Critical Analysis Of Darkness At The End Of The Tunnel

Saying Sylvia Plath was a troubled woman would be an understatement. She was a dark poet, who attempted suicide many times, was hospitalized in a mental institution, was divorced with two children, and wrote confessional poems about fetuses, reflection, duality, and a female perspective on life. Putting her head in an oven and suffocating was probably the happiest moment in her life, considering she had wanted to die since her early twenties. However, one thing that was somewhat consistent throughout her depressing poetry would be the theme of the female perspective. The poems selected for analysis and comparison are, ”A Life”(1960),”You’re”(1960), “Mirror” (1961), “The Courage of Shutting-Up” (1962) and

Sylvia Plath is known as a profound writer, depicted by her lasting works of literature and her suicide which put her poems and novel of debilitating depression into a new perspective. In her poem “Lady Lazarus,” written in 1962, her mental illness is portrayed in a means to convey to her readers the everyday struggle of depression, and how it affects her view of her world, herself, and even those who attempt to tackle her battle with her. This poem, among other poetry pieces and her novel The Bell Jar, identify her multiple suicide attempts, and how the art of dying is something she has become a master of. Plath’s “Lady Lazarus,” about her trap of depression and suicide attempts, is effective and thought provoking because of her allusions to WWII Nazi Germany and the feelings of oppression and Nazism that the recurring images evoke.

In 1963 on a cold winter day of February 11th, Sylvia Plath ended her life. She had plugged up her kitchen, sealing up the cracks in doors and windows before she was found with her head inside of her gas oven inhaling the dangerous fumes. She was only thirty years old, a young woman with two small children and an estranged ex-husband. A tragic detail of her life is that this is the second time she had tried to commit suicide. Plagued with mental illness her whole life, which is evident within her poetry. She would write gripping, honest portrayals of mental illnesses. Especially within Ariel, the last poetry book she wrote, right before she took her life. Although it’s hard to find a proper diagnosis for Sylvia Plath, it is almost definite that she at least had clinical depression with her numerous suicide attempts and stays in mental hospitals undergoing electroshock therapy. Sylvia Plath is now famously known for her writing and the more tragic parts of her life. Such as the separation from her husband, Ted Hughes, mental illness, etc… Plath may not have intended for her life and art to become inspiration to many people but that has become the end result. Sylvia Plath writing shows symptoms of her suicidal thoughts. To study specific moments in Sylvia Plath’s life, it can be connected to certain writing’s of her’s, such as “Daddy”, The Bell Jar, and “Lady Lazarus”.

In her poem, “Lady Lazarus,” Sylvia Plath uses dark imagery, disturbing diction, and allusions to shameful historical happenings to create a unique and morbid tone that reflects the necessity of life and death. Although the imagery and diction and allusions are all dark and dreary, it seems that the speaker’s attitude towards death is positive. The speaker longs for death, and despises the fact the she is continually raised up out of it.

Sylvia Plath's poems evoke the worst of subjective fallacies. Probably some of our charged reactions are symptomatic of the times and the culture; but more of them seem to stem from the always-too-easy identification between troubled poet and what might be the tone of imagery and rhythm of the poem considered. Because Plath worked so intensively in archetypal imagery (water, air, fire as bases for image patterns, for example), many of her poems could be read as either "dark" wasteland kinds of expressions, or as the reverse, as death-by-water, salvation poems--destruction implied, but also survived, phoenix-like.

Slide 2: Sylvia Plath is a neurotic Poet who creates works that are more morbid than other poet’s works.

Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar was composed as a semi- auto biographical novel yet it dealt with many of the contemporary issues of the time such as women emancipation in a psychological sphere. Plath’s actual psyche is reflected in her work which she struggled to continue as a female writer. As an American writer she faced plentyof criticism which over-powered her mental faculty as a clinically depressed author. Sadly, she ended her life shortly after finishing this novel and her prolific writing career was cut short. Plath was presented with many obstacles after her traumatic break down which was mirrored in her work which depicted a sense of imprisonment and looming death, overshadowing any scope for personal freedom. The novel was partly based

Sylvia Plath, while one of the best-known poets of the 20th century, has diminished in popularity to the modern audience. Despite this, Plath’s work is still poignant today with its self-examination of life in the context of poor mental health and its confessional style that has become a staple of American literature.

