Mutilating Self Into Spirit: Sylvia Plath's Poems.
Sylvia Plath’s poems: Translation of the self into spirit, after an ordeal of mutilation.
Introduction of the poems and the essay: * “Daddy”
Sylvia Plath uses her poem, “Daddy”, to express intense emotions towards her father’s life and death and her disastrous relationship with her husband. The speaker in this poem is Sylvia Plath who has lost her father at age ten, at a time when she still adored him unconditionally. Then she gradually realizes the oppressing dominance of her father, and compares him to a Nazi, a devil, and a vampire. Later, the conflict of this relationship continues with her husband which led to a short and painful marriage. In “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, the author illustrates her feelings of anger and resentment towards her father and husband along with being oppressed for most of her life through her poetic devices of vivid metaphor, imagery, rhyme, tone, and simile.
* “Lady Lazarus”
The subject of "Lady Lazarus," a much-quoted poem in which Plath compares herself to that Biblical figure once resurrected by Christ (and to a cat with its nine lives) because she has been "resurrected" from attempted suicide three times. The poem is also an act of revenge on the male Ego.
* “Irony as a principle of Structure” an Essay by Brooks.
Cleanth Brooks article makes a lot of claims about the importance of metaphors and irony in literature. He has highlighted the use and importance of irony in a very impressive and literary way. His article "Irony as a Principle of Structure" is an excellent piece that stresses and underlines the importance of irony in poetry. According to Brooks, this was one way to visualize the impact of the context in regards to the literary techniques. The backbone of his article is the irony used in any literary work. He believes that this is the key technique to make the poetic or any literary piece more impressive but it should be used with great sense. With the help of different examples he also explained
Introduction of the poems and the essay: * “Daddy”
Sylvia Plath uses her poem, “Daddy”, to express intense emotions towards her father’s life and death and her disastrous relationship with her husband. The speaker in this poem is Sylvia Plath who has lost her father at age ten, at a time when she still adored him unconditionally. Then she gradually realizes the oppressing dominance of her father, and compares him to a Nazi, a devil, and a vampire. Later, the conflict of this relationship continues with her husband which led to a short and painful marriage. In “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, the author illustrates her feelings of anger and resentment towards her father and husband along with being oppressed for most of her life through her poetic devices of vivid metaphor, imagery, rhyme, tone, and simile.
* “Lady Lazarus”
The subject of "Lady Lazarus," a much-quoted poem in which Plath compares herself to that Biblical figure once resurrected by Christ (and to a cat with its nine lives) because she has been "resurrected" from attempted suicide three times. The poem is also an act of revenge on the male Ego.
* “Irony as a principle of Structure” an Essay by Brooks.
Cleanth Brooks article makes a lot of claims about the importance of metaphors and irony in literature. He has highlighted the use and importance of irony in a very impressive and literary way. His article "Irony as a Principle of Structure" is an excellent piece that stresses and underlines the importance of irony in poetry. According to Brooks, this was one way to visualize the impact of the context in regards to the literary techniques. The backbone of his article is the irony used in any literary work. He believes that this is the key technique to make the poetic or any literary piece more impressive but it should be used with great sense. With the help of different examples he also explained
Citations: Cleanth Brooks, "Irony as a Principle of Structure," in Literary Opinion in America, 2nd ed., ed. M. D. Zabel (New York: Harper and Row, 1951), p. 736. Mitchell, Paul. “Reading (And) the Late Poems of Sylvia Plath” The Modern Language Review. Modern Humanities Research Association. Vol. 100, No. 1 (Jan., 2005), 37-50. 21/10/2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3738053> Modern American Poetry Strangeways, Al. " 'The Boot in the Face ': The Problem of the Holocaust in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath." Contemporary Literature 37.3 (1996): 370-90. 22/10/2010. <http://www.sylviaplath.de/plath/strangeways.html>