Sylvia Plath E X P O S E D

1. Sylvia Plath E X P O S E D By Lizzy Taistra, Kayla Ellmann, Cassie Derrick

2. Background • Born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts • 2 middle class parents: who had immigrated from Grabaw, Germany • mother: Aurelia Schober • Sylvia had a bad relationship as a child with her • father: Otto Emil Plath • biology professor at Boston University • expert on bees • died in November 1940 • brother: Warren Plath • April 27, 1935 • Grew up in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts though she and her family moved throughout Mass. • live on the coast for a good amount of her childhood and fell in love with the beauty of the sea • Published first poem at age 8 • Was a very bright and intelligent girl in school and compelled toward perfection • 1950- attended Smith College • -Following her junior year, tried to commit suicide (sleeping pills). Recovery included electricoshock and psychotherapy. Discussed in her work The Bell Jar.-Resumed academic success... graduated summa cum laude (top of her class) from Smith College and received a Fulbright Scholarship to Cambridge, England.

3. …continued • February of 1959: decides to take a Robert Lowell writing class at Boston University. • here she meets and befriends two other young poets, Anne Sexton and George Starbuck • this class and new friendships are significant to Sylvia's life because through them she begins to look for criticism and acceptance of her work from outside sources. • The Bell Jar: published anonymously, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Was a popular book • Committed suicide on February 11, 1963, in London, England at age 30 (inhaled gas from a kitchen oven) • Ted Hughes • married to Sylvia on June 16, 1956 • also a poet (well-known and very successful) • 1st child: Frieda Rebecca Hughes- April 1, 1960 • had a miscarriage (see poem "Childless Woman") • 2nd child: Nicholas Hughes- January 17, 1962 • abandoned Sylvia for another woman, Assia Wevill Gutmann

4. Similarities between her life and poetry - father's death ("Daddy")-Sylvia was proud of her parents' backgrounds (German and Austrian decent)-this influenced her writing- attempted suicide in college-this shows depression and anxiety was a big part of her life- many poems related to her feelings- dad was an expert on bees ("The Bee Keeper's Daughter")-spent time in hospital because of attempted suicide- time of depression anxiety and panic (instability)- can be seen in her book The Bell Jar-miscarriage (Childless Woman)- struggled in her marriage; which affected her poetry- the collected poems in Ariel --inspired by her horse Ariel and her love for the sea-1962-63 the hardiness of her life increased her writing of poety because she was low on money and her 2 children had the flu-1962- towards the end of her life she wrote her best and most popular poetry

5. Quotations • It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative--whichever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it." (Sylvia Plath suffered from a bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression...there were no genuinely effective medications available during her lifetime.)

6. Patterns • -Inconsistent end rhyming- Analyzes different situations in life by viewpoints of different people, sometimes even by material objects/ideas (personification)(ex: "Mushrooms": "our toes, our noses take hold on the loam aquire the air")-Situations in each poem are over a long period of time (ex: Mirror) and the viewpoint changes throughout-Uses a lot of colors to describe feelings and certain situations. She changes them as the feelings begin to change.-Also uses color to set the mood (ex: black for darkness)-Often uses dark or even harsh descriptions of heavy feelings-has an obsession with death-Her poetry is like looking into a magnified glass; she sees every detail as it is and examines it closely and carefully("Tulips":" the tulips are too red", "Mushrooms": she examines mushrooms which someone would normally never look at because they are such simple creatures; which she gives such powerful and outspoken personalities)-Picks objects that no one would think of (RANDOM OBJECTS) and describes them as if they were common (?). (Random objects and beings that we don't notice often.)-Seems to go off on tangents. (Off task)

