Plath and Hughes Poetry Flashcards

Question

Analysis of Spinster?

Answer 1

Themes of gender, marriage and control Beginning in media res reflects lack of importance of the woman Critical of marriage - 3rd stanza uses rampant pathetic fallacy Similar stanza length emphasises her need for control This was intended as a satire of obsessiveness and how our compulsion for control limits our lives. Reference to 'babel' in the first stanza is a biblical allusion to the huge tower which god saw as a front to his authority, He punished the people who built it by forcing them to speak different languages Reference to 'bedlam' in the fourth stanza, which is an infamous mental institution

Answer 2

Themes of nature and warfare Critics often see this as an extended metaphor for an argument or strained relationship Overloading sensory imagery Volta in the final stanza

Answer 3

Relationships, doubt and uncertainty Title has positive connotations of gifts and care, but also shock and uncertainty The first line is a rhetorical question, which creates a sense of uncertainty, but veil also alludes to marriage Matter of fact tone in reference to suicide Biblical allusion to last supper Written in September 1962 after their separation

Answer 4

Animals, fighting, violence Enjambment throughout stanzas speeds up poem, emphasising speed of relationship Lack of punctuation is mimetic of the lack of control Violent imagery is reminiscent of a toxic relationship - infidelity with Assia Wevill on top of Plath claiming he was abusive

Answer 5

Themes of feminism and the conflict between mother figures Domestic imagery used to contrast gender stereotypes This was an island associated with the Greek lyric poet Sappho, who wrote poems about love between women Has been associated with Assia

Answer 6

Themes of conflict and domestication Begins in media res, alliterative d creates sense of aggression Written in quatrains Semantic field of domestic and legal imagery Explores how you can be trapped by marriage as well as 1960s gender roles

Answer 7

Unconditional love, parental relationships The baby is a new concept - 'a clean slate' Happy imagery - 'clownlike 9 line stanzas are mimetic of the nine month pregnancy Classical allusion to atlas - he carries the world on his back Written in 1960

Answer 8

Themes of family and love Cultural allusions to nursery rhymes - moon, a spider's web, a pail cows etc which reflects innocence Chaotic verse length reflects child-like mind 'all the images are perfect' - Winterson

Answer 9

One critics suggests this poem is about barrenness others suggest that the poet sees her work as something permanent, with value Isolated word creates imagery that words are sadistic Wood can be used to make paper Horses were a symbol of creative imagery for Plath - they can be brought under man's control but can be afraid and uncontrollable

Answer 10

Looks at the power of nature and the futility of human existence. Hughes had a dream in which a creature with a fox's head came into his room, put bloody paw prints on an unfinished essay and said 'you're killing us'

Answer 11

Themes about an endless relentless journey, emotion and alienation Controlled structure but chaotic imagery Markey - Plath's poems about Yorkshire are 'uniformly bleak and negative' The book is set on the Yorkshire moors and depicts a turbulent relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy. He gets revenge on people who were nasty to him when he was poor

Answer 12

Describes Bronte's relationship with the moors as the same as a relationship between two lovers Semantic field of maternal/infant imagery Rhythm was jumbled and constantly stopping. Wuthering heights was Emily Bronte's only novel in 1487. She lived in Yorkshire and died at the age of 30

Answer 13

Identity, loss of youth, women and depression. The mirror is unbiased Sense of monotony A reflection is a recreation Context around Plath's suicide attempts

Answer 14

Themes of individuality and purpose of life Block form and free verse The lack of punctuation reflects freedom and autonomy No full stop at the end suggests that there is no end to the questions This was in the first collection after Plath's death

Answer 15

Holbrook - 'infantilisation of suicide and infanticide' title connote cliff, knife and the unknown Classical allusion to the Medea legend where a woman is cheated on so she gets revenge by killing the children Maternal imagery juxtaposed - children no longer need milk

Answer 16

Explores isolation - as soon as crow is born he is the property of death Epistrophe of death Imagery of violence, medicine and law Pass, Crow - imperative - a higher power mocking our sense of hope?

Answer 17

The poem is about ' a girl with an Electra complex. Her father died while she thought he was a God' - Plath Regular rhythm and structure gives the poem a chant-like rhythm Holocaust metaphors Reference to telephone as Assia Wevill used to frequently call Plath's father died from a complication form a foot injury Written October 12 1962, the day after Hughes left 'monstrous use of Holocaust imagery' - Howe

Answer 18

1957 - reflects the experiences of his father in the doomed Gallipoli campaign Diacope of 'raw' is reminiscent of Spring Offensive by Wilfred Owen Themes of war and its effect on nature Bate - 'nihilistic violence' Anti-patriotic imagery