Portrayal of nature and natural world in Plath's poem 'Tulips'

In the poem “Thanatopsis” the desire to connect with nature is expressed throughout. Unlike “Rip Van Winkle,” Thanatopsis has a very deep meaning within it, not just a whimsical story. The poem explains that we as humans should embrace death and know that we are a part of the ever cycling earth. We have a bigger purpose. William Cullen Bryant personified nature in his poem. He made nature woman-like by calling nature her and she. “To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language…” (171) He also expressed this beautiful simplicity and vulnerability to nature and man. “The hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, - the vales stretching in pensive quietness between; the venerable woods – rivers that move in majesty, and the complaining brooks that make the meadows green…” (171) This poem seems to connect with nature in a different way. It’s almost like it embodies nature along with human to create a smooth transition or meld of the two, and I think that is what creates the desire to connect with nature for the poem.

In this story, as well as in others in the book, tulips represent the idea that the power to heal oneself comes from within the individual facing adversity and not from the use of another person’s tragedy to boost one’s ego. When speaking about the lifecycle of tulips Suzanne, Olive’s daughter in law, questions the fact that tulips do not bloom perennially to which Olive responds, “the bloom of a tulip is already in its bulb. Right there. One shot. That’s it.”(142) The bloom represents hope and happiness while the bulb is the person within whom it resides.

In the poem “To Paint a Water Lily” by Ted Hughes, the speaker conveys his attitude toward nature as perplexing, complex, and deceiving. He also expresses his opinion of the artist and the difficulties brought on by him trying to paint and recreate not only the picture of a water lily and its natural scene, but also capture the intense environment that is both peaceful and full of constant activity. The author achieves this through literary techniques such as: imagery and juxtaposition.

So we ask ourselves, how does poetry gain its power? To answer this question, we examine the work of poets Harwood and Plath. ‘The Glass Jar’, composed by Gwen Harwood portrays its message through the emotions of a young child, while the poem ‘Ariel’, written by Sylvia Plath, makes effective use of emotions to convey artistic creativity and inspiration.

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.

Metaphors Analysis in Sylvia Plath's Poem In Sylvia Plath’s poem, Metaphors, she uses striking imagery to explore her ambivalent attitudes about pregnancy. For example, she uses a negative metaphor saying she is an elephant, meaning she thinks that she has become very fat since she got pregnant. On the other hand, she uses a positive metaphor saying the baby is precious, meaning although pregnancy has its down sides it has got a few good sides like the baby.

Poet Sylvia Plath, in her poem “Tulips,” portrays an individual’s quest for inner peace which is deterred by the stressful problems inflicting trouble on their life. The narrator, a patient in a hospital, is relieved of the weight of stress in her life when they undergo their operation and enter a peaceful state of mind. However, she is threatened mentally by the red tulips occupying her room during her recovery. The tulips looming presence over the narrator results in a mental breakdown, and it causes the narrator to desire a return to her peaceful state of mind. Through effective figurative language and peaceful diction, Plath is able to develop tulips as a symbol for the problems in one’s life that keep one from maintaining a state of tranquility

In the poem, “The Tuft of Flowers,” Robert Frost initially designs the persona to possess a pessimistic perception of his duty to mow the fields that day. The persona feels lonesome having to complete the workload by himself, as depicted in the line,

Sylvia Plath was born on October 27th 1932 in Boston Massachusetts. At the age of eight, Plath lost her father from diabetes, and soon after suffered a deep depression and a failed suicide attempt. Later in her life, in a deep depression, Plath wrote most of her poems to express her feeling and emotions, that weren’t published until after her death in 1963 after she committed suicide. Her father, husband, and depression influenced Plath to write a majority of her poems. The reason they were such a success is due to the fact that they were personal to Plath as she allowed the readers to relive her experiences.

When a loved one is sick or in the hospital the first thought for most is to bring them flowers. However in this case flowers, especially tulips, are probably the worst thing that a loved one could bring. The poem “Tulips” by Sylvia Plath was written in the year of 1916, just after the ending of the postmodern era of literature. The poem tells the tale of a women that is admitted into the hospital after being diagnosed with a very serious illness. Plath takes readers on a journey that showcases the hardships and struggles that a patient is forced to face in their everyday lives. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about her feelings towards having to stay in the hospital and how she feels that her independence

Plath seems to then have a change of heart. She creates a fragile, beautiful image of her child; "All night your moth-breath / Flickers among the flat pink roses." Use of consonance in "moth-breath" and alliteration in the line "Flickers among the flat pink roses" constructs the soft sounds of the infant's breathing. It is interesting how she utilises the flower imagery which is similar to her other poem, Tulips. In Tulips, the flowers bring her back from the state of detachment, and here it is the baby's breath, soft as roses, the awakens her love for her child. The awakening of this love is expressed in the last lines of that stanza; "I wake to listen: A far sea moves in my ear."

“Tulips” by Sylvia Plath explores the idea of disconnecting oneself from life, only to be reminded of their responsibilities in life. The speaker in the poem is in a hospital room, separate from their family. No one is present in the white hospital room, except for the speaker and the tulips. The room is peaceful and allows the speaker to enjoy a lack of commitment towards anything. Unfortunately for the speaker, the tulips in the room remind the speaker of their life and bind the speaker to their responsibilities. In Sylvia Plath’s “Tulips,” color symbolism and personification contrast the peace of disconnection and commitments in life.

Sylvia’s Plath’s “Metaphors” is about a woman feeling insignificant during the midst of her pregnancy. Striking imagery is used to explore the narrator’s attitudes about having a child. Plath uses metaphors in every line, including the title itself, making the poem a collection of clues. The reader is teasingly challenged to figure out these clues, realising that the metaphors have

The beauty of nature is often overlooked and underappreciated in today’s society. The neglect and lack of respect given to such a beautiful creation by members of society is widely reflected in Romantic poetry. The romantic era began in 1798, where writers such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge expressed their opinions and feelings towards nature. Overall such writers typically express a positive outlook on the natural world around them, however some stray the other way. Specifically Coleridge and Wordsworth began to express the feeling of disconnect towards nature. Both writers began to feel as though they could not understand nature and cannot connect with the beauty it gives off as expressed in poems such as “Dejection”, “London 1802”, and “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”. Not only did some of these writers begin to feel a disconnect but a select few also begin to feel as though people are disrespecting the balance of nature and are trying to disrupt the balance and manipulate it. Writers such as Mary Shelley, author of the novel Frankenstein, expresses the concern of people taking the laws of nature and twisting them. Writers and people living during this time period not only express an appreciation for nature but also the truth about the human relationship with nature. The relationship between humans and nature is on of mistreatment.

Robert Frost’s nature poetry occupies a significant place in the poetic arts; however, it is likely Frost’s use of nature is the most misunderstood aspect of his poetry. While nature is always present in Frost’s writing, it is primarily used in a “pastoral sense” (Lynen 1). This makes sense as Frost did consider himself to be a shepherd.