Sylvia Plath was an American short-story writer, poet and novelist. Woman was born on 27 October 1932 in the family of Otto and Aurelia Plath who lived in Boston’s suburb Jamaica Plain. Sylvia wrote her first poem at the age of eight, and the work was published in the Boston Herald. The woman started to keep journals from the 1944. This hobby became an important part of her life and helped people to understand Sylvia’s emotions after her death. In 1950 Plath won the scholarship and went to the Smith College. She also started to publish her works in national periodicals. Combination of work and studies created stressful conditions, and in 1953 Plath made her first suicide attempt with the aid of sleeping pills. She recovered from this nerve breakdown and returned to college in 1954. Some experts believe Plath “was born” as a poet auditory remembered her this year. In 1955 Sylvia went to Cambridge where she met her future husband poet Ted Hughes. The couple got married in summer 1956 and had two children: daughter Frieda (1960) and son Nicholas (1962). Plath was pregnant three times, but her second pregnancy ended in miscarriage in 1961. It sent Sylvia to the hospital where she spent a number of weeks because of the additional appendectomy. These events could be a basis for Plath’s poem Tulips. Summer of 1962 was a difficult period for the women. Sylvia had a car accident, which could be one of her suicide attempts, and separated with Hughes because of his adultery. These events stimulated Plath’s creativity, and she wrote at least 26 poems in October including the Lady Lazarus. However, that was her last gasp. Plath did not write too much during and killed herself with the aid of the gas oven in 11 February 1963 in London flat where she lived with her two children. Some experts believe the woman did not want to die and organized this attempt in a way so people would be able to save her. But she did not define all conditions right. Most of the Plath’s famous works were written in the genre of confessional poetry and showed signs of author’s depression. Two mentioned poems Tulips and the Lady Lazarus show both these features. Both works were published in the collection named Ariel. That was the name of the horse on which Plath went riding before she became a student. There is a theory the pet gave name to on of writer’s poems and the collection.
TULIPS
This work is a representative of a poetic form called “free verse”. Tulips was written in 1961 and consists of 9 stanzas each of which has 7 lines. The poem does not have regular rhythm’s and rhyme’s patterns, but there are still signs of rhythm. Shmoop Editorial Team mentioned the Line 11 “the nurses pass and pass, they are no trouble” that has a rhythm like “ta-TUM ta-TUM ta-TUM”. The same pattern appears in other stanzas. For example, there is the Line 18: “Now I have lost myself I am sick of baggage”. This pattern can remind a heartbeat. The poem does not have the general rhythm, but author used poetic tools to make it easier for auditory to read it and focus on important parts. Different combinations of sounds make readers to slow down or speed up. For example, words “stupid pupil” works like an “accelerator”, while phrases like “eat my oxygen” or “red lead” act like “breaks”.
The poem Tulips is a monologue of a thirty-year-old woman. “I have let things slip, a thirty-year-old cargo boat” (Tulips l. 22) – this line shows character’s age. Author shows the narrator once was a family woman, but she left all her “baggage” and became a nun after some accident. The woman wants to live a solitary life without any external irritants, but the bouquet of red tulips ruined her calmness. I already mentioned that Plath’s miscarriage and treatment in hospital could become a basis for this poem. This suggestion can be supported by the work’s beginning. “I have let things slip, a thirty-year-old cargo boat” (Tulips l. 1). Plath’s biography shows the miscarriage happened in February. I do not say the reflection of the personal experience is the only possible plot for this poem. The line: “I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions” (Tulips l. 5) suggests the work describes the situation during the war or after some terroristic act. However, other stanzas look more like a description of a more personal tragedy. In the Line 38 the narrator compared the bouquet of tulips with an awful baby. It would be a strange association for a person who did not take part in a stressful situation that included child. Readers can see character’s depression and the wish to isolate herself from the society. Those can be common symptoms for women after miscarriage. Plath also focused on the flowers’ color. Red tulips irritated the narrator. The character mentioned: “their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds” (Tulips l. 39); flowers’ color could irritate narrator because they reminded her about the look of own blood. However, this strong negative reaction can be treated as a sign of an emotional or neurological disorder. For example, patients with hypersensitivity often demonstrate strong negative reaction on black and red colors. Narrator’s words make readers to suggest she has this type of disorder. Tulips do not have strong smell, but the character said they “ate” her oxygen. Red is the color of passion, love, aggression and danger, and Plath showed the narrator saw only negative features. She compares tulips with dangerous animals that open “like the mouth of some great African cat” (Tulips l. 59). The poem Tulips leaves an impression of a woman who tries to fight with consequences of physical and emotional injuries.
