Kilinc 1

Ali Kilinc – 900235909 – Literary Analysis Essay [RESEARCH]: Draft #6 [FINAL REVISED]

Ms. Rebecca Alexander

ENG 193: Literature & Composition – 10:30AM – 40423

11 April 2023

Topic #1: Focus on how the author’s [Sylvia Plath] work influenced the text

Sylvia Plath: A Great Depression

Almost every prominent author and poet in the history of modern literature has had his

or her writing heavily influenced by life changing events. Sylvia Plath, one of the highly praised

poets of the twentieth century, was also an author who was influenced to write because of the

events that happened in her life. She suffered immense difficulties in her life, regardless of what

obstacle that faced her. Similar to many authors, Sylvia Plath’s writing was mainly influenced by

the depression that affected her. In essence, her poems and stories have inspired, and continue

to inspire, countless people, and have broken new ground in literature. Her semi-

autobiographical writing style pioneered the writing form known today as simply “confessional

poetry”. This endless depression wrecked havoc on her personal life, especially her marriage,

while at the same time being an instrument in the creation of her extraordinary gothic-styled

writing, which can be observed from her poems “Daddy”, “Tulips”, and “Lady Lazarus”.

Sylvia Plath suffered all through her personal life. Ironically, her life begins in the Great

Depression. This somewhat reflects upon the start of her life-long battle with depression. One

of the main sources of her depression was due to the death of her father. Like a horrendous

present, exactly one week after Sylvia Plath’s birthday, her father died. According to the

Kilinc 2

Literary Encyclopedia, this was while she was at a dreadfully young age, eight, to be exact

(“Sylvia Plath” 2). Unfortunately, she was never able to fully overcome the pain associated with

her father’s death, and so it haunted her for the remainder of her life. This emotional impact on

her writing can be observed in many of her poems, specifically in her acclaimed poem “Daddy”.

Sylvia Plath continued to have a highly disturbed life from then on, which turned

unrelentingly rocky every time she tried to overcome an emotional challenge. According to

People magazine, she even experienced problems in her marriage with Ted Hughes, a seemingly

compatible partner, being a fellow poet (Jerome, Richard, et al. 141). Throughout her life, she

attempted suicide, and this emotional trauma also reflected her work, specifically in her poem

“Lady Lazarus”. To add to her suffering, Sylvia Plath’s horrendous husband institutionalized her.

Her institutionalization combined with other medical “issues” led Plath to reflect upon her

emotions in a poem called “Tulips”. Furthermore, she became highly distressed when she found

out that her husband was cheating on her. Sylvia Plath was never able to fully recover from the

pain that Hughes had inflicted upon her. She separated from her husband the year she wrote

“Tulips”, and the pain that she infused into the poem was an element of her suicide, which

occurred only four months later. One must understand that her painful life filled with suffering

did not dissolve in vain, but it spurred and inspired much of her writing.

While the writing of many authors may have been affected via their life, this influence

goes beyond merely inspiration for others. As stated by Kennedy, Plath’s poems have not only

been affected by her life, but the meanings of some of her poems have also been slightly

distorted due to her depression (Kennedy 1511). One must note that Sylvia Plath started writing

Kilinc 3

approximately the same time as her father’s death. Her writing only matured as she grew older,

and increased with emotional force. The more pain she felt, the more she sensed as if she

needed to express that pain. As she suffered, her desire to convey her emotions exponentially

magnified. Eventually, her depression grew so intense that her poems evolved into confessions

obviously filled with gothic themes of pain, suffering, and death. She also wrote with an obvious

semi-autobiographical theme. Her unrelenting use of such poetry has given her the title of

creating the pioneering literary movement of “confessional poetry.”

The poem written by Sylvia Plath called Daddy was greatly affected by her depression. In

many ways, her father’s death built a foundation for her writing. Many years after the death of

her father, Sylvia Plath finally decided to channel her entire struggle to overcome her father’s

death in her poem “Daddy”. This feeling of not being able to let go is observable in the line “You

died before I had time–” (7). This line in the poem trails off into an empty thought, observably

stating that Plath wanted to spend more time with her father. “Daddy” tries in many ways to

embody her immense feelings of depression throughout her life in the lines:

I was ten when they buried you.

At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.

I thought even the bones would do. (57-60)

Sylvia Plath uses symbolization by substituting events of the Holocaust with events in her own

life, adding to the emotional impact of the poem. She uses harsh imagery in her poem of her

recently separated husband, “man in black with a Meinkampf look,” so the reader can

Kilinc 4

understand her pain and suffering (65). The tone in this poem is somewhat different in respect

to many of Sylvia Plath’s other poems. According to Jon Rosenblatt, “Daddy” attempts to “kill”

her obsession with her father, and end her suffering (Rosenblatt 1). She finishes by giving the

false illusion of closure with, “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.” (80). The poem Daddy,

in a variety of ways, encapsulates Plath’s entire life’s worth of depression, which was filled with

pain and suffering, in a dramatic and gothic-styled poem.

