Early Life
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1932.
Her parents Otto and Auriela, believed in hard work and
were committed to educating Plath.
Plaths father died when she was eight years old. After that
Plath declared: “I’ll never speak to God again”.
The Teenage Years…
A gifted and troubled poet, known for the confessional style of
her work. Her interest in writing emerged at an early age, and
she started out by keeping a journal.
After publishing a number of works, Plath won a scholarship to
Smith College in 1950.
While she was a student, Sylvia Plath spent time in New York
City during the summer of 1953 working for Mademoiselle
magazine as a guest editor.
Soon after, at the age of 20, Plath tried to kill herself by taking
sleeping pills. She eventually recovered, having received
treatment during a stay in a mental health facility. Plath
returned to Smith and finished her degree in 1955.
Relationship and Published Poetry
Plath earned a full scholarship to Cambridge University in England.
While studying at the university's Newnham College, she met the poet
Ted Hughes. They married him in 1956 and had a very stormy
relationship.
Plath spent time with other poets such as Robert Lowell and Ann
Sexton. She taught English in College.
She was seen as a rising poetic star and her first collection of poetry, The
Colossus, published in England in 1960. That same year, she gave birth
to her first child, Freida and two years later, Plath had a second child,
Nicholas. Unfortunately, the couple's marriage was falling apart.
Death
Hughes left Plath for another woman in 1963. As a result she fell into a deep
depression. For the six months after this separation, Plath wrote 61 poems. ¼ of
her overall work.
It was at this time she wrote The Bell Jar which is based on her life and deals
with a young woman’s break down. She also created the poems that would make
up the collection Ariel (1965), which was released after her death. Sylvia Plath
committed suicide on February 11, 1963.
There is a lot of ambiguity leading up to her death. Plath took care to make
provisions for her children and wrote a note to her children’s nurse to call the
doctor.
Plath ended her life by placing a white towel inside her oven and laying her
head on it. She asphyxiated herself.
She died at the age of 30.
Cultural Context
Plath was born into a male dominated world. Her father ruled
the family and Plath grew up wanting to be a perfect American
girl.
A woman in the 1950’s aspired to be a wife, a homemaker and
not to be a professional or have a career.
There was a tolerance of male promiscuity but girls were
expected to be modest and virginal.
Not to marry= “Unfeminine”
Plath struggled to escape this ideal perfection
Quiz
Where was Sylvia Plath born?
What was her husband’s name?
What did her husband work at?
How did Sylvia Plath die?
Name one of Plath’s published works.
Tuesday Period 8
Classwork: Questions 1- 5 page 377
Homework: Look over notes from today and prepare
for a short quiz next Tuesday.
Work will be checked next Tuesday.
Poppies in July
Written during the break up of Plath’s marriage;
The poetic persona addresses the flowers in a voice
that is overwrought and anguished
Originally poppies are a flower of rememberance of the
war dead. In this poem it takes on a dark and
destructive resonance, indicating a troubled mind.
One of the poems written before her death, Plath
wrote that these poems report on “the weather of her
inner universe”.
Little poppies, little hell flames, Do you do no
harm?
You flicker. I cannot touch you. I put my hands
among the flames. Nothing burns
And it exhausts me to watch you Flickering like
that, wrinkly and clear red, like the skin of a
mouth.
Poppies in
A mouth just bloodied. Little bloody skirts!
July
There are fumes I cannot touch. Where are your
opiates, your nauseous capsules?
If I could bleed, or sleep! If my mouth could
marry a hurt like that!
Or your liquors seep to me, in this glass
capsule, Dulling and stilling.
But colorless. Colorless.
Imagery
① Beautiful flowers are being associated with violence
and bloodshed “Little poppies… Little bloody skirts”;
② The poem contains disturbing images when she puts
her hands “among the flames” and suggests a selfdestructive tendency.
①
Interpreting the Poem
This poem is open for many interpretations but the speaker is
clearly distressed and acting out a psychological drama in her
words. “Little poppies, little hell flames”, this opening metaphor
sets the tone for the dark poem that follows. The flowers, usually
associated as a joyful image of natural beauty, are immediately
associated with evil.
Plath is deeply unhappy and feels trapped. The “glass capsule”
(bell jar) is a reoccurring image in Plath’s work- being trapped in a
glass jar, like an exhibit in a museum. A sense of stifling
confinement.
Plath wants something to change in her life or wants it to end.
The last line “But colorless. Colorless” can be interpreted as a
death wish
Style and Form
Short dramatic statements, with careful punctuation,
organised into unrhymed, irregular couplets.
