Exploring the Theme of Death and Despair in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath: A Critical Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31150/ajshr.v5i1.2682Keywords:
Semantic, Poetic Expressions, ConfessionalAbstract
This research paper delves into the profound exploration of the theme of death and despair in the poetry of Sylvia Plath, a renowned American poet whose works have left an indelible mark on the landscape of modern literature. Plath's poetic corpus, particularly her confessional poetry, is characterized by an intense examination of personal struggles, mental health issues, and the haunting presence of death. This paper employs a critical lens to unravel the nuanced layers of Plath's poetic expressions, examining the thematic preoccupations, literary techniques, and the psychological underpinnings that define her exploration of death and despair.
References
Plath, Sylvia. Ariel. HarperCollins, 1965.
Plath, Sylvia. Collected Poems. Edited by Ted Hughes, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Basic Books, 2010.
Jung, Carl. Man and His Symbols. Doubleday, 1964.
Alvarez, A. The Savage God: A Study of Suicide. Random House, 1972.
Wagner-Martin, Linda. Sylvia Plath: A Biography. St. Martin's Press, 1987.
Middlebrook, Diane. Her Husband: Hughes and Plath--A Marriage. Viking, 2003.
Axelrod, Steven Gould. Sylvia Plath: The Wound and the Cure of Words. University of Iowa Press, 1990.
Rosenblatt, Jon. Sylvia Plath: The Poetry of Initiation. University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
Van Dyne, Susan R. Revising Life: Sylvia Plath's Ariel Poems. University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Perloff, Marjorie. The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage. Northwestern University Press, 1999.
Broe, Mary Lynn. Sylvia Plath and the Mythology of Women Readers. University of Massachusetts Press, 1980.
Wagner-Martin, Linda. Sylvia Plath: A Literary Life. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Rose, Jacqueline. The Haunting of Sylvia Plath. Virago, 1991.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Dover Publications, 1997. (For contextual analysis of mental health themes)
