Research Paper On Sylvia Plath

Poem and Poetry Research Paper “Dying is an art, like everything. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I’ve a call” – Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts on October 27th, 1932 and died in London, United Kingdom on February 11th, 1963 at the age of 31 years old. Sylvia is well known for her astonishing poem such as “Lady Lazarus” and “Daddy”. She always enjoyed poems. She said she can say it started with her love for nursery rhymes. She had her very first published poem when she was about eight maybe eight in a half. Her first poems were about nature but that drastically changed as she grew older. Sylvia is known for her pain, intense and
hostile poetry. Her theme of writing is very personal, that’s what readers know her by. As she grew older, she started to grow a sort of interest into psychological stories, like mental asylums for example. Her parents were Aurelia Schober, who was a student at Boston University and Otto Plath, who happened to be Aurelia Schober’s professor at the time (Academy of American Poets). She is from German and Austrian descent but considers herself more Americanized then anything else. “In 1940, when Plath was eight years old, her father died as a result of complications from diabetes. He had been a strict father, and both his authoritarian attitudes and his death drastically defined her relationships and her poems—most notably in her elegiac and infamous poem "Daddy."” (Academy of American Poets). In 1950, Plath attended Smith College, she entered a deep depression and attempted suicide in which she almost successfully succeeded. She looked for help and ended up graduating in 1955. After graduation, she moved to England in the year of 1956. She met the famous English poet we know today that goes by the name Ted Hughes. Within that same year they got married in the summer on June 16th (Academy of American Poets). One can notice that Plath didn’t have great relationships with men throughout her life.
For example, one can use her strict, very serious father or can even use her husband Ted Hughes. In 1962, Hughes left Plath for another woman. She goes by the name Assia Gutmann Wevill. “Sylvia faced the fact of Hughes's infidelity, expressing herself through increasingly angry--and powerful--poems.” (Two Views on Sylvia Plath’s Life and Career). Later on that year, Sylvia then entered another severe depression, which led her to one of her most famous books, Ariel then followed by The Bell Jar (Academy of American Poets). The Bell Jar was influenced by J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye. (Two views on Sylvia Plath’s Life and Career). Many people believe that she wrote it based on her previous experience and what she went through in life. On February 11th, it is said that Plath, wrote a note to her downstairs neighbor informing him to call the doctor. Then she was found dead because she committed suicide with cooking gas from her oven. (Academy of American
Poets). When it comes to Plath’s overall relationships with the two most important people in her life. One can see that they had a huge impact on who Sylvia Plath was as a writer. This poem is her most intensified and intriguing poem yet. “Sylvia Plath’s most famous poem, adored by many sons and daughters, is “Daddy”. It is a poem with an affecting theme, the feelings of the speaker as she regathers pain of her father’s premature death and her persuasion that has betrayed her by dying.” (Howe 1055). Sylvia Plath’s father died at a very young age, she was only eight years old. She always viewed her father as a strict man. Plath even compared her father to a Nazi. (“Panzer-man, panzer-man, O’ You”). This poem is a reflection of how Sylvia feels towards her father and the anger she has for him dying so young. Another example, of how Plath viewed her father as a Nazi according to Irving Howe, “Sylvia Plath tries to enlarge upon the personal plight, give meaning to the personal outcry, by fancying the girl as victim of a Nazi father: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew. . . .” ( Howe 1055). Another example of Sylvia’s hardships that she faced throughout life will be her famous novel The Bell Jar.
Although Plath didn’t use her specific name or other people’s names that she was associated with during her lifetime, one can obviously reflect it on her life. Ester Greenwood is the protagonist in this novel. Ester becomes mentally unstable because of the death of her father, who use to torment her as well as not fitting into the category of womanhood. So she attempted to commit suicide as a form of escape from life. The novel clearly displays Plath’s own experience I her life and how she experienced clinical depression, suicide attempts and psychiatric treatment. “As The Bell Jar vividly describes, 1950s America was an unbelievably stultifying and oppressive environment in which to grow up--particularly for women. The limitations imposed by sexism stymied Plath's talent at every turn.” (Trapped in The Bell Jar). Many of her readers happened to be woman. They viewed Plath’s life and death as a symbol. A symbol in which she informed woman that they can stand their own ground. Plath was a very political and social human being. In other words, Plath was a feminist. Her life was often overshadowed by her husband Ted Hughes. Many readers looked to Plath as the woman who gave the feminist movement a whole other meaning. Many people use to ask Plath how she could dare write about the things she did without the fear of criticism and thoughts of others who would read her
poems and novels. But at that point she didn’t really care because it is what kept her going, it’s what she loved to do. Plath suffered with various problems such as checking into a mental hospital due to suicide attempts, dealing with infidelity with her husband, drug abuse, as well as the intense relationship with her father. Yes, these things affected her and who she was as a writer. But one can sit back and see that she was a very intelligent woman. She put her feelings, emotions and thoughts on a piece of paper for others to read and reflect on. She lived during the 1950’s it was not easy being a woman at this time especially if you didn’t fit right in as the title of “womanhood”. Although Sylvia was married she felt alone because of the issues Hughes and her were facing. She lost her father at an early age, all Sylvia knew about men is what her father showed her. Sylvia is a courageous and brave woman who did the best she could when it came to “trying to fit into society”. Although, she ended her own life she still has a huge impact on her readers, feminists and everyone in literature.