Slyvia Plath- Feminist Criticism

ANALYSING SYLVIA PLATH’S POETRY THROUGH A

FEMINIST LENS.

Submitted for internal assessment by:

Miss. Maria Syed

M. A (II)

Roll No. 26

Under the guidance of

Dr. Aparna Lanjewar Bose

Professor, Department of English

University of Mumbai

2008-2009

I N D E X :

1) Introduction 03 - 03

2) Sylvia Plath & her works 03 - 04

3) Feminist Analysis of Plath’s Poetry 04 - 20

a) Lady Lazarus

b) Daddy

c) Edge

d) Morning Song

e) Nick & The Candlestick

f) Tulips

4) Conclusion 22 – 22

5) Works Cited 23 - 23

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ANALYSING SYLVIA PLATH’S POETRY THROUGH A

FEMINIST LENS.

INTRODUCTION:

During the last three decades of the twentieth century, works by women authors held a prominent place in the literary world. Authors like Zora Neale Hurtson, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Willa Cather and others were immensely published and read. Themes which concerned the experience of bondage to male values and defining independence of the self were explored by women writers. Sylvia Plath’s voice was heard, as that of a fighter, along side other writers in the righteous anger of the 60’s. Some of these writers are Marina Tsvetayeva, Pablo Neruda, Tadeusz Rosewicz, and Virginia Woolf. All of these writers, including Plath, lived through great personal pain and wrote out their experiences in ways that touched people across cultures and generations.

SYLVIA PLATH AND HER WORKS:

In her brief but momentous career, Sylvia Plath rewrote the story that women writers could tell in poetry and, to some extent, in fiction and diaries as well. Before Adrienne Rich’s feminist awakening, Plath wrote unforgettable poems concerning women’s victimization, rage, and rebellion. Although Plath gained only modest critical success during her lifetime, after her suicide at the age of thirty and the subsequent publication of her poetry...