Ms. Mulholland's Online Classroom
Learning Begins Here!
  • Home
    • Gradebook
    • Bell Schedule and Marking Period Schedule
  • Vocabulary
  • English III
    • English III Links>
      • Varying Views of America
      • Literary Devices
      • Figurative Language practice
      • Wheatley and Abdullah
      • Constructed Response Rubric
      • Benjamin Franklin Autobiography Reading Guide
      • Rhyme Scheme Practice
      • Keystone and Midterm Prep
      • writing a literary criticism (poem)
      • writing workshop>
        • Obituary - Writing your own!
        • The Iceberg Theory - Hemingway
        • Moderns Analysis>
          • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by TS Eliot
        • Where I'm From
        • CR on Elizabeth Cady Stanton
        • Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson
        • Benjamin Franklin questions
        • Thoreau, Ghandi, MLK
        • Peer Review Rules for all project-based writing assigments
        • Writing a thesis statement
        • Using Quotation Marks
        • Writing a How-To Essay
        • Lincoln Movie Questions
        • Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs
        • Civil Disobedience
      • The Moderns>
        • Poetry to Music
      • Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman?"
      • Literary Device Definitions without Terms
      • Poems using a variety of literary devices
      • Student-Generated Webquest
  • IB English III
    • What is International Mindedness
    • IB Learner Profile
    • The Nature of Studying Literature
    • The IOP (Individual Oral Presentation)
    • The Chosen>
      • The Chosen quotes
      • Chaim Potok
      • "Walking Away" and "Paths"
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays>
      • Ann Woodlief's criticism of Emerson
      • Transcendentalism Introduction>
        • Transcendentalism CR
    • "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain>
      • Mark Twain
      • "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Questions>
        • Huck Finn pre and post read survey
        • HF Characters
        • Appendix to Frederick Douglass' slave narrative
        • Themes/Motifs in Huck Finn>
          • Is Mark Twain a Racist?
        • Mae West
        • Claymation Video on Mark Twain
    • The IOC (individual oral commentary)>
      • rubric for IOC
    • The Extended Essay (EE)>
      • EE Guidelines
    • Flash Card Friday
    • Freud's Iceberg Theory
    • The Scarlet Letter>
      • Character Analysis
      • Puritanism versus Transcendentalism
      • Scarlet Letter chapter one symbolism
      • scarlet letter chapters 1-3
      • scarlet letter chapters 4-8
      • scarlet letter chapters 9-12
      • scarlet letter chapters 13-15
      • scarlet letter chapters 16-20
      • scarlet letter chapters 21-24
      • Important Passages for Analysis - The Scarlet Letter
      • Nathanial Hawthorne - The Birthmark and Young Goodman Brown
      • gilderlherman.org/The Scarlet Letter>
        • Scarlet Letter essays
      • Structure in The Scarlet Letter
    • The Crucible>
      • Arthur Miller
      • Background, The Crucible
      • Tragedy and the Common Man, by Arthur Miller>
        • John Proctor as Tragic Hero
      • The Crucible - quotes
      • God is Dead
      • Characters in The Crucible
      • Symbolism in The Crucible
      • Motifs in The Crucible>
        • The Crucible - Individual vs Society
        • The Crucible - Books and Paper
        • The Crucible - Dancing
        • The Crucible - Hiding and Secrecy
        • The Crucible - Inside and Outside
        • The Crucible - Heroism
        • The Crucible pace and rhythm
    • Wislawa Szymborska>
      • Szymborska: Love and the Fragility of Human Connections
      • Szymborska: The Human Condition: Lonely, Empty and Brief
      • Szymborska: Mockery and Wit
      • Szymborska: Poetry as Salvation
      • Szymborska: Joy and Beauty
      • Szymborska: War, Oppression, Suffering and Hope
    • Sylvia Plath>
      • Sylvia Plath's Themes
      • Sylvia Plath Symbolism
      • Sylvia Plath and Confessional Poetry>
        • Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
        • Sylvia Plath Literary Criticism and Essays
      • Hughes on Plath
      • Sylvia Plath Holocaust Imagery
      • Sylvia Plath's Domestic Poetry
      • Extremes in Plath's Poetry
      • Death and Birth in Plath's Poetry
      • The Monster in Plath's 'Mirror'
      • Sylvia Plath Juvenilia
