History and a Case for Prescience: Short Studies of Sylvia Plath's 1956 Poems (original) (raw)

Psychological Study of Sylvia Plath’s Poetry

Literature and Psychology explores the relationships between text and reader as well as relationships within the text, with particular emphasis on emotion/affect. One central thematic focus of the course, in addition to affect, will be trauma–an experience of maximal affect and long term disruption. Whether we read to escape, to discover or even to fulfill requirements, we have a purpose, a motive, and more than likely some expectations. Moreover, we have a number of years of existence during which time we have adopted a large variety of rules, and we are likely to apply those rules to any new system we encounter. Generally speaking ,Sylvia Plath is one of those feminists who have sought to represent the suffering of women in a particular world. Focusing on feminist issues through the lens of her own experience, she was equally driven by a desire to achieve this while coping with a desperate lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. The loss of her father at an early age contributed to her fears of abandonment and insecurity. The point that will receive much emphasis throughout the present paper is her psychological state and its drastic consequences. Nearly all her poems convey a sense of melancholy, gloom and death. In a case like this, poetry is a kind of temporary bulwark against mounting despair and pain.

SYLVIA PLATH: A Frosted Profile

International Journal of Aquatic Science ISSN:2008-8019, 2021

Very few things in literary history have created an impact that has been associated with the suicide of Sylvia Plath. The sad circumstances that have preceded and followed her death have made it even more sinister and intriguing and their shadows have cast a huge veil of uncertainty and darkness which have within no time created a literary and cultural polarization. It also side-lined the modern poetry movement which was just picking up its lost reins after the second world war. Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes should have played a major role in such a revival. On the other hand, a whole generation of literary critics, writers, biographers, and social enthusiasts have focussed more than due attention to biographical details that do not contribute much to literary biography. They were engaged in a battle to establish or bring to light the gross injustice that has been perpetrated against an innocent girl trapped in a wedlock.

The Portrayal of Death in Sylvia Plath's Selected Poems

Journal of University of Garmian, 2020

One of the most outstanding poets, novelists and short story writers in American literature is Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). A confessional poet whose texts are genuine in style and subject matter. Death is a dominant theme in the poetry of Sylvia Plath. She had dealt with this topic from various perspectives. Her father's death left her dejected. Besides, her husband's betrayal made her more forlorn and desperate. All of these events in her life caused her mental state disorder and this is clear in the poems I chose to analyze, "Daddy", "Lady Lazarus", and "Edge". This paper examines Plath's depiction of death in her poetry and the illustration of death related to her biography. It also aims at presenting the existence of death in her life and the absence of the fear of death in her poetry as well; which is her observation of death. Moreover, it will examine how Sylvia Plath"s mental state did affect her works and how it is important for the reader to know the background of Sylvia Plath to understand her works. Hence, the paper will start with introducing her style of writing. Then, the paper analyzes the selected poems accordingly. For this purpose, the paper will give a deep dive into the selected poems of the poet"s posthumously poem collection book "Ariel", and conclude the overall picture of each poem for better understanding the reasons behind the poet"s behaviors. Finally, the paper concludes the findings of the study.

Emotion and Physicality in Sylvia Plath's Late Poems

Fuzzy Boundaries in Discourse Studies, 2019

The present chapter examines representations of affect and emotion in Sylvia Plath’s “Tulips” and “The Rabbit Catcher.” One area of fuzziness addressed here is the conceptual distinction between affect and emotion in affect studies. Affect as a preconscious experience is contrasted here with emotion conceived as socially coded and conscious phenomenon. Another fuzzy territory in terms of methodology is the relationship between discourse studies and the affective turn, with affect theorists turning away from representational practices. The present chapter argues that emotion is fundamentally social and forms part of discursive practices in society. Moreover, the textual analysis of poems requires an acknowledgement of the validity of representation. In particular, three types of discourse and the emotions they engender are considered, opposed to which the speaker’s affects emerge as counterpoints: the medical, the religious and the sexual discourse. While discourse is applied here in the sense used by cultural theorists, the notion of affect is approached through Spinozist and Deleuzian theories. The first part of the chapter theorises the difference between affect and emotion and discusses the relevance of discourse studies to representations of affect. The second and third parts discuss each of the poems, applying Deleuze’s affect theory and textual analysis. The chapter aims at distinguishing affect from emotion clearly through the close readings of the two poems, applying discourse analysis methods in combination with affect theories in order to highlight the importance of the literary representations of affects.