Sylvia Plath Essay
- Submitted by: james96
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- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 10/27/2013 10:57 AM
- Pages: 3
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From studying the unique poetry of Plath, I found it intense, deeply personal and somewhat disturbing as she wrote about the horrors of depression with ruthless honesty. Sylvia Plath’s poetry allows me to journey with her through personal experiences, and emotions that she feels that wasn't acknowledged during her lifetime and in a way it made her poems brilliantly intense. This can be seen most clearly in ‘Child’, ‘Poppies in July’ and also ‘Mirror’.
A poem that describes the intense and disturbing life of Plath in a deeply disturbing and personal way is ‘Poppies in July’. In the unsettled atmosphere, it is evident that Plath is permeated with heartbreak and depression. ‘You flicker. I cannot touch you. I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns.’ Her anger is displayed through the disturbing use of the colour red, also symbolising danger. Poppies are usually a magnificent image of happiness and nature, but in Plath’s poem we can see through her dubious and appalling honesty that even the nice things in life are making her angry and upset, she can get no happiness from anything anymore.”Colourless”... I feel an intense sadness for Plath as I read this poem because what she is aching for is help a human hand. She is looking for escape, oblivion, relief or neutrality, she can see no life worth living anymore and this makes ‘Poppies in July’ even more disturbing. If I could bleed, or sleep!
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”. The clear eye later reflects Plath’s image back at her but her admiration for it leads her to the impulse to “fill it with colours and ducks”. She feels her child deserves the best; that she deserves to be happy and in awe of “the zoo of the new”. Plath compares life to a zoo. She feels life is a big collection of...
A poem that describes the intense and disturbing life of Plath in a deeply disturbing and personal way is ‘Poppies in July’. In the unsettled atmosphere, it is evident that Plath is permeated with heartbreak and depression. ‘You flicker. I cannot touch you. I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns.’ Her anger is displayed through the disturbing use of the colour red, also symbolising danger. Poppies are usually a magnificent image of happiness and nature, but in Plath’s poem we can see through her dubious and appalling honesty that even the nice things in life are making her angry and upset, she can get no happiness from anything anymore.”Colourless”... I feel an intense sadness for Plath as I read this poem because what she is aching for is help a human hand. She is looking for escape, oblivion, relief or neutrality, she can see no life worth living anymore and this makes ‘Poppies in July’ even more disturbing. If I could bleed, or sleep!
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”. The clear eye later reflects Plath’s image back at her but her admiration for it leads her to the impulse to “fill it with colours and ducks”. She feels her child deserves the best; that she deserves to be happy and in awe of “the zoo of the new”. Plath compares life to a zoo. She feels life is a big collection of...