Use of exclamation and question marks adds to the
dramatic impact of the poem
There are a range of tones used: fascination, frustration,
disgust, repulsion, intense desire and longing.
A range of sounds such as crackle of the flames in the
opening lines. Onomatopoeic effect of the ‘c’ and ‘k’ which
is in stark contrast to the final three lines of the poem with
the soft ‘s’ sounds and the long ‘u’ and ‘ou’ vowels which
create a sense of ease and quiet.
Personal Response
Imagine that you are the poet. Write two diary entries
that give your reaction to the poem a long time after
you first wrote it.
Child
Published eight years after Plath’s death;
Written shortly after her sons first birthday and less than two weeks
before Plath took her own life;
Beautifully phrased and composed poem expressing her frustrated
wishes for her child
Difficult not to read without taking in the context in which is was
written as the poem presents a speaker who has lost confidence in her
ability to create joy
It depicts a mother who is unable to escape her own anguish and
despair but anxious to spare her child the sight of it
She does not want the child’s clear eye to witness the pain she endures
however she lacks the strength and self belief to make things otherwise.
Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful
thing.
I want to fill it with color and ducks,
The zoo of the new
Whose name you meditate -April snowdrop, Indian pipe,
Little
Stalk without wrinkle,
Pool in which images
Should be grand and classical
Not this troublous
Wringing of hands, this dark
Ceiling without a star.
Child
Interpreting the Poem
Key themes: love for her child and her own desperation
Clear, simple language- a young child could understand it. Reference
to childish things “colour and ducks”, “the zoo of the new”, “April
Snowdrop”, “Indian Pipe”- its simplicity adds a tone of poignancy to
the poem.
Stark contrast between the joy and colour of the child’s world and the
despair and darkness that engulfs the poet. The “zoo of the new” is a
perfect phrase to describe the variety and adventure of new
experiences and things she intends for the child. This is contrasted
with the “troublous/ Wringing of hands, this dark/ Ceiling without a
star”.
“the one absolutely beautiful thing”- use of superlative adjectives
captures the admiration of the child’s innocence, beauty and purity.
Images of light and darkness are used- Plath would like to provide her
child with vast horizons of opportunity- a starlit sky- but for her there
is only darkness without a guiding star or hope. The phrase wringing
of hands conveys powerlessness, anger and frustration. The image of a
“dark ceiling” suggests limitation and lack of focus, a type of
imprisonment “without a star” (hint at claustrophobia?)
Style and Form
“Child” exemplifies Plath’s skill and judgment as a poet.
The sounds and language are almost childlike, as in keeping with the
content.
The despair that underlies the poem is managed and controlled.
It is clear that every word is carefully chosen for example “little” (line 6)
and “dark” (line11) are perfectly placed.
Plath uses natural images to illustrate complex emotions. The child
is described as a metaphor: “Pool in which images / Should be grand and
classical“. The child is a symbol of pure innocence and hope.
Plath is hopeful in her wishes for her child, thus the poem starts off
in a positive tone. Soon it becomes clear that the poet is incapable
of providing these opportunities for her child and her anguish
becomes all too clear. The poem doesn’t just end on a negative tone,
but a desperate and alarming one.
Imagery
“Your clear eye…. I want to fill it with colour and
ducks….Zoo of the new”
“Pool in which images should be grand and classical”
“Why I enjoy reading the
poetry of Sylvia Plath”
Personal Response
If you could write a letter to Sylvia Plath, after reading
“child”, what would you say to her?
Or
What music would you select to accompany a reading
of this poem? Explain your choice.
The Arrival of the Bee Box
I ordered this, clean wood box
Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.
I would say it was the coffin of a midget
Or a square baby
Were there not such a din in it.
I am not a Caesar.
I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.
They can be sent back.
They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the
owner.
The box is locked, it is dangerous.
I have to live with it overnight
And I can't keep away from it.
There are no windows, so I can't see what is in there.
There is only a little grid, no exit.
I wonder how hungry they are.
I wonder if they would forget me
If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into
a tree.
There is the laburnum, its blond colonnades,
And the petticoats of the cherry.
I put my eye to the grid.
It is dark, dark,
With the swarmy feeling of African hands
Minute and shrunk for export,
Black on black, angrily clambering.
How can I let them out?
It is the noise that appalls me most of all,
The unintelligible syllables.
It is like a Roman mob,
Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!
I lay my ear to furious Latin.
They might ignore me immediately
In my moon suit and funeral veil.