      • Sylvia Plath 1956 and 1957
      • Sylvia Plath 1958
      • Sylvia Plath 1959
      • Sylvia Plath 1960
      • Sylvia Plath 1961
      • Sylvia Plath 1962
    • Selected Poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass>
      • Walt Whitman Quotes
      • Whitman and Dickinson
      • Whitman and Lincoln
      • Whitman's Experiment with Language
    • eligible content
  • IB English IV
    • IB 2014
    • College Preparations!
    • The Stranger, by Albert Camus>
      • Notes and Quotes for Camus', The Stranger>
        • The Myth of Sisyphus colormarked
    • Oedipus Rex >
      • Outline for Oedipus Rex Project
    • Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy>
      • Politics and Tolstoy
      • Anna Karenina - Tolstoy, the book's analysis, connecting pieces, etc.
      • Parallel Plot Lines in AK
      • Pre-read/view discussions for Anna Karenina
      • Article written about Sojourner Truth's speech
    • If This is a Man, by Primo Levi>
      • Pre-Read, Primo Levi
      • Interactive map of Italy during WWII / also a map showing the route from Turin to Auschwitz
      • Author's style, Structure, Themes/Motifs and Literary Device usage
      • Primo Levi Questions
      • Levi's Quotes - Notes and Quotes
      • Primo Levi Literary Device Sample
    • The Written Assignment>
      • The Reflective Statement>
        • Sample Reflective Statement
        • Reflective Statement Samples
        • IB Written Assignment Practice Essays
      • sample written assignment - Delaney Jenkins
    • Death of a Salesman>
      • Arthur Miller
      • Death of a Salesman Characters
      • Death of a Salesman Themes, Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory, Elements of Literature>
        • Bad Faith in Death of a Salesman
      • American Dream/Death of a Salesman
      • Death of a Salesman Plot Analysis >
        • Wendig's Narrative Structure
    • Hamlet, by William Shakespeare>
      • Tombstone
      • Hamlet's language and politics
      • Famous quotes in Hamlet Project
      • characters in Hamlet
      • Hamlet soliloquies and analyses
    • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard>
      • Tom Stoppard
      • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet
      • Rosencrantz's Monologue
      • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Identity
    • Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett>
      • Samuel Beckett
      • Waiting for Godot quotes
      • Class Discussion for Godot
      • Essay Topics for Godot
    • A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift
    • Paper 1>
      • The Red Wheelbarrow
      • Commentary Writing Tips
      • Analyzing Poetry
      • Analyzing Prose
      • Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
      • The Lanyard analysis
    • Paper 2>
      • Paper 2 Things to Consider>
        • Godot practice essay
      • Paper 2 Questions, Answers, Quotations
  • Graphic Organizers!
    • Essay and Project Rubric
    • peer editing guidelines
    • speech guidelines and rubric
    • Wheatley/Abdullah
    • Declaration of Independence
  • Helpful Links
    • Drama Dictionary
    • Essay - book marking
    • IB Journal Marking>
      • Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout
    • IB Literary Terms
    • Some Reading Skills and Strategies
    • Some Writing Strategies We'll Employ
    • Notes and Quotes
    • Verbs in Analysis
    • Blending Quotes
    • Characters
    • author's style and theme
    • Literary Structure
    • Sentence Variety Patterns
    • Universal Theme Possibilities
    • Common Motifs in Literature
    • How to Deconstruct a Novel/Short Story/Poem
    • Literary Timeline
    • Literary Criticism
    • Poetic Forms
    • Rhyme Schemes
    • Writing a Five Paragraph Essay
    • Writing Commentary for a Poem, Short Story, and Excerpts from Larger Works
    • Peer Review Rules
    • Philadelphia College Addresses
    • Sample SAT Essays with Scores
    • Sample Student College Resume
    • Sample Personal Statement>
      • An extended metaphor
      • Sample Unedited Personal Statement
      • Sample #2
    • Sample College Application Essays and the Personal Narrative
    • Grammar
    • Behavior Contract
    • Processfolio
    • MLA Formatting Help
    • Blog
    • NY Times - Reading and Empathy
    • Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin
    • Hans Christian Anderson - The Princess and the Pea
    • my poetry

