Here Lies Sylvia Plath: Wife, Mother, and Poet
Sylvia Plath constantly struggled with the idea of being a good poet while still being a loving mother and wife. In her poems, "The Applicant", "Two Sisters of Persephone", and "Morning Song", Plath uses sometimes-grotesque imagery and literary devices, such as repetition and enjambment, to portray her views on marriage and raising a family.
In "The Applicant", Plath talks about her marriage. Throughout the whole poem, the speaker sounds like he is trying to force the man to marry this "perfect" woman. For example, Plath mentions a suit that is "black and stiff, but not a bad fit" (Applicant 21), which is an analogy for how she and Ted Hughes were not meant to be together. She didn't have a very good relationship with him and felt like she forced herself into marrying him just four months after they met. Towards the end of "The Applicant", the speaker says, "Naked as paper to start/ But in twenty-five years she'll be silver/ In fifty, gold." (Applicant 30-32). The speaker references the different symbols of wedding anniversaries to try to sell this woman to the man whom he is talking to by assuring him that he will be glad he married her.
In "Two Sisters of Persephone", Plath discusses both aspects of her life – her poetry and her family. One of the sisters "works problems on/ A mathematical machine." (Persephone 6-7). This image of a dark room and "dry ticks" (Persephone 8) of time show that Plath was not happy working so hard. The other sister is the wife and mother side of Plath, because she "sees how their red silk flare/ Of petaled blood/ Burns open to the sun's blade." (Persephone 17-19). This image of "burning" gives sex a negative connotation and shows that Plath is not happy with this life either.
In "The Applicant", Plath uses repetition to give the poem a tone that is similar to a sales pitch. The speaker repeats "Will you marry it?" (Applicant 14) multiple times in an attempt to sell the woman. He also repeats the word "talk" in line 35 to insinuate that he is sexist and believes that women talk a lot.
In "Morning Song", Plath uses enjambment in order to quicken the pace of the poem. It can also be used to lighten the mood. For example, the poem starts out with a confused tone, but towards the end, Plath uses more enjambment when she says, "The window square/ Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try/ Your handful of notes" (Morning 15-17). Not only does the the image of the sun rising sound more pleasant, but the tone of the poem changes and becomes more cheerful as a whole.
Plath did not lead a happy life. Among many other issues, she struggled with balancing her life as a poet with her life as a wife and mother. She was not satisfied with either of her lives, particularly with her marriage. In order to portray this in her poem, "The Applicant", she used common symbols of marriage and twisted them so that they had a negative connotation. She also shed a negative light on both aspects of her life in the poem "Two Sisters of Persephone".
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3 comments:
Tori Trimm, Period: 5
Comment:
-The first thing I noticed was that I really liked your thesis. I think it could use some restructuring to better suit your essay, but it sounds very strong. It covers every topic that you are going to discuss and is the perfect foundation.
Suggestions:
-1) I think you should focus on only one method that Plath uses to express her female frustrations. Discussing the effect of "literary devices" is very broad. Since the prompt of the essay is based more on imagery, maybe you could change your thesis a little to reflect that instead. New thesis: In her poems, "The Applicant", "Two Sisters of Persephone", and "Morning Song", Plath uses grotesque imagery to portray her views on marriage and raising a family.
-2) Change the way in which you formatted your body paragraphs. Try to use the zippering method. Instead of having a different paragraph for each poem, make a different paragraph for each image or idea that Plath conveys. For example, your first body paragraph could be about negative images of marriage in Plath's poetry.
-3) I think your fourth mini-paragraph regarding "The Applicant" is a little unnecessary. It doesn't really relate to your main thesis. Suggesting that the salesperson is sexist doesn't relate to her marital problems or family problems. However, if you want to keep it, I would add some more analysis. You could possibly discuss the way Plath feels in her marriage (like property being sold by a salesperson).
Holly Addington, Period 4
1. I really enjoyed your essay. Your ideas were very well thought out and convincing and interpreted the text well.
2. a. The structure of your essay was confusing. Each poem had a different idea and none of them backed up the other. You need to find instances of imagery that support these ideas.
b.This is also supposed to be about imagery, not enjambment and repetition. While your ideas are good, grotesque imagery should be the only thing you are showing Plath uses.
c. Your line here: "One of the sisters "works problems on/ A mathematical machine." (Persephone 6-7). This image of a dark room and "dry ticks" (Persephone 8) of time show that Plath was not happy working so hard." I would change so that it connects to the topic sentence and is easier to understand. Perhaps like this:
"One sister "works problems on/A mathematical machine." (Persephone 6-7) like Plath writes poems every day. An image of a dark room and "dry ticks" (Persephone 8) of time shows that Plath doesn't enjoy working so hard."
Tova Lichman, Period 5
Good job of thoroughly analyzing your poems and stating out the purpose of your essay from the beginning in a clear and direct thesis statement.
1) I would try to reinforce the idea first presented in your thesis about Plath’s personal views regarding marriage and raising a family of her own. Also it would be nice to include a bit more background information on Sylvia’s life so you will be able to relate this to her poems in your analyses.
2) Your analysis of the poems gets weaker and weaker as the paper progresses. Try using transitional words to help your ideas progress. For example, say “Similarly, “The Applicant” reinforces and reiterates Plath’s opinions about marriage and commitment” instead of the same old “In "The Applicant", Plath uses repetition to give the poem a tone that is similar to a sales pitch.” And then proceed to continue your description of how the poem fits into your main argument. Also the paragraph about “The Applicant” is just a skeleton. Try adding some meat to it.
3) Also, the beginning of the third paragraph when you say “In "Two Sisters of Persephone", Plath discusses both aspects of her life – her poetry and her family”, you should say something along the lines of “Plath discusses two different aspects of her personal life – her poetry and her family”. The way you have it worded now makes it sound as if these were the only two parts of her life. In Plath’s situation, this may have been the case due to the fact that her life was dominated by these two things. However, it is necessary to change this unless you are planning on arguing it further and using it to explain your thesis.
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