I am no source of honey
So why should they turn on me?
Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.
The box is only temporary.
Plath and Hughes, in 1962, decided to take up bee
keeping. Following their separation, Plath wrote a
series of poems about bees. The Arrival of the Bee Box, is
one that can exists on its own. It explores the nature of
the self and self-identity; personal fears; complex
relations and attitudes towards freedom and control.
The box itself both frightens and fascinates the speaker
of the poem. However, the bee box is often read as a
symbol for the inner life of the speaker or a symbol for
poetry itself, a formal shape which contains a swarm of
ideas and feelings.
Interpreting the Poem
Can be read as the story of an inexperienced beekeeper who orders a
box of bees and is then afraid to release them.
White female beekeeper wants to free the black bees but she is
appalled by them and afraid of what they might do to her
A psychological drama between the inner turmoil of the speaker (
version of Plath), and the outer, the control Plath displays
Danger involved in writing poetry- the bees could represent her mind
and the repressed feelings, memories, and ideas it contains. It is a
dangerous subject matter that both fascinates and appalls her. The
box could represent the poem- a structure that contains and controls
the dangerous swarming content of her mind.
The beekeeper by opening the bee box is releasing repressed feelings.
Style and Form of the Poem
Five lined Unrhymed stanzas
The Language is direct and powerful. From the beginning with “this”,
the speaker utters words in short, sharp bursts.
Repitition of “dark”, “black” and ‘I’ has a dramatic impact on the poem
Run on lines and conversational words- like a story
Repition of the sound “r” “Square”, “chair”, “were” and “there” and the
final word “temporary”
Narrative structure, use of present tense- sense of flow of time and live
the experience with the speaker
The last line escapes the five line stanza structure- the speaker
announces her intention to free the bees in a line, that seems to escape
the formal structure of the poem.
Mirror
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthfulThe eye of the little god, four cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
About the Poem
One of a group of poems written Autumn 1961 before
Plath’s 29th birthday. Ted Hughes and Plath had just
moved to Court Green in Devon.
Plath was pregnant with her second child and did not
write another poem until before the birth of her baby,
Nicholas.
Interpreting the Poem
Mirrors are reoccurring in Plath’s poems. Perhaps, they
suggest the dangers of judging ourselves too harshly, or of
seeking perfection. Or they may suggest the lonely drama of
living and dying, as it was, in the end, Plath herself.
The world of the poem is a bleak and unloving one. The
perceiving and recording intelligence is cold and inhuman.
It gives nothing creative, warm or assuring to the woman.
Some may feel the controlled accuracy of the language of
this poem emphasises the agitation and disturbed feelings
that lie carefully behind the well chosen words and phrases.
Style and Form
A nine-line stanza poem, with irregular length lines but the lines are
mostly long. On the page, the two stanzas of the poem appear to mirror
each other.
Short words with final voiced consonants (“exact”, “just”, “pink”, “part”
and so on) and with many of the lines forming complete sentences
create an impression of cold precision and exactness like the mirror
itself.
The cold tone of the poem is reflected in the carefully phrased
statements and harsh “k” sounds of the first stanza.
Like poem “Elm”, Plath uses personification to achieve a sinister affect.
The run on line (line 17) that continues with “rises” in the last line of
the poem works brilliantly to mirror the shock of the “old woman”
rising like a “terrible fish”.
Pheasant
You said you would kill it this
morning.
Do not kill it. It startles me still,
The jut of that odd, dark head,
pacing
Through the uncut grass on the elm's
hill.
It is something to own a pheasant,
Or just to be visited at all.
I am not mystical: it isn't
As if I thought it had a spirit.
It is simply in its element.
That gives it a kingliness, a right.
The print of its big foot last winter,
The trail-track, on the snow in our
court
The wonder of it, in that pallor,
Through crosshatch of sparrow and
starling.
Is it its rareness, then? It is rare.
But a dozen would be worth having,
A hundred, on that hill-green and
red,
Crossing and recrossing: a fine thing!
It is such a good shape, so vivid.
It's a little cornucopia.
It unclaps, brown as a leaf, and loud,
Settles in the elm, and is easy.
It was sunning in the narcissi.
I trespass stupidly. Let be, let be.
The Pheasant
Written in April 1962, during an enormous bout of
creativity.
It originates from when Plath glimpses a pheasant
standing on a hill at the back of her house
Some critics view this poem in terms of its speaker and
the person she addresses. One could identify the “you”
of the poem as Ted Hughes who came from a Yorkshire
family that were well used to hunting
Critical Interpretation
Some critics believe that the plea is not about the pheasant but for
the poet herself. The poem was written during a tense period in
her marriage and thus can presume Plath is the speaker and the
“you” mentioned is Ted Hughes.
