Comment on Male-Female Relationships in Sylvia Plath’s Poetry?

Male-Female Relationships in Sylvia Plath’s Poetry

There are two kinds of male-female relationships in Sylvia Plath’s poetry: those between fathers and daughters and between husbands and wives. Neither relationship seems to be happy. In ‘Lesbos’ the husbands are impotent, useless, deserving of scornful dismissal. They could be said of the potential husband s in ‘The Applicant’. But at least these men are not physically threatening, as the black demi-devil husbands in ‘Daddy’ most definitely is. Here the husband is sadistic torturer. The silent, silver suited husband who brings the sinister gift in ‘A Birthday Present’ is alarming too. He torments his wife in different, more subtle ways. Overall, heterosexual love relationships are problematic in Sylvia Plath’s poems. Even when she writes excitedly about being pursued by a lover, there is a strong current of violence running through the poem, ‘Pursuit’, a suggestion that the female is the victim, the bait. She will be eaten up worn out, cast aside.

 

Discuss the Theme of Motherhood in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath with Special Reference to ‘Morning Song’.

Theme of Motherhood in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath

 
A number of poems of Sylvia Plath deal with mothering. Sylvia Plath is not sentimental about motherhood. It is not an unambiguously blessed state in her work. The most obvious positive statement about children is ‘you’re’, which can be read as a celebration of pregnancy. Here Sylvia Plath captures the affection and eagerness of the expectant mother. ‘You’re’ and ‘Morning Song’ suggest that Sylvia Plath saw babies as unique, individual personalities; the child is never simply an extension of the mother in her poetry. She observes babies closely, showing us the wonder of new life through her use of unusual and unexpected metaphors and similes to describe infants.

‘Morning Song’ was written by Sylvia Plath after the birth of her first child, ‘Frieda’. She intended that it should be the first poem published in the ‘Ariel’ collection. The tone is different from the cheerful mood of ‘you’re’, although the poet continues to explore feelings and ideas about motherhood that are familiar from the earlier poem.

Critically Comment on Yeats’s Use of Symbol.

Yeats’s Use of Symbol

 
Yeats’ poetry is replete with symbols. He has been called “the chief representative” of the Symbolist Movement in English literature. Indeed Yeats uses innumerable symbols. Often he coins symbols from his study of the occult, Irish folklore and mythology, philosophy, which are generally unfamiliar to the readers.It is true that French Symbolist Movement has a great impact on Yeats.

Yeats makes use of a complex system of symbols in his poems. In Yeats’ poetry generally symbols are of two kinds; the traditional and the personal as his repeated symbol of “Rose”. It is both a traditional as well as a personal symbol. The ‘rose’ in Yeats’ poem is generally used to mean earthly love but in “The Rose of the World” it also symbolizes eternal love and beauty. In “The Rose of Battle” the rose is a refuge from earthly love. The symbol, thus, becomes complex and has to be read carefully in the context in which it is used.

Show How Yeats’ Treatment of History and Myth in His Poetry.

Yeats’ Treatment of History and Myth in His Poetry

 
Yeats was greatly enthused by the charm of myth and used it in numerous poems to reveal his complex philosophical understandings.  Yeats was keen to replace traditional Greek and Roman mythological figures with figures from Irish folk lore. The juxtaposition of the Greek and the Irish myths, and his enthusiasm for old and modern philosophy has distinguished his poems from his contemporaries. The following discussion hinges round Yeats’ handling of myth, philosophy, and history along with a critical inquiry into some of his major poems.

 

 

Comment on the Treatment of Childhood in the ‘Poem in October’.

Treatment of Childhood in the ‘Poem in October’

 
Dylan Thomas has special fascination for childhood. He has written a number of poems on childhood and ‘Poem in October’ is one of them. Dylan resembles Wordsworth and William Blake in his attitude to childhood. Wordsworth sees a child from a distance and laments the fact that he can no longer see the heavenly radiance around the objects of nature as he had seen in his childhood. But Dylan like Blake becomes a child himself through imagination and can see and enjoy the beauty of nature through the eyes of a child.