7. Literary Criticism negative • Robert Lowell: refering to the poems of Ariel- "Sylvia Plath becomes herself, becomes something imaginary, newly, wildly and subtly created..." "...one of those super-real, hypnotic, great classical heroines."- "language never dies in her mouth"- lines are repeated and sometimes the plot is lost (tangents)- poems are personal, confessional, and felt- risky writer has no limits (limitless--willing to face any challenge and cross any border)- "This poetry and life are not a career; they tell that life, even when disciplined, is simply not worth it."William F. Claire:- "last poems hit the reader with all the passion and pathos of a mind simultaneously fused with love and hate."- the poems are ofter "glorious, mostly sick, unbelievably irritating"- " A rare random descent was to strike Sylvia Plath often in poems that were fastidious in their choice of words, perceptive in their handling of metaphor and similie. The wonder of it all was her ability to keep imagery working for the poem and not against it. Her poems resist line extractions, build steadily, word by word, image by image."- "Her poetry finally transcended the restrictions of overemphasis on place..."- "Her insistent desire was to have the reader hear, feel, and experience her own ordeal."Eleanor Ross Taylor: refering to the poems in Ariel- "The staging throughout- the one-word questions, exclamations, excesses, three-word repetitions, and determined emphasis on woman's special experience- are self-consciously womanly, yet there is a curious underlying rejection of being a woman. In spite of the poems' ostensible candor and display of all innards... there is a preoccupation with blood and bleeding... There is a straining towards purity and virginity..."- "These poems are bursting with self, and, unlike the comparative classicism of her first book, highly romantic in their lack of reserve, in their adoration of the suffering, the wounds, the ignominy."- a love for language is apparent- "Many of the poems are hasty, sometimes prosy, sometimes over-imagined, with connections tenuous or non-existent--a number are unintelligible." • Dan Jaffe: referring to Ariel- "If, as Robert Frost pointed out, the purpose of any poem is to be different from every other poem, Ariel fails."- same techniques recur--Subjects are not really examined, explored, reviewed they are rather reviled, distorted, made terrifying.- "Each poem insists life is not worth it, thereby indicting poetry, too." 7

8. Literary Criticism positive • Thomas Blackburn:- believes that Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath often share the same vision- "her imagery tends to get out of hand"..."becomes not a single experience but a series of intriguing 'literary gems'."- The Colossus and Other Poems is distinguished for its fine handling of language and vitality of observationJohn Wain:- "writes clever, vivacious poetry"- she is intelligent with her writing and makes it fun- felt that Sylvia Plath wrote with a "great deal of care for the springy rhythm, the arresting image and her unusual words."Robert Taubman: is referring to The Bell Jar- tangents!- "Few writers are able to create a different world for you to live in; yet Miss Lucus [Sylvia Plath] in The Bell Jar has done just this..."- her writing is convincing- " She can feel the desolation and yet relate it to the landscape of everyday life."- FLAW: Sylvia explores as she writes "and if she can learn to shape as well as she imagines, she may write an extremely good book."- The Bell Jar was a considerable achievementPeter Davidson:- "[Plath's early poems] seemed to have no absolute necessity for being: they read like advanced exercises."- last months of her life- Sylvia wrote her best- "she stood at the edge of the abyss of existence and looked steadily, courageously, with holy curiosity, to the very bottom."- "No matter to whom these may be addressed, they are written for nobody's ears except the writer's. They have a ritual ring, the inevitable preface to doom."- "gallows humor"- "they carry little of the playfulness that is contained in most poetry. Their hectic, breathless rhythms give plenty of evidence that they were written in dead earnest, as stays against confusion that were at best only momentary."- "they are a triumph for poetry, in fact, at the moment that they are a defeat for their author."

9. Reflection of criticism • After reading many of her poems we agree with what the critics have said much of her writing is dark and depressing but after hearing about her life we can understand why. We strongly agree with William F. Claire’s vision on how, “A rare random descent was to strike Sylvia Plath often in poems that were fastidious in their choice of words, perceptive in their handling of metaphor and simile. The wonder of it all was her ability to keep imagery working for the poem and not against it. Her poems resist line extractions, build steadily, word by word, image by image."