Sylvia Plath Essay
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 09/25/2011 02:08 AM
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how does paths use of personal voice shape emotional and intellectual responses to her poetry?
Sylvia Plath was an American poet born in 1932. Although at times referred to as the golden girl, Plath lived a chaotic and bipolar life. A disappointed wife and bereaved daughter, she was a suicidal mother of two, her electrically charged perceptions and amplified imagination that evolved out of her own inner torment. Plath’s continually varying mental state which has been attributed largely to the familial demons of her childhood played a large part in the mood and personal voice which can be heard in her confessional style of poetry.
Plath is considered one of the most emotionally evocative poets of the post war period. Although she did not achieve widespread acclaim as a poet until after her lifetime she managed to address some of the major issues still being faced in society such as self-consciousness, depression, more specifically suicide, sex and her pioneering views on the societal limitations of women for which she is best known for. It is through her views on patriarchal society which has lead her to great acclaim due to feminist movements have using her as an icon for feminist rights. We are here today to discuss Plath’s use of personal voice and how it has shaped emotional and intellectual responses to her poetry using three of her poems, Electra on Azalea Path, You’re and Ariel
In the poem Electra on Azalea Path several of these themes are addressed and through her prominent personal voice heard throughout the poem we are able to empathise and thus gain a better emotional understanding of the text. Electra on Azalea path is a confessional poem written after Plath visited her father’s grave for the first time in 1959. We gain a better understanding of the anguish Plath went through by her use of imagery, juxtaposing of words, references and extended metaphors.
The opening lines of the poem gives the audience an immediate insight into the pain and...
Sylvia Plath was an American poet born in 1932. Although at times referred to as the golden girl, Plath lived a chaotic and bipolar life. A disappointed wife and bereaved daughter, she was a suicidal mother of two, her electrically charged perceptions and amplified imagination that evolved out of her own inner torment. Plath’s continually varying mental state which has been attributed largely to the familial demons of her childhood played a large part in the mood and personal voice which can be heard in her confessional style of poetry.
Plath is considered one of the most emotionally evocative poets of the post war period. Although she did not achieve widespread acclaim as a poet until after her lifetime she managed to address some of the major issues still being faced in society such as self-consciousness, depression, more specifically suicide, sex and her pioneering views on the societal limitations of women for which she is best known for. It is through her views on patriarchal society which has lead her to great acclaim due to feminist movements have using her as an icon for feminist rights. We are here today to discuss Plath’s use of personal voice and how it has shaped emotional and intellectual responses to her poetry using three of her poems, Electra on Azalea Path, You’re and Ariel
In the poem Electra on Azalea Path several of these themes are addressed and through her prominent personal voice heard throughout the poem we are able to empathise and thus gain a better emotional understanding of the text. Electra on Azalea path is a confessional poem written after Plath visited her father’s grave for the first time in 1959. We gain a better understanding of the anguish Plath went through by her use of imagery, juxtaposing of words, references and extended metaphors.
The opening lines of the poem gives the audience an immediate insight into the pain and...