LADY LAZARUS
The Lady Lazarus was written in October 1962 during the last year of Plath’s life. The poem consists of 28 tree-line stanzas or tercets. The Lady Lazarus is a monologue with many end-stopped and enjambment lines. Rhymes appear not in all stanzas and there is no direct order for them. However, it is easy to read the poem because of stanza’s size and structure. Plath also used anaphora several times. For example, it appears in lines 67 and 68: “I am your opus, I am your valuable” (Lady Lazarus).
The poem’s main character is a 30-year-old woman. Her age is mentioned in 7th stanza. The woman tries to commit a suicide each ten years. This is her third attempt and she will need to kill herself 6 more times, because the character has 9 lives like a cat. The poem shows she is doing it in public now. Words’ choice helps to suggest the character does not like the auditory. Short stanzas make readers feel the narrator spits words onto them. Plath showed narrator’s negative attitude with the Nazi theme. In spite of members of specific movements, people treat them as a sorrowful period of history. Plath used appeals like “Herr Doctor” and description of events in concentration camps to create an appropriate mood. She achieved her goal with short stanzas, like “a cake of soap, a wedding ring, a gold filling” (Lady Lazarus). This short sentence creates a detailed picture in the poem’s context.
The Lady Lazarus shows a link with the Bible’s plot, where Jesus resurrected the man named Lazarus. In the poem the female character came back to life because of own abilities and the help of other people. Plath showed the narrator have complex attitude to the situation. Lady Lazarus really wanted to dye, but other people did not allow her to do it: “they had to call and call and pick the worms off me like sticky pearls” (Lady Lazarus l. 41-42). The woman turned her demand to dye into an art after it. In the 15th stanza Plath showed the narrator treats death like other common processes. Her suicide attempts help the woman to feel she is real and meaningful for the auditory. “I am your valuable, the pure gold baby” (Lady Lazarus l. 67-68), - it looks like the narrator thinks she gets this status only because of her suicidal tradition. The woman uses this tool to attract society’s attention and hates it at the same time. Plath wrote this poem after she found her husband Ted Hughes had another woman. This revelation could be the basis for the end of the Lady Lazarus that look like a threat for the direct person or a group of people. “I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air” (l. 83-84), - these words could show the direct connection to the author’s situation. Hughes’s adultery struck Plath to the heart and made her depression worse. She could reflect her own wishes in the poem. In other words, Plath could think that an audacious move like suicide will help her to improve her internal state and family situation.
CONCLUSION
Poems Tulips and the Lady Lazarus demonstrated as Sylvia Plath’s emotional and mental condition declined over the years. The first poem showed a depressed woman who could fall into hysterical condition because of small irritators like the bouquet of red tulips. The woman was depressed, but did not talk about the suicide. The Lady Lazarus demonstrated that its character went further in her mental condition. This poem shows the narrator not only turned her suicide to the public performance, but also treated it as an opportunity to rebirth as a stronger person. Mentions of ash remind both about the Nazi crimes and the Phoenix bird in the work’s context. The Lady Lazarus shows the narrator hates the auditory and desires for its attention at the same time.
Both works are not autobiographical poems, but they show connections with Plath’s life. Both women are 30-years-old, and Sylvia killed herself at the age of 31. In spite of absence of autobiographical moments, both poems reflect author’s feelings during the time of their writing.
Works Cited
Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus”. Poetryfoundation.org. October 1962. 12 March 2016.
---. “Tulips”. Poetryfoundation.org. 1961. 12 March 2016.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Tulips Form and Meter." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
