English Papaer
The Psychoanalysis of “Digging”, “My Papa’s Waltz”, and “Lady Lazarus”
In the twentieth century, Freud created the theory of psychoanalysis. He believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations. By doing this, one could gain insight and release repressed emotions or experiences. Today, this analysis is also used in literature and can be used to investigate many different aspects of the work. Some approaches are to investigate the characters, second to study the psychology of the writer, and third to investigate whether it relates to abnormal mental functions (Kaye par. 3). Using these three ways of psychoanalysis, I analyzed the poems “Digging” by Seamus Heaney, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, and “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath and discovered how the mental state of the author affects the characters and tone of their writing.
Seamus Heaney 's "Digging” opens with the author at his desk, pen in hand, and beginning to write. The first person to investigate would be the speaker, who is distracted by his father outside working in the fields, and continually referring to the field work as “digging”. The poems then jumps into the speaker’s memory and reflects on the nature of tradition, the changes that have occurred between previous generations of Irishmen and his own, and analogies between poetry and forms of labor of the North Ireland society in which he grew up (Miller par. 2). In these memories, we come to find out the author does not have the farming skills and desire to farm like the past men in his family. Heaney suggests that for the speaker’s grandfather and father, digging was indeed a way of connecting with the past and making contact with old customs of Irish rural life. For them, tradition was no written history, but rather the elemental smells, textures, and sounds of country labor such as harvesting potatoes and cutting the fields (par. 4). In the last stanza, he comes back to the present and
In the twentieth century, Freud created the theory of psychoanalysis. He believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations. By doing this, one could gain insight and release repressed emotions or experiences. Today, this analysis is also used in literature and can be used to investigate many different aspects of the work. Some approaches are to investigate the characters, second to study the psychology of the writer, and third to investigate whether it relates to abnormal mental functions (Kaye par. 3). Using these three ways of psychoanalysis, I analyzed the poems “Digging” by Seamus Heaney, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, and “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath and discovered how the mental state of the author affects the characters and tone of their writing.
Seamus Heaney 's "Digging” opens with the author at his desk, pen in hand, and beginning to write. The first person to investigate would be the speaker, who is distracted by his father outside working in the fields, and continually referring to the field work as “digging”. The poems then jumps into the speaker’s memory and reflects on the nature of tradition, the changes that have occurred between previous generations of Irishmen and his own, and analogies between poetry and forms of labor of the North Ireland society in which he grew up (Miller par. 2). In these memories, we come to find out the author does not have the farming skills and desire to farm like the past men in his family. Heaney suggests that for the speaker’s grandfather and father, digging was indeed a way of connecting with the past and making contact with old customs of Irish rural life. For them, tradition was no written history, but rather the elemental smells, textures, and sounds of country labor such as harvesting potatoes and cutting the fields (par. 4). In the last stanza, he comes back to the present and
Bibliography: Web. 7 Mar. 2013. Miller, Tyrus. "Critical Essay on 'Digging '." Poetry for Students. Ed. Mary Ruby. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. The central theme of this citation is to provide an in depth analysis on the poem. Tyrus Miller touches on every line and what is meant in each stanza. He is currently a professor, Vice Provost, and Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of California. He has won several awards and how taught at several different universities. This citation will be of help because not only does it inform me about what each lines of the poem can be interpreted as, it also discusses Heaney’s life. For my essay, I will not only examine the psychological state of the characters but the author’s state as well. Therefore, this will show me if there is a relation between the Heaney’s real life and the speaker in his poem.