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
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4 comments:
1) Your main thesis is very interesting, shows independent thought, and is supported with precise references to the poems.
2) A- Your title "Powerlessness in Insects" doesn't have the two part composition that Mrs. Poulsen wants. Maybe come up with a creative part, then put a colon and the title you already came up with.
B- Your first line doesn't have a short interesting hook : "Sylvia Plath has become a highly acclaimed poet." I would include a quote from a critic that shows how famous Plath was/is or put a quote from one of the poems that addresses your essay's topic.
C- This line needs to re-written. "Many consider her as a feminist, to have a husband-wife relationship with her father." If you're trying to say that she was considered a feminist because she had a husband-wife relationship with her father, you can re-word it as "Because of Plath's husband-wife relationship with her father, many consider her to be a feminist." However, this sentence doesn't fit the definition of a feminist, nor does it relate to your essay's thesis, so maybe you should just take it out completely.
by Shahrnaz Z.
Agreeing with Shahrnaz, I believe your thesis and direction of analysis leaves much room for discussion. The speaker is indeed a key part in Plath's poetry.
1) In your introduction, you state the topics of her poems: "depression, bees, her father..." I would recommend being less specific in the introduction and further analyzing this piece later in the essay, where you can give concrete proof.
2) You might want to use more inference instead of stating a quote and just explaining its meaning to only that poem. For example, in paragraph 2, from "In stanza 5..." to "...to recover, a queen," you use four quotes and have one sentence of explanation for each. Rather, it might be better to use fewer quotes and relate them back to your thesis more effectively.
3) Conclusion: "...such as insects." Your essay ends on a very awkward note. Reword the last sentence to make the paper sound more definitive.
-Edward L.
by: Nikola D. Dosev
1)I would like to say you did a good job on the original topic. It is very interesting and your thesis.
2)
a)However try to improve on your introduction. It should have a hook and something interesting about the author or the poems."Sylvia Plath has become a highly acclaimed poet." It is kind of mellow for a first sentence, maybe write about how those poems helped her get there.
b)In your body paragraph you use many quotes at such little space that you don't throughoutly explain their meaning and answer your thesis. Such quotes are "“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.”
c)Also try to direct and compare similar elements in the poems in the same paragraph, than spending your space on writing a paragraph for each poem
By: David Qu
The main idea of your essay is very interesting and brings up many good points.
"Many consider her as a feminist, to have a husband-wife relationship with her father."
This is not a proper sentence. It is a very good point, but you did not present it in an effective way.
"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.”"
There are a few typos throughout your essay, they are small, but they detract from the main points.
"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."
This sentence is not as concise as it could be and needs some cleaning up.
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