Emily Dickinson a modern romantic writer, whose poems considered imaginative and natural, but also dark as she uses death as the main theme many times in her writings. She made the death look natural and painless since she wanted the reader to look for what after death and not be stuck in that single moment. In her poems imagination play a big role as it sets the ground for everything to unfold in a magical way. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry, are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined and imaginable escapes. To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. She turned increasingly to this style that came to define her writing. The poems are rich in aphorism and dense

Some of the dark negative emotions Sylvia Plath shares in this poem can make anyone have sympathy on her feelings. Especially, when she writes,

Sylvia Plath’s disturbing, malevolent poem, ‘Lady Lazarus” is one which features a complex character that has began to abhor life. The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue and describes an, obviously, disturbed woman’s failed suicide attempts and eventual success and resurrection. In addition, the poem focuses on Lady Lazarus’ suffering under female oppression and alienation from the rest of the world. The character is presented to be one that suffers from feelings of oppression, deep depression and mental instability. This aspect of characterisation is significant to the impact of the poem as it contributes to the dark, disturbing atmosphere made apparent in the first tercet and makes the reader feel Lazarus’ genuine heart felt emotion of anguish.

Some of the dark negative emotions Sylvia Plath shares in this poem can make anyone have sympathy on her feelings. Especially, when she writes,

Tardat’s haunting novel, A Sweet Death, and Sylvia Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, both closely examine through the lens of the protagonists, both of whom are young women, deep psychological illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with societal expectation, and the struggle to live a liberated life, without restraint. In both novels the protagonists spiral down into their own despair, ruminate about death, and contemplate suicide. The lack of control both characters feel over their own lives manifests itself in suicidal ideation, knowing if they can’t control their lives, death is the only control they can salvage. Both novels deal with feminist themes, about the beauty and social standards demanded by our patriarchal society. But where A Sweet Death ends on a dark note in which the protagonist ultimately succeeds in taking her own life, The Bell Jar suggests an optimistic future for the protagonist.

Sylvia Plath is an American writer, commonly known for her poetry works. Her poetry can be categorized as “confessional poetry”, which are poems about the poet’s personal life. Her two most famous published collections of poems are The Colossus and Other Poemsand Ariel, but it was not until after Plath’s death that The Bell Jarwas published. The Bell Jar is considered a more personal and semi-autobiographical novel. Throughout Sylvia Plath’s lifetime, she suffered mentally since she was a little girl. Her father’s death when she was only eight years old estranged her from herself and others, including her own mother where she felt that she had to act as a happy and successful daughter. This is not the only time in her life where she had to put on a show. She also had to pretend to be supportive wife in front of her husband’s friends due to her mental illness. Because of her depression, Plath attempted suicide at the age of 20 and failed but ten years later, she eventually died of suicide. Sylvia Plath’s background and the way she lived her life influenced her to depict her inner struggles in life and to express her thoughts through her poetry.

Poetry is a complex form of literature that also doubles as art and expresses feelings and ideas through language. Poetry goes beyond a simple rhyme scheme that keeps us chained to a rhythm we may not even recognize. Although using poetic meter can absolutely benefit a poet by contributing to the poet’s tone and setting up a reader’s expectations for the poem, this device comes at a cost. Using a harmonic rhyme scheme can also disadvantage one’s poem because the reader can value the rhyme and rhythm over the actual words and meaning. Because of this, the modernist movement took place in poetry and other forms of art. Modernists are writers who break from traditional literary style and revolutionize poetry by incorporating current events and new language. Sylvia Plath was an American modernist poet who certainly expressed herself through her novels, confessional style poetry, and “short stories”. Plath’s most famous poems include “Daddy”, “Lady Lazarus”, “Tulips”, and “Ariel”. Sylvia Plath was born in 1932, meaning she was born several years before WWII and lived through the last seven years of The Great Depression. Shortly after her eighth birthday, Plath lost her father, an entomologist and biology professor at Boston University, about a month after his foot amputation from diabetes was announced gangrene in 1940. From just her early years of seven to thirteen, she had seen so much violence in her world environment and endured so much emotional trauma. These facts have a