Life And The Purpose Of Life By Sylvia Plath

One of the most difficult, yet rewarding roles is that of a parent. The relationship between and parent and child is so complex and important that a parents relationship with her/his child can affect the relationship that the child has with his/her friends and lovers. A child will watch their parents and use them as role models and in turn project what the child has learned into all of the relationship that he child will have. The way a parent interacts with his/her child has a huge impact on the child’s social and emotional development. Such cases of parent and child relationships are presented in Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”. While Roethke and Plath both write about a dynamic between a child-father relationship that seems unhealthy and abusive, Plath writes about a complex and tense child-father relationship in which the child hates her father, whereas Roethke writes about a complex and more relaxed child-father relationship in which the son loves his father. Through the use of tone, rhyme, meter, and imagery, both poems illustrate different child-father relationships in which each child has a different set of feelings toward their father.

There are few poems which surprisingly talk about children from the parents’ point of view. The child on swallowing the world develops its own clear voice. In the poem Metaphors Plath compared herself to a riddle in nine syllables implying the long nine months of pregnancy before child birth and also intensifies the pang and suffering of carrying of a baby in her womb. The strong depiction of the figurative use of the melon skillfully corroborates the two sides of the prototype of a female character- one is of woman and the another is of an unborn baby that is resembled with “fine timbers”. Kate Moses concludes that in the poem’s culminating lines Plath’s narrator becomes completely and willingly “effaced” allowing her child full ownership. His stark idealization of “loaf’s big” image symbolizes the true picture of a pregnant woman whose womb is filled up by the unborn baby. Her strong depiction of the close-connection of a mother with that of her unborn child is incorporated by this images like “ponderous house”, “a cow in calf”

Opportunities for an individual to develop understanding of themselves stem from the experiences attained on their journey through life. The elements which contribute to life are explored throughout Gwen Harwood’s poems, At Mornington and Mother Who Gave Me Life, where the recollection of various events are presented as influences on the individual’s perception of the continuity of life. Both poems examine the connections between people and death in relation to personal connections with the persona’s father or mother. By encompassing aspects of human nature and life’s journey, Harwood addresses memories and relationships which contribute to one’s awareness of life.

In Initiation by Sylvia Plath, the author suggests that conformity and having friends is a wonderful idea, yet the idea of having an individual identity and being an individual is stronger. In the excerpt, Millicent is slowly realizing that conforming and being a part of a sorority is not as exciting as it sounds, and being an individual offers more opportunities to become a unique person.

Plath starts her poem out negatively, ‘barely daring to breathe or Achoo’, with a distinct repetition of the ‘oo’ sounds in ‘Achoo’, ‘do’, ‘shoe’ and ‘du’ creating a childlike, nursery rhyme style of delivery that contrasts greatly with the violent and dark themes. Harwood begins on a significantly more positive if wistful note, ‘forgive me the wisdom I would not learn from you’ positioning her mother as a wise and positive influence. The tones of the poems are very different, as shaped by the poet’s experiences with their parents, with Harwood creating an affirmative, loving description of her relationship with her mother while Plath develops a much darker and sinister view s.

The spacing and structure of the poem is set up to allow flow and momentum in the poem and its narrative. The speaker’s voice is present with emotion as emphasised in a natural rhythm of thought offering an honest and bare interpretation of motherhood. The open “blank space” of the poem encourages a calm and breathy atmosphere, fulfilling a mood of tranquility and bliss. Each stanza is short with a couple quick fragmented thoughts before closing each section with the power of a single word. Each stanza breaks apart a separate thought filled with a loving passion the speaker uses to stress the beauty, wonder, and over-flowing love present in motherhood. To better the structure, the poem itself is broken into three parts, each representing a stage of motherhood. The first segment of motherhood that is represented is during the moments while the baby is still in the womb and the mother waits in anticipation for the baby to arrive. This “honeymoon” phase is expressed with a tone filtered through a perception of rose-coloured glasses and excitement as the mother is in utter bliss to carry a life into the world. The

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.

Apart from Plath’s relationship with her father, the poem also has themes such as death, love, fascism, brutality, marriage, femininity, and God. The importance and popularity of “Daddy” can be explained by Plath’s application of metaphors, symbolism, and

There are several ways to look at the poem, Lady Lazarus and one of those ways is that it could be looked at suicide and also about someone who is obviously emotionally troubled with this self-fulfilling satisfaction in killing herself. It’s like a prophecy that needs to be fulfilled and she does so every so often; at least every decade. Also, the poem could be said to be about someone with a severe mental disorder which explains the radical behavior of the suicidal attempts every now and then and she takes pleasure in doing so.

The road to motherhood is a personal journey with many hidden emotions and agendas. Some journeys are dark and dreary and unspoken. In the poems “Metaphor” by Sylvia Plath and “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks both have many similarities and a little differences. Both of the mothers in the poems feel the pain of being a mother. Although the mothers took different paths of motherhood they both have regrets and wish things would have been different.

When people invest an abundant amount of time in a task, whether it be trivial and mundane like finishing the laundry, or important and time consuming like attaining a degree, they tend to want to be validated that they are spending their time in a meaningful way. Philosophers are often sought out for their wisdom and to answer the deep and mind-bending questions common people don’t intensely ponder. Though what the meaning of life is seems to be unique to each individual, when a philosopher asserts they have revelated the meaning of life, it is imperative to investigate their claims. In an article entitled Revealed-the meaning of life, philosopher Julian Baggini claims he knows the answer to one of life’s most burning question, what is

When doing the bag project in class and discussing the number of objects each student filled their bag with I have witnessed the similarities as well as differences within each one. Some students used many of the same things as others, yet there also were many very distinctive differences. Therefore I disagree with Zora Neale Hurston's acclamation that a person would still be nearly the same if they poured out the contents of their bag and refilled it with that of another’s. I disagree with Hurston's statement because I think of the contents of ones' bag as being equivalent to one’s personality, experiences and values.

“The Village Blacksmith” is about the dedication it takes to not only be a blacksmith, but to also be a single parent. “Morning Song” is about a new mom that learns that being a parent isn’t what it is cracked up to be. The poems, “Morning Song” and “The Village Blacksmith” both have a lot in common by both having enjambment, imagery, and stanza. These poems have allowed me understand the different viewpoints on how parents feel about their kids, weather it is dolorous or adore.

The book The Meaning of Life, By Wendy Mass was made in 2006, was assigned by my literacy teacher to have us talk about what we would do in our 1 hour of free time.

Morning Song, by Sylvia Plath, explores the physical and emotional links between a mother and child, and Plath's own growing maternal bond with her child. In the poem, Plath is contemplating her relationship with her new child and it is clear she has mixed emotions of apprehension and awe. The opening line of the poem introduces her first impressions of the child. "Love set you going like a fat gold watch." This immediately creates a positive connection with the baby, as she uses the word "Love" as the origin of her child. The simile "fat gold watch" creates a somewhat confusing image of the child,