Ted Hughes' Anthology: Birthday Letters
Intro
Ted’s anthology Birthday Letters a is skilful display of poeticism, offering his own person perspective on his dysfunctional marriage with Plath. Through confessional poems “Your Paris and “Sam”, Hughes offers a conflict perspective on Plath, persuading the reader that he was a victim of the marriage, suffering under Plath’s manipulative nature and mental instability.
Your Paris
Deals with appearance and reality and the truth that lies beneath the surface, however it is subjective as it is from the point of view of hughes
He explains how we unconsciously transform reality in order to hide from the truth
The poem acts as a representation of the differences between Hughes and Plath, the title ‘Your Paris’ and the emphasis on ‘your’ reveals that he is looking at her perspective, and how it implies that Sylvia is egocentric seeing her own psyche in all things
“Hotel des deux continents” symbolises the theme of duality. In a sense Hughes and Plath are two conflicting continents ,not sharing any common perspective of the world
Sam
Hughes repetition of “white” at the beginning of the poem invokes the fear of death, however it is death that foreshadows the poem
Anaphora of “lost your stirrups” “lost your reins” “lost your seat” all imply that Plath is mentally unstable and has lost control
\ Hughes’ poem entitled ‘Sam’ acts as an extended metaphor for the controversial relationship he had with Sylvia. By recounting an actual event in Plath’s torturous past, Hughes is able to relate his actions to Sylvia’s response. Throughout the poem, Hughes is constantly in control of Plath’s epic journey, and therefore their relationship. As Hughes ‘decided he’d had enough and started home at a gallop’, there was nothing for Sylvia to do but hold on for dear life.
1984
internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism
This novel delves deeper, however, with a governments abuse of power, with the totalitarian censorship of the truth, with the
Ted’s anthology Birthday Letters a is skilful display of poeticism, offering his own person perspective on his dysfunctional marriage with Plath. Through confessional poems “Your Paris and “Sam”, Hughes offers a conflict perspective on Plath, persuading the reader that he was a victim of the marriage, suffering under Plath’s manipulative nature and mental instability.
Your Paris
Deals with appearance and reality and the truth that lies beneath the surface, however it is subjective as it is from the point of view of hughes
He explains how we unconsciously transform reality in order to hide from the truth
The poem acts as a representation of the differences between Hughes and Plath, the title ‘Your Paris’ and the emphasis on ‘your’ reveals that he is looking at her perspective, and how it implies that Sylvia is egocentric seeing her own psyche in all things
“Hotel des deux continents” symbolises the theme of duality. In a sense Hughes and Plath are two conflicting continents ,not sharing any common perspective of the world
Sam
Hughes repetition of “white” at the beginning of the poem invokes the fear of death, however it is death that foreshadows the poem
Anaphora of “lost your stirrups” “lost your reins” “lost your seat” all imply that Plath is mentally unstable and has lost control
\ Hughes’ poem entitled ‘Sam’ acts as an extended metaphor for the controversial relationship he had with Sylvia. By recounting an actual event in Plath’s torturous past, Hughes is able to relate his actions to Sylvia’s response. Throughout the poem, Hughes is constantly in control of Plath’s epic journey, and therefore their relationship. As Hughes ‘decided he’d had enough and started home at a gallop’, there was nothing for Sylvia to do but hold on for dear life.
1984
internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism
This novel delves deeper, however, with a governments abuse of power, with the totalitarian censorship of the truth, with the