Sylvia Plath Poetry
Plath notes:
Why does Sylvia Plath’s poetry have textual integrity (i.e. unity)? * Context – Plath’s and yours * Informed PERSONAL understanding
IDEAS
* CONSTRUCTION * LANGUAGE FEATURES * SIGNIFICANCE Context: 1. Plath wrote in the early 1960’s 2. Plath suffered from depression and Bi-Polar, pervious to her main period of writing, she had on one occasion attempted suicide. 3. Plath loves and cares for her children, maternal instincts and influence. 4. Plath was born in USA and won a scholarship to study poetry 5. Idolised her father (a very loving man) 6. She was raised in a biblical background, and this comes forth in her poetry in biblical allusions. 7. Married to ted Hughes, who, in the time close to her death, left her for an affair. 8. She was a perfectionist, an academic.
Ideas (Things she focuses on): * Depression * Her children – hope, reason, fear – transfer’s her mood * Creativity * Father * Escape/freedom * Death – acceptance * Superficiality
Construction:
Structure: * Simple form - reason * Often two to three line stanzas * BUT structure is deliberate-
-enjambment – for flow on of images and ideas
-internal rhyme – assonance
Language Features: * Symbolism – imagery – nature (moon, earth flowers), mundane objects, colours (White, plum, blood) * Biblical allusion (e.g. “… fish …”, “holy joes”, “Christ”, “a piranha religion”, “your crossed position”) * Assonance (internal rhyme) (e.g. “panes of ice, a vice of knives”) * Colloquial phrases * Repetition * Metaphors * Personification * Inversion * Contrast * Accumulation * Similes * Varies tone. * Voice – 2nd person(You) and 1st person
Significance (- relevance, originality)
Textual Integrity:
Unity:
* Relevance/significance * Ideas * Construction * Originality
How does Sylvia Plath’s poetry have textual integrity?
Discuss Using
Why does Sylvia Plath’s poetry have textual integrity (i.e. unity)? * Context – Plath’s and yours * Informed PERSONAL understanding
IDEAS
* CONSTRUCTION * LANGUAGE FEATURES * SIGNIFICANCE Context: 1. Plath wrote in the early 1960’s 2. Plath suffered from depression and Bi-Polar, pervious to her main period of writing, she had on one occasion attempted suicide. 3. Plath loves and cares for her children, maternal instincts and influence. 4. Plath was born in USA and won a scholarship to study poetry 5. Idolised her father (a very loving man) 6. She was raised in a biblical background, and this comes forth in her poetry in biblical allusions. 7. Married to ted Hughes, who, in the time close to her death, left her for an affair. 8. She was a perfectionist, an academic.
Ideas (Things she focuses on): * Depression * Her children – hope, reason, fear – transfer’s her mood * Creativity * Father * Escape/freedom * Death – acceptance * Superficiality
Construction:
Structure: * Simple form - reason * Often two to three line stanzas * BUT structure is deliberate-
-enjambment – for flow on of images and ideas
-internal rhyme – assonance
Language Features: * Symbolism – imagery – nature (moon, earth flowers), mundane objects, colours (White, plum, blood) * Biblical allusion (e.g. “… fish …”, “holy joes”, “Christ”, “a piranha religion”, “your crossed position”) * Assonance (internal rhyme) (e.g. “panes of ice, a vice of knives”) * Colloquial phrases * Repetition * Metaphors * Personification * Inversion * Contrast * Accumulation * Similes * Varies tone. * Voice – 2nd person(You) and 1st person
Significance (- relevance, originality)
Textual Integrity:
Unity:
* Relevance/significance * Ideas * Construction * Originality
How does Sylvia Plath’s poetry have textual integrity?
Discuss Using