Context Flashcards
What is the significance of the 1950s American Cold War?
Shows misogynistic, repressive attitudes to women
Who were Plath’s literary influences?
Confessional poets (Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton)
What was Plath’s background like?
Austrian and German (associations with WW2 because her father was a Nazi)
How did Motherhood affect Plath?
Affected her sense of identity (and the different roles she had to fulfil)
Which place was ‘The Bee Meeting’ inspired from?
Devon
Which place was ‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ inspired from?
Yorkshire
What were the other key themes from poems that reflect Plath’s own life?
- Treatments for depression
- Suicidal tendencies
- Hospitalisation
How does Plath describe her own school experience?
“The world is splitting open at my feet like a ripe, juicy watermelon”
Describe what Plath’s experience in New York was like.
Given position as guest editor of Mademoiselle magazine and spent a month in NYC [but people found her stiff and formal, lacking spontaneity]
Before her first suicide attempt, what happened to Plath?
She had electroconvulsive therapy for depression [spent 6 months in care with insulin treatment]
How did she meet Ted Hughes?
At a party in Cambridge (before moving to the US)
How many children did Plath have?
3 (one daugther, one son, and a miscarriage)
What was Plath’s repeated method of suicide?
Overdose on pills in the cellular of her mother’s home
Typically, what was life like for women in the 60s?
Physically luxurious but mentally oppressive
