Sylvia Plath Flashcards
To whom does the poet compare herself in “Lady Lazarus”?
Besides the obvious, Lazarus from the Bible, the poet compares herself to a Holocaust victim and uses lots of Holocaust imagery.
Lady Lazarus: How often does the poet die?
Once every 10 years
Lady Lazarus: To what other of Plath’s poems is this one often discussed? Why?
Daddy
- Both use Holocaust imagery
- Both reference Plath’s/the speaker’s suicide attempt
Lady Lazarus: To what Romantic Quals poem might this make a reference?
Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” (“Beware, Beware” and the bit about hair)
What is an enjambment?
When a phrase carries over a major line break without a natural pause.
Daddy: Of what origin is the speaker’s father?
German
Daddy: What complex did Plath say that the speaker of this poem suffered?
An Electra Complex (Oedipal Complex but for girls)
The Applicant: How are women referred to in this poem?
As “it” (Will you marry it; It can sew, it can cook)
The Applicant: What two “remedies” are women described as being?
A poultice for man’s hole and an image for his eye.
Child: How long before Plath’s death was this written? Who is it about?
About 2 weeks; probably her son Nicholas
Child: What sentiment is conveyed in this poem?
The speaker calls her child’s eye “the one absolutely beautiful thing.” She wants to show it a lively and colorful world full of beauty and joy, but worries instead about it seeing “wringing of hands” and “this dark ceiling without a star.”
The poem seems to convey anxiety that the speaker, in her depression, is an unworthy guardian for an innocent child. “This dark ceiling without a star” could also be the world in general, but it’s hard to to connect it more closely with Plath’s life.
Fever 103: What question begins this poem?
Pure?
Fever 103: What statement about motherhood is conveyed in this poem?
“Hothouse baby in its crib
The ghastly orchid”
In this description, the speaker/mother sees her child as exotic, wonderful, and ghastly, suggesting that she loves her child but is also unsettled by the responsibilities of motherhood and the identity of “mother.”
Fever 103: What is the sentiment of this poem?
The speaker describes the physical and mental sensations of a high fever. It is painful and disorienting, alienating her from her lover and child, but also brings her a kind of transcendence and purity.
Who wrote the introduction to Ariel?
Robert Lowell
Poppies in October: What sentiment is expressed in this poem?
The speaker remarks upon the unexpected and almost unearthly bright beauty of seeing colorful poppies in October. Their color seems at odds with the dull world and the people living in it, and make the speaker question her being - what is she in a world that contains Poppies in October? This is not the time of year for this flower to appear - maybe she shouldn’t be here either.
Poppies in October: Though this poem celebrates the beauty of nature, what subtle references can we see that connect it to Plath’s fixations on death/suicide?
- Woman dying in the ambulance
- “ignited by carbon monoxide”
Edge: What is this poem most known for?
Being the last one that Plath wrote
The Hanging Man: What is one explanation for the electricity imagery Plath uses in this poem?
That is refers to the electroshock therapy she underwent after her suicide attempt.
The Hanging Man: Who is the “he” referred to?
"”If he were I, he would do what I did”
- Could be the God who has her by the hair, as mentioned in the first line
- Could be the Hanging Man referenced in the poem’s title
- Could be a general “he”; if men were subject to the same social limitations and trials as motherhood as women were, they would do the same thing (ie, commit suicide)
Edge: What is the general conceit of this poem?
A dead woman is described as a classical marble statue. Her dead children are “folded back into herself” and the moon isn’t sad about her passing - it sees this kind of thing every day.
Edge: How might we see this poem as an Elegy?
I see the elegy comparisons as most evident in two places. First, the classical connection - the dead woman is a marble statue in the classical style. This throwback to classical conceits is typical of many elegies, and statuary is often a kind of funerary monument.
Second, the moon doesn’t weep or feel sadness looking down over this scene. In poems like “Adonias” or other elegies for poets, all of nature and the world mourns the passing of a poet. In this instance, the moon just can’t summon the energy to be sad about this woman’s death, because it’s something she sees all too often. (Particular resonance if we imagine that Plath is writing a kind of elegy for herself.)
Wintering: What is literally being described in this poem?
A bee colony Plath is keeping in her cellar during the winter.
Wintering: What might the six jars of honey refer to?
The six years that Plath was married to Ted Hughes
How does Robert Lowell characterize “Ariel” in his introduction?
“Sylvia Plath becomes herself”
Wintering: What is notable about the Bee poems’ placement within Ariel?
In the format that Plath had initially planned, these were the poems that ended the book - not Edge and Words. Those were shifted to the end in posthumous editing, and make the shape of the work more emphasize Plath’s death and suicide.
Ted Hughes is largely responsible for rearranging “Ariel” to fit his wife’s biographical arc.
Wintering, with its final line looking forward to Spring, was how Plath intended to end “Ariel.”
Wintering: What biographical link do the Bee poems have to Sylvia’s own life?
Her father wrote an authoritative text on bees. (So this could be a more conciliatory poem connecting her to her father than “Daddy.”)
Wintering: Who is winter for?
Women
What kind of structure did Plath frequently give her stanzas?
Tercet (3 line)
Gulliver: What voyage of Gulliver does this incident explore?
His experiences with the Lilliputians
Gulliver: What is a gendered reading of this poem?
Though Plath is talking about a “You”, it seems she could be identifying with Gulliver, constrained by small-minded people and restricted by being a woman.
The speaker ends the poem by encouraging Gulliver to “Step off” and break his bonds - perhaps as she wished she could do.
