Gagan Bhullar

Sylvia Plath: At the Crossroads of her Life
The Germans are coming, the Germans are coming! Everyone hears the cries of the Jews in the Polish town and one little girl stands out from the rest. She thought every German was her father, the one who left her desperately alone at the crossroad of her life. Her father had passed away many years ago but for her it seemed as if she was sitting in the study with her daddy yesterday. But, this young girl soon realizes that she must continue on with her life because that crossroad she was once faced upon has now ultimately passed. This young girl is no longer a child but an adult, Sylvia Plath. In Sylvia Plath’s poems she expresses her exact thoughts and emotions through Holocaust imagery, showing the cruel times of her life. Plath tends to use a lot of Holocaust imagery to show the cruelty of her relationships and death.
“I thought every German was you” (Daddy 29). The relationship in “Daddy” is of a father and a daughter, where the father is a German and the daughter is a Jew. Plath is angered that her father has left her at the stop sign of a crossroad, she does not know which way to go. “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew” (Daddy, 31-32). Sylvia Plath represents the train chugging towards its death at the “concentration camps” and Plath is boarded onto that train morning over her father’s death, wishing that he had not left her. After Plath has come to accept her father’s death she realizes that he was the “vampire” in her life. “If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two / The vampire who said he was you” (Daddy 71-72). Like a vampire, Plath’s’ father sucked the happy moments of her life giving her only death and despair in the end. But, before she “killed” her father there was another obstacle in her way, her husband. “And drank my blood for a year / Seven years, if you want to know” (Daddy 73-74). Sylvia Plath was married to Ted for seven years and as she claims he also “drank her blood”. He married her but only used her and once he felt there was enough “blood” he moved on, he also left Sylvia at another crossroad in her life. This led Plath to depression; she was the used and tortured Jew who was under the control of her father and husband. Plath thus compares her personal endeavors to that of the Nazis.
“Dying is an art, like everything else, / I do it exceptionally well / It’s easy enough to do it in a cell” (Lazarus, 43-45, 49). Jews were trapped in cells by the Nazis likewise Sylvia Plath felt trapped in a cell which is why the reoccurring thoughts of death kept occurred in her mind. Plath states she would do it in a cell to reference that many Jews died in cells after the immense torture they were given. Plath also felt that torture, which hit her heart twice, once by her father and once again by her husband. They were both vampires in her life which caused her three attempts at death, which show that death was always on her mind. She wanted to be a Jew that was free from persecution and Sylvia Plath’s idea of being free was death.
The young girl is now a woman and she still faced many different crossroads in her life. After the death of her father and her disastrous relationship she was at another crossroad of life, either to continue living or dying. She mourned the death of her father but was glad that the “vampires” in her life had finally vanished. She was now a free Jew, no longer persecuted by the Nazis, her father and husband. But death had always remained on her mind, she wanted to be a “free Jew” and therefore one day Plath killed herself. All that is left behind now are Sylvia Plath’s poems, memories, and the stories of the Holocaust.
Word Count: 696

Joanne Yun

Clothing: To Be Enslaved or Not To Be Enslaved

In “The Applicant” and “Edge,” images of clothes scrutinize societal beliefs of women by criticizing their roles and relationship with men. Sylvia Plath uses the image of clothing to represent two types of women. Generally, clothes are used to define a woman, who is confined to traditional roles and a man. On the other hand, no clothes or nakedness is used to portray a free, independent woman. The use of clothing imagery is utilized to convey both the confinement and independence of women in “The Applicant” and “Edge.”

