. There is less concentration on why Sylvia hates her father, instead the focus is on the fact that she does. She makes accusations but does not show much evidence, and so her credibility falls.
However, she might have salvaged some of her credibility if she had chosen to compare her father to something other than Nazis. However terrible it could be, to compare whatever psychological suffering one person could reasonably inflict on another to the systematic murder of 11 million men, women, and children seems a bit ridiculous. “Daddy” is a good example of how not to bring Nazis into poetry.
“Lady Lazarus,” on the other hand, is a good example of how to reference Nazism without seeming hyperbolic. Nazism is not the only prism through which the reader is allowed to see her doctors; there are also comparisons to a striptease (“Lady Lazarus” 29) and a carnival freak show (“Lady Lazarus” 58-59). In both the doctors are barely mentioned. This serves to take the emphasis off the comparison to Nazism, making it seem less like name-calling and more like observation.
Her credibility is further enhanced when, instead of referencing the entirety of the Holocaust, she instead gives us images of personal suffering. In Stanza 24she provides an image of the crematoriums—“I turn and burn” (“Lady Lazarus” 71). She does not compare herself to Poland, as she does in “Daddy” (“Daddy” 16-21). The comparison seems proportional, and so is accepted.
Care should be exercised when dealing with any emotionally charged subject. In the rush to vilify one’s opponents or exalt one’s allies, it is easy to exaggerate and make a comparison that will not withstand scrutiny. This will only result in the person who made the comparison looking foolish, and, if the comparison involved the death or pain of many people, tactless. Comparisons should always be proportional and to alike situations. If the comparison is not valid, then the person making it will appear to know nothing of either subject.
Word count: 737
Athena Ganetsos
“It’s Worse than a Barnyard”: Animal Imagery in Plath’s Poetry
Sylvia Plath uses many images in her poetry in order to convey a certain tone to the reader. One image that is prevalent throughout several of her poems is the image of animals. Typically, Plath uses animal imagery in order to portray concepts in a negative way, as demonstrated in her poems “Stillborn”, “Morning Song”, and “The Colossus”.
Plath uses animal imagery in “Stillborn” in order to portray her struggle as a writer. She compares her poems to a stillborn baby, saying that they have no life or meaning. For example, in lines eleven and twelve she states, “They are not pigs, they are not even fish/though they have a piggy and fishy air” (Stillborn, 11-12). Here Plath is portraying her writer’s block as a stillborn, using animals in an extremely negative connotation. The word “piggy” presents her poems negatively because pigs usually represent something dirty or disgusting. Therefore, the reader is automatically given a negative first impression of her “stillborn” poems. Similarly, the word “fishy” describes Plath’s poems in a negative light. This is because the word is normally used to describe something cold and lifeless. From these examples, it is evident that Sylvia Plath used animal imagery in “Stillborn” to portray her poems negatively.
Animal imagery is also used by Plath in her poem “Morning Song”. In this poem, she uses animal imagery to convey the struggles of being a mother in a negative connotation. In the beginning of the poem, for instance, Plath addresses her child and states, “All night your moth-breath/Flickers among the flat pink roses” (Morning Song, 11-12). This clearly illustrates Plath’s use of animal imagery to indicate her struggle with motherhood. The connotation of the term “moth-breath” is unpleasant, because moth balls tend to have a foul odor. By using this term, Plath is describing the difficulties of being a mother to her readers, and showing that she will do anything for her kids, even though motherhood is not pleasant all the time. Additionally, Plath describes in “Morning Song”, “One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral/In my Victorian nightgown” (Morning Song, 15-16). Here Plath is again using animals, in this case a cow, to describe the challenges of being a mother unfavorably. By stating that her gown is “cow-heavy”, the reader gets a sense of how hard Plath works to care for her children, and how difficult motherhood is for her.
