Sylvia Plath

 

LIFE:

·      Born in Boston USA in 1932

·      Had a mental breakdown at the age of 20

·      She was a brilliant student both at high school and at university (scholarship to Cambridge)

·      She married Ted Hughes (renown English poet) at the age of 24 - turbulent relationships

·      They had two children - marriage broke up 1962 when discovered Hughes’s infidelity 

·      She suffered from depression after the separation

·      She committed suicide in 1963

·      Most of her poems were published posthumously

·      Plath was a fiercely intelligent ambitious, beautiful American poet who had an artistic talent and who received many awards.

·      Many feminist critics find patriarchal oppression as evidence of Plath's suffering. Plath grew up in an era when women were expected to be submissive, have a “decorative role” and hide their inner feelings. She tried hard to play the role of a “perfect woman” but gave vent to her suppressed fury in her poems and in this way she shattered the lie of decorous femininity. 

·      Her poems express feelings of inner turmoil, describing a soul haunted by repressed emotions which seek satisfaction.

 

THEMES

·      Mental Anguish - key words: tormented soul, sense of inadequacy, self-destructive thoughts, inertia, death drive, annihilation, depression, alienation, grief and joy

·      Femininity and Motherhood – key words: pressure of being a woman / mother, aging, sense of loss, search for inner self, meaning of life, exploring the unconscious, nature, nurture,

 

STYLE in Mirror – I am Vertical

·      Verse: free verse – 2 stanzas

·      Rhythm: it echoes everyday speech - light and easy rhythm, often slow, with many pauses

·      Tone: contrasting tones revealing her inner state

·      Language: words borrowed from technical language (vertical, horizontal, infinitesimal, four-cornered, exact, preconceptions…) - use of hyperbole and personification (in Mirror: inanimate object has thoughts, ideas and emotions, has truthfulness, faithfulness and jealousy)

·      Imagery: surreal, ironic, clever, emotional, puzzling…

·      Metaphors: mirror reflecting both inner and outer reality – idealized natural world which is the source of beauty, balance, nurture and care

·      Myths and archetypes: Narcissus, the archetype of the mother, archetype of the Earth,