The Pheasant could represent the marriage under threat from the
male- who is intent on destroying it.
The female pleas for it, suggesting the relationship of power is an
unequal one- the male having the control over life or death (like
ABB)
The male is a silent, powerful presence in the poem leaving the
female the pleading supplicant.
Form
A conversational Quality with anguished tone. There is also
an envious tone at the ease in which the pheasant “settles in
the elm and is easy”.
Tone changes as the speaker describes herself trespassing on
the pheasant.
Apart from the final line, Plath uses a nine-syllable lines with
subtle rhymes and half rhymes in the poem.
Follows the terza rima scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED etc
This poem is impressive as Plath retains a conversational tone
whilst following this strict form.
Black Rook in Rainy Weather
On the stiff twig up there
Hunches a wet black rook
Arranging and rearranging its feathers in the rain.
I do not expect a miracle
Or an accident
By bestowing largesse, honor,
One might say love. At any rate, I now walk
Wary (for it could happen
Even in this dull, ruinous landscape); sceptical,
Yet politic; ignorant
To set the sight on fire
In my eye, not seek
Any more in the desultory weather some design,
But let spotted leaves fall as they fall,
Without ceremony, or portent.
Of whatever angel may choose to flare
Suddenly at my elbow. I only know that a rook
Ordering its black feathers can so shine
As to seize my senses, haul
My eyelids up, and grant
Although, I admit, I desire,
Occasionally, some backtalk
From the mute sky, I can't honestly complain:
A certain minor light may still
Leap incandescent
A brief respite from fear
Of total neutrality. With luck,
Trekking stubborn through this season
Of fatigue, I shall
Patch together a content
Out of the kitchen table or chair
As if a celestial burning took
Possession of the most obtuse objects now and then --Thus hallowing an interval
Otherwise inconsequent
Of sorts. Miracles occur,
If you care to call those spasmodic
Tricks of radiance miracles. The wait's begun again,
The long wait for the angel.
For that rare, random descent.
Black Rook in Rainy Weather
(Explores poetic inspiration – those moments that offer a respite from fear
of total neutrality)
Black Rook explores the nature of poetic inspiration. It’s the moment that
"a celestial burning" takes place and an "angel" descends, "that rare, random
descent" when the poet is inspired by a common thing--a "kitchen table or
chair," a "rook ordering its feathers," or "the most obtuse objects now and
then.“
The poem beautifully captures what poetry meant to Plath; the brutal
honesty of it strips the act of writing to its bare essentials--that amazing
moment all poets wait for, the moment of inspiration, when suddenly
something is illuminated, and all there is to do is to write a poem about it,
to capture that moment in language, to commemorate that blissful
interval when they become a vehicle for transcendence.
Plath believes that it is these “miracles” that offer a “brief respite from fear”
for without them, her life would be intolerable.
Form
Unrhymed five-lined stanzas, a form that Plath also uses in
Arrival of the Bee Box. This form allows for flexibility in rhythm
and pacing. It takes on a lyrical meditation.
She marries sound to emotional tone of the poem: “Trekking
stubborn through this season”: the long vowel sounds and the
alliteration capture the effort and labour associated with being
a poet.
The images displayed in the poem are light and radiant with
hints of a transformation: “From the mute sky, I can't honestly
complain: A certain minor light may still Leap incandescent”
Tone: Fearful, hopeful and cautious. (Find evidence of these
in the poem.
Poppies in
July
Child
Arrival of the
Beebox
Nature
Nature
Nature
Anguished
voice
Anguished
Voice
Mirror
Anguished
voice
Freedom and
Control
The act of
writing poetry
Pheasant
Black Rook in
Rainy
Weather
Nature
Nature
Anguished
Voice
Freedom and
Control
The act of
writing poetry
Exploration of
the mind
Use of
weather,
colours and
natural objects
Striking and
surreal images
Give your personal response to the poetry of Sylvia Plath, describing
the impact of the poems upon you. Support your answer by relevant
quotation from the poems you have studied.
All five areas should be concentrated on in your own personal notes:
1. Her themes, for example Entrapment, Exploration of the Mind
and Power and Freedom
2. The anguished voice of some of her poems
3. The startling imagery and symbolism employed in the poems
4. Her skill as a poet
5. The relationship between her life and her poetry
Sylvia Plath: Themes
Entrapment; Exploration of the Mind; Power and
Freedom
STOP!