Another poem in which Sylvia Plath uses animal imagery with a negative connotation is “The Colossus”. Here animal imagery is used by Plath to portray men in a poor light. In the first stanza of the poem, Plath expresses, “Mule-bray, pig-grunt, and bawdy cackles/Proceed from your great lips/It’s worse than a barnyard” (The Colossus, 3-5). In these examples, Plath uses the images of mules and pigs to describe the way men sound when they talk. This depicts men very adversely, because pigs and mules are typically considered to be sordid animals. Plath again uses animal imagery to portray men in unfavorably occurs in the third stanza, “I crawl like an ant in mourning” (The Colossus, 12). Here Plath is expressing how hard she has worked for men, and using the image of an ant to indicate her frustration.
Animal imagery is used frequently in Plath’s poems. Through her three poems “Stillborn”, “Morning Song”, and “The Colossus”, Plath uses animal imagery to convey various concepts and ideas in an unfavorable manner. By becoming aware of Plath’s use of this image, the reader gains a much better understanding of her masterful poetry.
Word Count: 601
Sylvia Plath uses many images in her poetry in order to convey a certain tone to the reader. One image that is prevalent throughout several of her poems is the image of animals. Typically, Plath uses animal imagery in order to portray concepts in a negative way, as demonstrated in her poems “Stillborn”, “Morning Song”, and “The Colossus”.
Plath uses animal imagery in “Stillborn” in order to portray her struggle as a writer. She compares her poems to a stillborn baby, saying that they have no life or meaning. For example, in lines eleven and twelve she states, “They are not pigs, they are not even fish/though they have a piggy and fishy air” (Stillborn, 11-12). Here Plath is portraying her writer’s block as a stillborn, using animals in an extremely negative connotation. The word “piggy” presents her poems negatively because pigs usually represent something dirty or disgusting. Therefore, the reader is automatically given a negative first impression of her “stillborn” poems. Similarly, the word “fishy” describes Plath’s poems in a negative light. This is because the word is normally used to describe something cold and lifeless. From these examples, it is evident that Sylvia Plath used animal imagery in “Stillborn” to portray her poems negatively.
Animal imagery is also used by Plath in her poem “Morning Song”. In this poem, she uses animal imagery to convey the struggles of being a mother in a negative connotation. In the beginning of the poem, for instance, Plath addresses her child and states, “All night your moth-breath/Flickers among the flat pink roses” (Morning Song, 11-12). This clearly illustrates Plath’s use of animal imagery to indicate her struggle with motherhood. The connotation of the term “moth-breath” is unpleasant, because moth balls tend to have a foul odor. By using this term, Plath is describing the difficulties of being a mother to her readers, and showing that she will do anything for her kids, even though motherhood is not pleasant all the time. Additionally, Plath describes in “Morning Song”, “One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral/In my Victorian nightgown” (Morning Song, 15-16). Here Plath is again using animals, in this case a cow, to describe the challenges of being a mother unfavorably. By stating that her gown is “cow-heavy”, the reader gets a sense of how hard Plath works to care for her children, and how difficult motherhood is for her.
Another poem in which Sylvia Plath uses animal imagery with a negative connotation is “The Colossus”. Here animal imagery is used by Plath to portray men in a poor light. In the first stanza of the poem, Plath expresses, “Mule-bray, pig-grunt, and bawdy cackles/Proceed from your great lips/It’s worse than a barnyard” (The Colossus, 3-5). In these examples, Plath uses the images of mules and pigs to describe the way men sound when they talk. This depicts men very adversely, because pigs and mules are typically considered to be sordid animals. Plath again uses animal imagery to portray men in unfavorably occurs in the third stanza, “I crawl like an ant in mourning” (The Colossus, 12). Here Plath is expressing how hard she has worked for men, and using the image of an ant to indicate her frustration.
Animal imagery is used frequently in Plath’s poems. Through her three poems “Stillborn”, “Morning Song”, and “The Colossus”, Plath uses animal imagery to convey various concepts and ideas in an unfavorable manner. By becoming aware of Plath’s use of this image, the reader gains a much better understanding of her masterful poetry.
Word Count: 601
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