In both poems, Plath uses clothes to portray a confined woman and a slave to society. The effects on clothing imagery in each poem affect the poem’s theme in different ways. In “The Applicant,” marriage is portrayed as a definite source of happiness and acceptance by society. “Black and stiff, but not a bad fit” (“The Applicant” line 21) and “It can sew, it can cook, /It can talk, talk, talk” (“The Applicant” lines 34-35) relate to each other. Plath is saying that once women accept a form of clothing or marriage, she is entitled to domestic duties and traditional roles. This affects the theme of “The Applicant” by bringing light to Plath’s intention of writing this poem- to show how unappealing and difficult marriage is on women, something the speaker and society would be quick to put down. In addition, Plath also integrates the idea of a confined woman in “Edge.” “Flows in the scrolls of her toga,” (“Edge” Line 5) and “We have come so far, it is over” (“Edge” Line 8) infer that this woman, having gone through marriage and completing all her duties, has gone through enough troubles. For the woman to hear of her death is beneficial to her even though death is usually avoided. This affects the theme of “Edge” because it offers women a solution to their horrible lives- death. To the hopeless woman in “The Applicant,” Plath includes death in “Edge” to bring the woman an end and happiness. All in all, clothes are used to represent a binding life for women.

In “The Applicant” and “Edge,” Plath also alludes to a free, independent woman. In “The Applicant,” a woman, having no clothes, is used to portray a happy woman free from the constraints of marriage. “Naked as paper to start” (“The Applicant” Line 30) focuses on the fact that before marriage, women have the power to do whatever they please. But after the entering of marriage women are practically slaves to their men and households. “A living doll, everywhere you look” (“The Applicant” Line 33) represents the speaker telling the woman that once you are clothed and married, men can manipulate women into doing whatever as a child manipulates their toy dolls. Most often, men choose to work and “bring home the bacon,” while women are told to stay in the house. This affects the theme because Plath knew that if a woman was reading the poem, she would not be happy with the idea of marriage. Using that to her advantage, Plath seized the moment to use this as her inspiration of writing the poem. In “Edge,” the woman is bare-footed and it says: “Body wears the smile of accomplishment” (“Edge” Line 3). The idea of being bare-footed or some sort of nakedness tells of the woman dying as an accomplished, happy woman. In contrast to the effect on the theme of “The Applicant,” Plath shows an example of a woman who has been independent and content. Plath uses this theme to motivate her feminine readers. Consequently, the idea of having no clothes in “The Applicant” and “Edge” represents independence and happiness of women.

With all things considered, Plath uses the image of clothing in “The Applicant” and “Edge” to convey societal beliefs on women. Clothing showing confinement to men as in a marriage, affects Plath’s common theme of breaking societal norms, by showing examples of women and solutions to motivate some of her readers. The idea of nakedness, showing independence and a breaking of the norm, affects the theme by bringing light to the possibilities women have in not falling into slavery of men. All in all, in “The Applicant” and “Edge,” Plath uses the image of clothing to criticize women’s roles and the relationship with men.