Sylvia Plath’s poem Tulips is also apparently highly affected as a result of her depression.

The poem reflects upon another extremely influential aspect of her personality, the postpartum

depression (PPD) she experienced immediately after the birth of her daughter Frieda. When

Frieda came, Sylvia was not emotionally ready for a new baby, or any child for that matter. All

things usually pleasant turned horrendously disturbing for her after the baby arrived with the

simple example of flowers bothering her. As Diana Curtis observes, the flowers remind and

everything surrounding her birth became a harsh reality-check of the unpleasant outside world

(Curtis 184). These feelings angst that Sylvia felt can be observed through the speaker of the

poem in lines where the speaker states that she can “…hear them breath/Lightly, through their

swaddlings, like an awful baby.” (37-38). Here, the tulips are personified because the speaker is

intimidated by the flowers. Furthermore, the tulips are used as symbolization to explain how

Sylvia does not see something that is meant to be beautiful. Her baby, although a beautiful

miracle, is demonized; the tulips, although gorgeous, are shown as the enemy. Observing all

these elements that Plath incorporated into “Tulips”, it is extremely clear that her deep-settled

depression swayed the poem to a darker, and somewhat gothic theme.

Kilinc 5

Finally, when observing works of poetry by Sylvia Plath that have been affected by her

depression, it is important not to overlook her celebrated poem called “Lady Lazarus”.

Throughout the poem, Plath uses numerous forms of imagery to demonstrate her feelings of

pain and agony. For example, in the beginning of the poem, the speaker explains how she has

attempted suicide, “I have done it again,/One year in every ten/I manage it–“ (1-3). As stated by

Kennedy, in many ways, these lines fully embody Plath’s emotions of distress in an auto-

biographical nature (Kennedy 654). Her detest of life is also symbolized through her use of the

Holocaust as imagery:

A sort of walking miracle, my skin

Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot.

A paperweight,

My face a featureless, fine

Jew linen. (4-10).

Plath again boldly compares the experiences that Holocaust victims went through, to her own

emotional challenges. Although highly controversial, it is a necessary tool that she used to

demonstrate her feelings of entrapment and torture she faced. The poem also conveys her

thoughts, creating the illusion that the only escape from her suffering is to end her own life.

Furthermore, the speaker’s suicidal feelings become heightened when the reader realizes that

Plath literally killed herself mere months subsequent to writing the poem. It is obvious that this

poem has been greatly affected by Plath’s chronic depression as it embodies many of her

feelings of pain and suffering.

Kilinc 6

Obviously, Sylvia Plath’s life is filled with tragic stories of hurt and anguish. The events in

her life inspired her writing in every way imaginable. Her use of semi-autobiographical poems

gave insight into her feelings and gave the world a view on how she faced issues. Because of

her work, she was christened with title of pioneering the writing style known as “confessional

poetry”. Sylvia Plath’s obsession with death and pain is apparent in many of her works, and has

led her to write extraordinary poems with a gothic theme. It is evident that she suffered

through depression her entire life. Sylvia Plath’s endless depression caused chaos in her

marriage, destroyed her family, affected her mental being, and ruined her life; yet it was highly

instrumental in the creation of her extraordinarily unique gothic poems.

Kilinc 7

Works Cited

Curtis, Diana. "Plath's TULIPS." Explicator 64.3 (Spring 2006): 184-186. Academic Search

Complete. EBSCO. 27 May 2009

Jerome, Richard, Eileen Finan, and Mary Green. "Who Was Sylvia?." People 60.19 (10 Nov.

2003): 141-143. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 27 May 2009.

Kennedy, X. J, and GIOIA. “Biographical Criticism. ” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry,

drama, and writing. Kennedy, X. J, and GIOIA. New York: Pearson, 2007. 1510-1511.

Print.

Kennedy, X. J, and GIOIA. “Poetry and Personal Identity. ” Literature: an introduction to fiction,

poetry, drama, and writing. Kennedy, X. J, and GIOIA. New York: Pearson, 2007. 654-

669. Print.

McGill, Sarah Ann. "Sylvia Plath." Sylvia Plath (9781429802918) (Sep. 2005): 1-2. Literary

Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 27 May 2009.

Plath, Sylvia. “Daddy. ” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing.

Kennedy, X. J, and GIOIA. New York: Pearson, 2007. 801-803. Print.

Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus. ” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing.

Kennedy, X. J, and GIOIA. New York: Pearson, 2007. 655-657. Print.

Rosenblatt, Jon. “On “Daddy”.” University of North Caroline Press. 1979. 1-2. Web. 27 May

2009. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/plath/daddy.htm>

“Sylvia Plath.” Literary Encyclopedia. The Literary Dictionary Company Limited. 17 Sep. 2003. 1-

2. Web. 27 May 2009.

Kilinc 8

“Tulips.” A Wind of Such Violence: The Work of Plath. Angelfire. August 1994. 1-2. Web. 27 May

2009. <http://www.angelfire.com/tn/plath/>