Remember when writing the title of one of Sylvia
Plath’s poem highlight or underline it.
Don’t forget, in Higher Level English, poems are not
given on the day of the exam. You must learn specific
lines of the poem to be able to support your view.
Support is
Entrapment: How are the following
poems about entrapment?
In Child, Plath compares life to a zoo. She feels life is a big
collection of cages for people to be trapped in. This becomes
apparent when she says “not this troublous wringing of hands”.
The troublous wringing symbolises….
her agitated mind and a world which is “without a star”. She
feels there is no hope in life and her feelings of inadequacy – not
being able to fill her son’s life with colours and ducks
Sylvia Plath’s Pheasant is a brilliantly dramatic poem about a
woman pleading to a man to spare a pheasant he has threatened
to kill…
In Poppies in July, the speaker is acting out a psychological drama…
Exploration of the Mind:What do the following
poems tell us about Sylvia Plath’s mind?
•
Plath’s poetry is a great example of the exploration of the mind and how
deeply personal poetry can be. “Child” is a perfect example of this. The
poem begins with a fascination and love for her child: “Your clear eye is the
one absolutely beautiful thing”. Plath’s world is…
•
In Arrival of the Bee Box, the poem is deeply personal and disturbing as it
explores Plath’s dark mind and the struggle within it. “I lay my ear to
furious latin… I have simply ordered a box of maniacs”. The bees in the box
represent………
Sylvia Plath’s mental anguish and inner demons. She calls them maniacs
because she feels they will her if set loose but, again, she wants to experience
their inspiration and their emotion. A disturbing quality to this is poem is that
Plath predicted her own suicide in the line “with my moon suit and funeral veil”
which leads the reader to assume she undid the locks eventually. Afterall, “the
box is only temporary”.
•
In Mirror the technique of personification is employed to achieve a sinister
affect. The mirror becomes….
Power and Freedom:What do the following
poems have to do with Power and
Freedom?
In “Pheasant” and “The Arrival of the Beebox” she
worries that power corrupts people in frightening ways.
“Pheasant”
“The Arrival of the Beebox”
The anguished voice of some
of her poems
In Pheasant, the repetition of “let be” suggests the
speaker is……….
emotional and over wrought
The speaker in Poppies in July is anguished and
emotional. We see this when….
Sylvia Plath’s Child begins with a mother who is
inventive and fun but she becomes anxious and full of
despair as she does not want……..
Style of Sylvia Plath:
Carefully Composed and
Beautifully Phrased
In Mirror, the controlled accuracy of the language of
the poem emphasizes the agitation and disturbed
feelings that lie behind…..
In Poppies in July, short dramatic statements…
In Pheasants, Plath’s ability to retain a conversational
quality whilst still maintaining a strict form is
remarkable. (give details here)
A prime example of a beautifully phrased poem is
Sylvia Plath’s Child…
The startling imagery and symbolism employed
in the poems
Plath has a unique way with words and a wonderful array of
images that add to the personality of each poem…..
In Mirror, the image of the second stanza is striking. Like the
bee box in The Arrival of the Bee Box, the lake represents the
dark and fearful inner life. In Mirror, the woman is alone
and has no one else to turn to, except the moon and the
candles.
Similarly in Child, Plath used water as a metaphor
Poppies in July displays a terrifying array of images, in which
the speaker sees the poppies as…..
The relationship between her
life and her poetry
As poets come and go, few I found were as self revealing as Sylvia Plath. This is one
of the primary aspects of her poetry that appeals to me…..
In many of her poems she reveals how difficult the act of writing poetry is. We see
this in…..
As a woman in a male dominated society, Plath felt unable to express her feelings
and outlooks and turned to writing poetry as a means of escape from what she felt
to be an unrewarding life. Her poetry portrays a woman who constantly struggled
with depression and mental illness and is a vast collection of pure and raw emotion
that I can’t help but admire. Where does this occur?
Towards the end of Plath’s marriage was an intense personal and psychological
turmoil for Plath, as both her relationship and mental state disintegrated she
experienced a heightened level of creativity. What poems do you see this in?
Write a note under the above headings.
Try and include evidence in at least two of Plath’ poems.
1. Plath depicts a difficult relationship between her life
and her poetry.
2. Poems are intense, deeply personal and disturbing.
3. Plath’s poetry is full of her deep doubts and fears
which she reveals with startling honesty.
4. Poems are poised between celebration and despair
5. There are many images of entrapment and release