Carli Baker

“Daddy, Daddy, You Bastard, I’m Through”: Legend Imagery in Sylvia Plath Poetry

Legends are stories that have enthralled entire civilizations for centuries, suspending reality and transporting the audience into a world full of vivid, intense images. Likewise, Sylvia Plath also has to ability to create a world unto itself with her abundance of expressive imagery, and complex themes throughout all of her poems. In particular, her usage of legend imagery is particular interesting due to the sub textual meanings they hold. Two images that are particularly lucid are the images of the vampire and the Colossus in both “Daddy” and “The Colossus” which demonstrate her feelings towards her father, and the influence he held over her life.
In legends, vampires are seen as mysterious, cold and lethal, although they are also portrayed as very alluring, charismatic and captivating. In both poems, Plath uses this image to demonstrate the complexities of her relationship with her father, both in life and death. In “The Colossus”, Plath refers to her father as a “mouthpiece of the dead” and tells of how she had to “dredge the silt from your throat”. (“The Colossus” 7 and 9) Both lines bring forth visions of the undead, animated corpses which are able to function in our world, but are not truly living. Although he father died when she was young, barely eight years old, her entire life was still constantly affected by her father, and he still had a significant role in her life, even while dead. Similarly, in “Daddy” Plath says, “Daddy you can lie back now./ There’s a stake in your fat, black heart.” (“Daddy” 75-76) These lines are much more striking, for she gives a direct allusion to vampires, and expresses her inward feelings towards her father. She is trying to kill her father’s memory, in an attempt to regain her own life and to overcome his influence. The image of the vampire may also allude to a mental illness. When she read ream her poem “Daddy” on the BBC, she began by saying that the speaker was “a girl with Electra Complex”. ( Scott 163) In this light, the vampire image gains new footing, she is enamored with her father and needs to recreate him in something fictional to keep him alive in her memories. However, the end of these lines show her want to overcome this and to live her own life. Overall, the image of vampires demonstrates her preoccupation with her father, even after death, and illustrates the issues he has caused in her life.
Another striking legendary image in that of the Colossus. The story of the Colossus in Greek mythology is of the town of Rhodes, which in around 304 BC built a monstrous statue after their god, Helios. It took twelve years to complete and stood over 150 ft high, however an earthquake caused it to break up and the Colossus was destroyed. (Krystek) In both poems this image is used to how Plath viewed her father: strong, grand but cold. In “The Colossus” Plath states, “I shall never get you put together entirely” (“The Colossus” 1) This line relates her father’s death to the destruction of the Colossus which not only shows how monumental his death was in her life but also shows how immeasurable his effect was on the rest of her life. In “Daddy” Plath describes her father a bit differently. “Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,/Ghastly statue with one gray toe/ Big as a Frisco seal/And a head in the freakish Atlantic” (“Daddy 9-11) This image is a bit more literal, not only again relating her father’s death to the destruction of the Colossus, but it also directly correlates her father to the actual statue. This images portrays her father as something beyond normal, which is not healthy. This engrossment with her father goes back to her Electra Complex in which she wishes for a deeper relationship with her father. However, on the other side of this, it seems that her father did not return the same feelings. She uses the Colossus to give the image of cold, and dead and distant, which shows that although she cared deeply for him, it may have been from a distance, for he was still obscure and removed from her.
Sylvia Plath had many preoccupations over her fathers death, all of which are apparent in her poetry. He was such an influential figure in her life, and their relationship was so close, it bordered unhealthy, and so his sudden death caused major repercussions for the rest of her life. However her love of her father does not mean that he was a great dad. Both images illustrate him as a giant, something so huge it cannot be real, and both show him as severe, someone very reserved and cold. These images she chose also show her obsession with his death, both images are dead, therefore no matter how hard she tries, she cannot accept him as either dead or alive, so his memory is stuck in a purgatory of sorts. Overall, Sylvia Plath was brutally traumatized both by her overzealous love of her father, and of his untimely death. This double traumatization caused major mental instability and is not only shown in her poetry, but in the usage of legend imagery.
Word Count: 810

Lotem Taylor

"No less a devil for that": Imagery in Sylvia Plath's Poetry

In poetry, imagery can be used to represent a variety of things and can be interpreted in many different ways. In the poems “Ariel”, “The Arrival of the Bee Box”, and “Daddy”, Sylvia Plath uses mythological imagery to portray women as heroines and men as villains.

The three poems show women heroically in a variety of ways. In “Ariel” women are shown heroically by referencing the story of Lady Godiva. Plath writes, “White / Godiva, I unpeel” (lines 19-20). Lady Godiva was a noblewoman of England who rode through the streets of her town while naked, in opposition to the heavy taxation that her husband had imposed on his tenants. She took pity on the people and was able to stop their suffering because of her courage and strong will. In the poem the speaker writes as if she is Godiva, therefore showing herself as a heroine, just like the noblewoman who lifted taxes. In “The Arrival of the Bee Box” women are also shown as heroes. In the poem, Plath writes, “I am not a Caesar. / I have simply ordered a box of maniacs /…/ They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner” (lines 22-25). These lines show that, although the speaker does not consider herself a dictator like Caesar, she still has power over her bees. She is in control of the “maniacs”, which shows that she has heroic qualities of strength and influence. The poem “Daddy” also shows that women are heroines. Plath writes, “If I’ve killed one man I’ve killed two— / The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year” (lines 71-73). From this passage, it seems that Sylvia Plath is defeating the villainous men who threaten her safety and give her trouble. She is shown as a heroine because she is able to fight those who are evil and improve life for herself. In all of these poems, women are shown in a heroic light, having the power to eradicate evil and make changes.

