Writing Styles of Sylvia Plath Essay

The last few lines seem to attribute her depression to her age, and maybe the fact that she never got to enjoy her childhood, her young years, and she despises seeing herself grow old in the reflection of the lake.

Sylvia Plath accomplished great literary achievements throughout her career. As a student and poet, she excelled. Despite this, some may believe that her success and fame only came from the fact that she killed herself and was mad, which is not necessarily the case. If it was only because of her suicide, the novel wouldn’t be acknowledged in as many school curriculums as it is. We can see that in her earlier life, Plath was recognized as a gifted poet much before her struggle with depression. Such as, earning herself a scholarship at a great college and eventually going on to be a guest editor for a magazine in New York. She was able to make so many great opportunities for herself which proves that some of her fame isn’t just about her personal background. Part of her readers are attracted to her works, especially The Bell

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”.

Sylvia Plath was an American Poet who was renowned for poetry mostly in the United States. She, however lived a difficult and depressing life which led to a few futile suicide attempts, but ultimately led to a successful suicide attempt leaving her children to live on without a mother. This end result was due to a multitude of issues in her life from Sylvia’s sanity. She wasn’t the most stable child. Her marriage also played a role in her suicide. Her successes weren’t acclaimed until after her death, when a majority of her work was released. There were two major aspects to her life: her poetry and her sanity. These three combined make up a majority of Sylvia’s life.

Sylvia Plath’s and Theodore Roethke’s brutal honesty in their writing plainly conveys their individual demons. Not only was each author dealing with their own emotional issues (Plath’s mental illness and Rotheke’s abusive father), they were both living out their lives during uncertain and tumultuous times (World War II and the Great Depression); the torment in their lives manifests in their writing. Sylvia Plath expresses her self-loathing in her poem “Metaphors” by describing her pregnant body in colorful, self-deprecating metaphors (234.) Her poem culminates with the line “Boarded the train there’s no getting off,” which can obviously refer to her pregnancy culminating in the birth of a child but may also refer to the endless pain of her

Sylvia Plath was the first person to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1982,and she is well known for her poems “daddy”. Sadly Plath committed suicide,but before she killed herself she left a note for one of her neighbors to tell them to get a doctor and when they found her she was lying in the oven with wet towels covering the door so her children wouldn't die from the gas to. Plath’s husband Hughes published most of her poems or novels that weren’t published because she had committed suicide at such an early age. It’s because of Hughes publishing her works that she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 but she was too late for her to claim it because she was dead 20 something years or so. Plath achieved this from studying with the one and only Robert Lowwell which she made her famous Colossus

Sylvia Plath’s work is marked with her trademark style, one full of enigmatic analogies and ambiguous metaphors. Sadly though, the life of Sylvia Plath was indeed shorter than anyone expected. Nevertheless, in the thirty years Plath meandered through the world, she left an everlasting impact. Remembered as one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the twentieth century, Plath cultivated a literary community unlike any predecessor. Additionally, since a sizable portion of Plath’s work was read posthumously, her suicide brought the much needed attention to physiological illnesses. Unfortunately though, Sylvia Plath will never know the perennial impact she left from her distinguished works that have touched numerous lives.

Sylvia Plath was an American author and poet. Her death at the age of 30 by suicide was the end of her long struggle with mental illness throughout her life, chronicled in her most famous work, her fictional, but inspired by her life novel, The Bell Jar, cited for its feminist themes and exploration of mental illness. Plath is considered one of the greatest poets and novelists of the 20th century, whose works were influenced by her mental illnesses, and still have relevance today.

Depression affects 350 million people and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Everyone deals with depression a different way but it is not easy, the best way is to see a professional and talk about it to try to let it all out, but most people come up with their own way. Depressed modern poets such as Jack Kerouac and Sylvia Plath tried to shock themselves into reality and heal their depression and feelings about certain subjects with alcohol and electroconvulsive therapy but could not. They both decided to chose the outlet of poetry and release their negative feelings by writing about similar themes. This becomes evident when one draws similarities between themes such as isolation, nature and love proven by examining The Big Sur by Jack Kerouac and many poetic works from Sylvia Plath. Being a popular poet can do alot to one, and if ones fans only care about their work and not their true feelings the artist tends to feel isolated.

Eileen M. Aird analyzes and comments, “The danger of such criticism lies in its assumption that the poem is objectively ‘true’, that it bears a precise relationship to the facts of the poet’s life.” The direct criticism Plath puts upon her father is very crucial, yet evidently true if one was research her life. Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical poetry can be easily connected to her life and the answers to the many questions are easier to uncover than one may suspect. As her poetry developed, it became more autobiographical and although through her teenage years she possessed what seemed to be a rounded personality, the anguish and grief of her father’s death was easily linked with her mental instability that haunted her in the later years.

Sylvia Plath’s style has 3 to 5 line stanzas, many poems have short lines, and very descriptive writing and vocabulary, there are many poems with rhyme, and many use punctuation for phrasing of the poems. Many of her poems are confessional poems. Plath often tells stories in a way that readers can relate. She adds rhyme throughout her poems at the right moment and pulls the reader in. Some themes that are reoccurring are emotions, anger, relationships, and death. Her poems reflect her depression and life experiences.

It is said that without melancholy there is no art, and there is no better embodiment of that than beloved poet and author, Sylvia Plath. Often referred to as one of the most dynamic poets of the 1900’s, Plath had no limits on her expression through poetry. Her poems ranged from flowing verses on nature to unconventional commentary on the social restrictions placed on individuals. She is most known for her poetic expression of her own mental anguish, never shying away from topics of death and despair.

Death plays a huge role in Sylvia Plath’s poetry; she reveals it in different ways. The main common theme is the emptiness gone by her father’s death at the age of eight. She speaks about his death and burial remembering that she is forever separated from the love of her father.

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