Focused Discussion On Poems Of Sylvia Plath

Surname 1

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

Focused Discussion on Poems of Sylvia Plath

Poets use poems to relay their message to the public. In a bid to achieve that, they use

various stylistic devices. Sylvia Plath, for instance, believes that war is evil, both genders are

equal, and there is life after death. Consequently, she uses imagery and allusion in the poems

“Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” to present her ideas of how an ideal society should operate.

In the poem "Daddy," Sylvia talks about the war in Germany. She states in the fifth

stanza that she could never talk to her father. She uses these words to express the lack of

communication between the government in Germany and its citizens. She wants to show this as

the beginning of the paralysis in the state of Germany. She refers to her father as the black shoe

in the first stanza. She uses this as a metaphor to represent Germany which was fighting most

European powers in the war. In the second stanza, she speaks of the death of her father and how

it happened so soon, way before she was ready to live without him. This represents the fact that

Germany had lost a large number of its young soldiers in a war who took part in it without even

understanding what it was about. Many of the soldiers were just called on to army duty from

their homes without adequate training or prior notice. Sylvia Plath uses this poem to bring out

the effect that the war had on Germany (Plath, 594).

Sylvia uses death to represent the end of the war and the defeat of Germany in "Daddy."

In the second stanza, Sylvia says that her father had died before time. This represents the quick

Surname 2

end to the Second World War following the death of the leader of the German army, Adolph

Hitler. In her last stanza, Sylvia states that her father was a vampire and had been staked, which

means that he had been killed and that the villagers were happy that he was finally dead because

of all the trouble and havoc he had wrecked upon them and their settlements. This shows that

after the defeat of Germany, those neighbors that it had waged war upon for example

Netherlands, Britain, and Norway were the happiest parties because when the war was at its

peak, they had suffered the most from Germany's evil activities. Furthermore, in the twelfth

stanza, the writer states that she was ten years old when her father was buried which means that

the state of Germany was not an ancient state even when she picked up wars against all the other

nations. It means that Germany had fallen even before she had a chance to prove herself as a

dominant world power (Ramazani et al. 594).

The writer uses childhood pain to represent the suffering in the Second World War in

"Daddy” (Ramazani et al. 593). She states in the sixth stanza that her tongue is stuck in barbed

wire. This brings out the pain that was experienced by German soldiers in their wars against

other vast powers. She compares the suffering that the soldiers and the citizens of Germany

underwent through to the pain of being torn apart by barbed wire on the tongue. Additionally,

she states that she had always been afraid of her father in the seventh stanza. This illustrates the

terror that was experienced by small and peaceful nations where the battle was able to reach. It

also shows the fright that the German citizens who did not take part in the war but had relatives

whom they loved in the army. Moreover, she adds that there was a vampire who drank her blood

for seven years. These are the years which the war had been taking place, from 1939 to 1945.

This refers to the fact that German soldiers were used by the powers to fight in the war and this

Surname 3

ended up in most of them dying or having severe injuries. Indeed, Sylvia uses the suffering she

goes through in her childhood to bring out the chaos experienced in Germany.

Sylvia Plath uses different imagery to communicate the reality of death in “Lady

Lazarus.” In the fifth stanza of the poem, the writer compares her face to fine linen that was used

by the Jews. Consequently, before the body of Lazarus was laid in a tomb, it was wrapped in fine

Jewish linen. In the eighth stanza of the poem, Sylvia says, "this is number three." She uses this

number to reveal the number of times that she had come close to death. She also uses a number

in the first stanza of the poem stating she had done it again as she had done in one year out of

every ten years. By this, she means that she has managed to escape death once again after facing

it head-on by trying to take her life. Furthermore, in the sixth stanza, she states that the grave

cave would be at home on her one day. Evidently, this shows that she did not see death as

evadable, but as a regular phase at which she would have to pass through at some point in her

life. Moreover, she uses the word "soon" to symbolize that to her it did not matter which day it

would be (Ramazani et al. 593-4). Evidently, “Lady Lazarus” talks about the subject of death.

It would not go without mentioning the biblical allusion in "Lady Lazarus." In the Jewish

community, Lazarus was a man who had died and then got resurrected afterward by Jesus. The

writer makes the person speaking in the poem Lady Lazarus herself as is in the seventh stanza

when the persona claims to have nine lives which are similar to the time when Lazarus is brought

back to life from death. She argues that there is a significant crowd which scrambles to look at

her being unwrapped. This is similar to the Jewish scene where Lazarus is also unwrapped from

his linen for him to be put in a tomb. This stanza presents the persona's full-blown imagination of

being dead as she sees herself as a body covered up all in linen which was used to preserve

bodies in the Jewish past. Further, she uses the allusion to show her belief in life after death

Surname 4

when she talks of her resurrection. Henceforth, apart from death, Plath presents some hope of

eternal life to her audience through “Lady Lazarus.”

Sylvia Plath applies the heavy use of irony in her poems. An example of this is in “Lady

Lazarus” in a line in the seventh stanza; “And I a smiling woman, I am only thirty, and like the cat I

have nine times to die.” (Plath) She imagines of dying again but instead of this causing her grief

grief, she portrays that she is always happy. Another instance is when she says; “Dying is an art,

like everything else, I do it exceptionally well.” (Plath) She declares that she performs the art of

dying very well but ironically, it is evident that she is still alive. Furthermore, this is the case in

“Daddy”. “Daddy, I have had to kill you, you died before I had time.” (Plath) It is ironical that she

says she would have killed her father and yet claims that she wants to bring him back to life; “I

used to pray to recover you.” (Plath) Moreover, the persona portrays irony when she speaks about

her fear of her father “I have always been scared of you” but it is clear that she still wants to be

with him, “At twenty I tried to die, and get back, back, back to you.” (Plath). Evidently, Sylvia

employs the use of irony in both her poems.

On looking at the two poems, “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” Sylvia is seen to be overly

critical of the community. First, she questions gender issues that have existed in the society since

time immemorial. That is evident when she comes up with a female Lazarus, which is a show

that if a male could rise from the dead, then a female too could. Besides, Sylvia refers to

Germany as a “he” in “Daddy,” which is contrary to what most people use to refer to nations

(“she”). Therefore, Sylvia comes out as gender neutral in her two poems. Additionally, Plath

portrays war as something bad, and that should never be tolerated in the community. She views

war as a source of death. “Death” in her poetry could be either literal or symbolic; that is, it

could be physical death or imply undesired outcomes. For instance, in “Lady Lazarus,” Sylvia

Surname 5

portrays death as a temporary condition that people come out of and return to normal through

resurrection. In practice, that sounds miraculous; thus, death in “Daddy” could imply the

economic challenges that come with war, which people may overcome after some time.

Evidently, Sylvia is quite critical of her society.

Considerably, Plath uses various styles to portray different themes through "Daddy" and

"Lady Lazarus." She uses symbolism to show the brutal engagement and downfall of Germany

in the Second World War and the death of her key soldiers. She also uses symbolism and

allusion to bring out the theme of death in her character Lady Lazarus in the poem "Lady

Lazarus." More intently, she uses stylistic devices to cover interesting topics, such as gender

biases and religious beliefs such as the resurrection. Therefore, using the two poems to describe

Sylvia, one would say that she believes in peace, life after death, and gender equality.

Surname 6

Works Cited

Plath, Sylvia. “Daddy by Sylvia Plath.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48999/daddy-56d22aafa45b2.

Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49000/lady-lazarus.

Ramazani, Jahan, et al. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Norton,

2003.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."