The three poems also show men as villains. In Ariel, the same allusion to Godiva that proves women’s heroism also shows men negatively. In the story of Godiva, her husband was evil for heavily taxing his tenants. Another evil man was “Peeping Tom”, a citizen of the town who is said to have spied on Lady Godiva as she rode naked, although Godiva had asked and forewarned not to. Because of his offensive behavior, “Peeping Tom” was struck blind as punishment. In “the Arrival of the Bee Box” men are also shown disapprovingly. Plath writes, “It is like a Roman mob, / Small taken one by one, but my god, together!” (lines 54-56). These lines describe the impact of the jumbled noises that the bees make. By using a simile to compare their incoherent sounds to a Roman mob, Plath criticizes men and shows that they too become unbearable in groups. Their chaotic and destructive aspects make them comparable to villainous creatures, like the bees that sting people and cause them pain. In “Daddy”, Plath continues her criticism of men, by writing, “No less a devil for that, no not / Any less the black man who / bit my pretty red heart in two” (lines 54-56). In these lines, Plath refers to her father and her husband, the two most important people in her life, as devils—the root of all evil. The devil is the most immoral creature and a common enemy for all. By describing these men as devils, Plath depicts them negatively as villains, a pattern that all three poems share.

The poems “Ariel”, “The Arrival of the Bee Box”, and “Daddy” shows women as heroines and men as villains. The mythical images and the allusions to legendary beings develop this pattern and establish a common theme of feminism. By showing women positively and men negatively, the mythological imagery emphasizes the meaning of these poems and develops their significance.

Brandi Browning

The imagery of Body Parts in Sylvia Plath’s poetry: You Can Only Control Yourself
“The first time it happened I was ten. It was an accident. The second time I meant it to last and not come back at all” (“Lazarus” 35-38). The poem “Lady Lazarus” is a poem Sylvia Plath writes that discusses her suicide attempts and why she does it. The poem “Stings” Sylvia Plath writes and speaks of bees and how they live and also when they would sting somebody or something and die, it is a way of honor. In “Lady Lazarus” and “Stings”, Sylvia Plath uses images of body parts to show the dangers and pain that she has gone through in her life and her struggle of life.
In both poems, there are similarities of using the imagery of body parts. “A sort of walking miracle, my skin” (“Lazarus” 4). Plath expresses how she believes herself to be a walking miracle because of the two attempts that she made of suicide. Her skin, her body just won’t give up on her, so she calls herself a walking miracle. “Blew dew from dangerous skin. Will they hate me, these women who only scurry (“Stings” 27-29). The lines in this poem show how Plath wonders if women will hate her because of the fact that she is rebelling against men and societal ways telling society that she doesn’t have to follow a certain way. Do they think of her skin as dangerous because of her attempts of suicide? Do they think it’s because of her having a horrible marriage? Plath wonders if women will hate her for all of the wrongs that has occurred in her life, as a mother and a wife.
“Lady Lazarus” as said before is about Plath’s suicide attempts. “My face, a featureless, fine Jew linen” (“Lazarus” 5). This line in her poem describes how she feels about herself. They was she portrays herself. “Them unwrap me hand and foot” (“Lazarus” 28). Plath describes how people tried to control her life and how it was hard for her to do what she wanted. Her family would always have to watch over her to make sure she wouldn’t try and kill herself again, her husband, because she had to do what ever he told her to do and society in general because Plath went against some of societal ways and she was ridiculed for some of it. “These are my hands my knees. I may be skin and bone; nevertheless I am the same identical woman” (“Lazarus” 31-34). She describes herself saying that no matter what she goes through and who ever tries to change her, she will always be the same person.
“Stings” is about a bee and its way of life and how it compares with her life and her fathers life. “Bare-handed, I hand the combs” (“Stings” 1). Plath describes helping her father as a little girl, doing what he told her to do, which is what bees do to help out the Queen Bee. “The man in white smiles, bare-handed” (“Stings” 2). She is describing her father at work. “Molding onto his lips like lies” (“Stings” 49). Plath describes that everything her father has said to her were lies because he left her at such a young age. Similar to bees, their life span is short and they don’t know when they will die either.
Weather Plath was able to feel better after writing these poems; we still know how she feels about death, bees and her father. Sylvia Plath uses the images of body parts to show the dangers that she had faced in her life.
Word Count: 594