Major Themes

Motherhood

Both ‘You’re’ and ‘Morning Song’ capture the eagerness of the expectant mother with ‘Morning Song’ in particular displaying a fierce pride in the child and a sense of protectiveness. Although motherhood can be viewed as a powerful, creative female force, Plath does not always portray it as an unambiguously blessed state. In poems such as ‘The Manor Garden’ she fears the pain of childbirth and the awesome responsibility of rearing a human being with the attendant uncertainties about the future that this brings with it. At her least positive, for example in ‘Tulips’, Plath views her children as restraints or ‘hooks’ holding her back. Her final poem ‘Edge’ remains ambiguous and it is not clear whether she kills her children or protects them by reabsorbing them into her body.

Plath is, however, more forthright in her condemnation of daughterhood. Concentrating mostly as she does on her father, the absence of mother figures from her poems is significant in itself. But when mothers do appear they are often distant (as in ‘Edge’), cold, uncaring or treacherous. As with children and fathers, mothers can be stifling and restrictive too, and at points in her poetry she chooses to cast off all elements of family in an attempt to find freedom.

Finally, Motherhood and pregnancy are also metaphors for literary creation, and Plath seems to view her ability to create poetry as linked to her ability to create life.

The Manor Garden, You’re, Morning Song, The Babysitters, By Candlelight, Ariel, Nick and the Candlestick, Letter in November, Edge, Medusa

Men

Plath focuses on two distinct roles for men in her poetry: men as fathers and men as husbands. Sometimes these are impotent and useless objects of scorn, as in ‘Lesbos’ while at other times they are brutally violent and threatening as, for example, in ‘Cut’ and ‘Daddy.' Even when Plath writes excitedly about the opposite sex as she does in ‘Pursuit,’ there is still an undercurrent of violence and conquest, perhaps reflecting Plath’s own tumultuous relationships. Fathers are worse still, revealed as suffocating, controlling figures, most notably in ‘Daddy,' sucking the life out of their children and ruining their lives. Plath has an occasional desire for these dominating father figures, as in ‘Daddy,’ to be modeled like her father in order to marry him, reinforces the link between the opposite sex and violence established in poems like ‘Pursuit’ and implies a self-contradictory, disturbed psyche torn between two incompatible aspects of man.

Daddy, Little Fugue, Lesbos, The Applicant, Tulips, Pursuit, The Jailer, Purdah, The Rabbit Catcher, Full Fathom Five, Suicide off Egg Rock, The Hermit at Outermost House, Sheep in Fog, The Munich Mannequins, Mary’s Song

Life and Death

Although Plath clearly has a fascination for death she planned 'Ariel' so that the first word in the collection was ‘Love’ and the last word ‘spring,' which suggests at least a partial thirst for life again, perhaps, revealing a contradictory and torn aspect to her personality. Her positive descriptions of flowers, which are often symbols of life, her pleasure at times with her children, the desire for rebirth and change in ‘Ariel’ and ‘Lady Lazarus’ all reflect this hopeful element in her poetry and, indeed, in some of her bleakest poems such as ‘Tulips’ and ‘Stones,' the female personas eventually choose life over death. In Edge, the most obviously suicidal of the poems, death is not something to be sad about but, in a way, perfects the woman.

Nonetheless, Plath’s poems do predominately contain a yearning for a death or obliteration, even in circumstances that are not obviously intolerable, e.g. ‘Insomniac’ or ‘Poppies in July’ and it is impossible to deny that we should be concerned by the ambivalence she shows to living throughout her work. Possibly influenced by the threats of the Cold War and the recent spectre of the Holocaust, Plath views death sometimes unflinchingly and sometimes fatalistically: as an inevitability that is not to be solaced by the false consolations of religion.

Tulips, Ariel, Lady Lazarus, Stones, Miss Drake Proceeds to Supper, Spinster, The Hermit of Outermost House, Death & Co, Cut, Edge, Full Fathom Five, Suicide off Egg Rock, Insomniac, Poppies in July, Daddy, Mary’s Song, The Thin People, By Candlelight, The Bee Meeting, Maudlin, An Appearance, Elm, The Burnt-Out Spa, A Birthday Present, Water, Face Lift, Medallion, The Stones, The Manor Garden

The Self

Plath appears to be partly obsessed with the idea of a divided self. Her college thesis was entitled ‘The Magic Mirror: The Dual in Dostoyevsky,’ and this perhaps accounts for some of the contradictions present in her poetry. Characters or personae often embody aspects of both the passive and the active, the alive 
and the dead, the desire to be free with the need for restriction, and so on.

Frequently Plath depicts female personae who are in some way under attack, but remain resolute and sometimes even angry in the face of obstacles. Plath’s concept of self is one defined by conflict, which is created by the clash with (usually male) elements of control. In many ways, then, Plath is a subversive poet depicting the oppression of women and offering various new definitions of the female self formed through struggle. The sinister, menacing appearance of stereotypically ‘female’ items such as a fridge or a mirror, for example in ‘Mirror’ and ‘An Appearance’, or the ridiculing of acceptable female behaviour in ‘Lesbos’ attack the constrictive nature of the 1950s image of the happy housewife and imply that Plath was a woman struggling against the role that a patriarchal society had created for her.

Lesbos, Daddy, Lady Lazarus, Words, Cut

Nature

Plath attacks the material values of modern Capitalist society, e.g. the superficiality of beauty in ‘Mirror’, and, as such, she frequently finds respite in nature, for example in ‘Poppies in October’, ‘Among the Narcissi’ and ‘Letter in November’.

However, this is not always the case as often speakers seem to feel threatened by natural elements within their poems, as in ‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’, ‘The Bee Meeting’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’. Indeed, as with many elements of Plath’s poetry nature can be both attractive and threatening. The sea, for example, can suggest both release (Suicide off Egg Rock) and dangerous power (Finisterre).

Mirror, Poppies in October, Letter in November, Among the Narcissi, The Moon and the Yew Tree, The Bee Meeting, Wuthering Heights, Suicide off Egg Rock, Finisterre

Myth

Plath made extensive use of myths, folk and
 fairy tales in her poetry to give her work more resonance and deeper meaning. A clear example of this is the poem ‘Daddy,’ which echoes the Greek myth of Electra and, thus, the Electra complex as defined by Freud. This theory of sexual development explains how young girls develop their first sexual urges for the fathers and feel a sense of competition with their mothers for the affections of that man.

Daddy, Maudlin, Wuthering Heights, Ariel, The Hermit at Outermost House, Lady Lazarus


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.