A writer may use poetry as a way to release his or her emotions without directly stating how he or she may feel and why. Poets use elements of literature such as metaphors and symbolism to draw the attention of their readers to specific meanings that lie within the poem. For example, Sylvia Plath -a noted poet of the mid-20th century- grossly uses metaphors and symbolism to denote her own emotions. Metaphors grab attention by connecting two opposing components while symbolism is used to convey deeper meaning than the words themselves could alone. Plath often intertwined the two as a way to pull focus to the message of her poem. To further elaborate how the use of metaphors and symbolism can convey a much deeper meaning we are going to analyze the poems of one particular poet that utilizes the elements …show more content…
Plath uses the components of symbolism and metaphors to create depth in her works of literature. For example, Plath’s poem “Tulips” can be perceived to illustrate the dismay she felt for the loss of her unborn child. In “Tulips” Plath writes, “They have propped my head between the pillow and the sheet-cuff—Like an eye between two white lids that will not shut.” Plath is using a metaphor to refer to herself as a trait on the human body that is not correlated with the emotions a human may feel. With the use of a metaphor she is drawing the reader in to analyze what message she is incorporating into the line. Again, in “Tulips” Plath writes, “My body is a pebble to them, they tend it as water—Tends to the pebbles it must run over, smoothing them gently.” In these lines, Plath is exemplifying that she does not have emotional attachments to the individuals that tend to her, again utilizing the use metaphors to constrict attention to the
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.
It tends to be the trend for women who have had traumatic childhoods to be attracted to men who epitomize their emptiness felt as children. Women who have had unaffectionate or absent fathers, adulterous husbands or boyfriends, or relatives who molested them seem to become involved in relationships with men who, instead of being the opposite of the “monsters” in their lives, are the exact replicas of these ugly men. Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” is a perfect example of this unfortunate trend. In this poem, she speaks directly to her dead father and her husband who has been cheating on her, as the poem so indicates.
Wrapped in gaseous mystique, Sylvia Plath’s poetry has haunted enthusiastic readers since immediately after her death in February, 1963. Like her eyes, her words are sharp, apt tools which brand her message on the brains and hearts of her readers. With each reading, she initiates them forever into the shrouded, vestal clan of her own mind. How is the reader to interpret those singeing, singing words? Her work may be read as a lone monument, with no ties to the world she left behind. But in doing so, the reader merely grazes the surface of her rich poetics. Her poetry is largely autobiographical, particularly Ariel and The Bell Jar, and it is from this frame of mind that the reader interprets the work as a
The figurative language in the poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath can be used to discover a deeper significant of the poem. By using figurative language throughout the poem such as symbolism, imagery, and wordplay, Plath reveals hidden messages about her relationship with her father. Plath uses symbols of Nazis, vampires, size, and communication to help reveal a message about her dad.
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”.
Eliot uses metaphor to relate accessible, physical entities and concepts to more abstract themes present in the poem. In
Metaphors by Sylvia Plath The poem 'metaphors' by Sylvia Plath deals with strong issues of pregnancy. The poem was written when she was pregnant. She wrote about her mixed feelings and emotions. The poem itself is a metaphor.
Throughout this poem Conkling uses metaphors, which helps the reader understand the mood. For example, "Fall has hidden golden leaves" is a good metaphor. That example is a metaphor for me
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
Sylvia Plath was a troubled writer to say the least, not only did she endure the loss of her father a young age but she later on “attempted suicide at her home and was hospitalized, where she underwent psychiatric treatment” for her depression (Dunn). Writing primarily as a poet, she only ever wrote a single novel, The Bell Jar. This fictional autobiography “[chronicles] the circumstances of her mental collapse and subsequent suicide attempt” but from the viewpoint of the fictional protagonist, Esther Greenwood, who suffers the same loss and challenges as Plath (Allen 890). Due to the novel’s strong resemblance to Plath’s own history it was published under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas”. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath expresses the
Poets, Judith Wright, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickenson all express their views on life and death, however, do so in varying manners. Through imagery, Wright and Plath both consider life’s beginnings, however, Wright considers it to be a beautiful gift, whereas Plath views birth as an empty burden. Subsequently, through structure Dickenson and Wright each acknowledge life, expressing how in some cases it is difficult, yet in other circumstances it is celebrated. Finally, through tone, Dickenson and Plath convey their views on death, yet differ in that Plath believes it is purifying and holds a sick fascination with it, while Dickenson instead holds a unique curiosity about it. Therefore, whilst each poet recognises the journey of birth,
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.
It is certainly true that one of the distinguishing features of poetic texts is the use of figurative or non-literal language – this essay highlights the fact that metaphors do contribute to the understanding of a poem. Ted Hughes’ poem, Sketching a Thatcher, is loaded with vivid imagery and ample metaphorical constructions which aids to validate this fact. In order to uncover the message behind this poem, one must take a closer look at the arguments, focus expressions and tenor/vehicle constructions of at least six local metaphorical constructions
Symbolism plays a large role in most poems. "A pure-white doe in an emerald glade/Appeared to me, with two antlers of gold" (Petrarch lines 1-2) is a perfect example of symbolism is poetry. Petrarch is not actually talking about a white deer with golden antlers, he's talking about a beautiful woman with golden hair. Wyatt also uses
To make a confession, I can truly say that I couldn’t get used to use them easily because to understand them, you should think about more than one symbolism in the poem, and create a common meaning through them. It was hard for me at the beginning, but I got used to it now. Moreover, I wrote about a paragraph of symbolism in my summative poetry analysis, which I think I successfully did. I included one of the poems I wrote before to improve my usage of metaphors to my portfolio, it is called “Art of Realization”. This is a poem that tells about a person, who understands the magic of the books and sees the art behind them. I used the line “I turned the thin skin of the dead tree,” which symbolizes the pages of the book. I asked one of my friends to read my poem, and she said that she never thought the pages as “thin skin of the dead tree”. I really think that this line is both understandable and impressive, that’s why I chose this one. Symbolisms are very important because they create different perspectives that expand the meaning of the poem. That’s why I like to use them in my