Plath Flashcards
1
Q
Daddy- descriptions of the speaker
A
“lived like a foot” “poor and white” “tongue…stuck in a barbed wire snare” “i could hardly speak” “i began to talk like a jew” “i may be a bit of a Jew” “adores a Fascist” “pretty red heart” “tried to die” “I used to pray to recover you” “If I’ve killed a man, I’ve killed two.” “I’m through”
2
Q
daddy- interpretation of speaker
A
Trapped in a bad relationship with nazi father, he dies, she tries to die with him but that fails so she creates a replica and marries him. In the end she is broken and unhappy and splits with both.
3
Q
daddy- descriptors of daddy
A
“black shoe” “marble-heavy” “ghastly stature” “grey toe” Godlike “every German” Ariel warfare, a tank driver dark, evil, devil, “cleft chinned” “swastika” “fascist” “brute” “devil” “fat black heart” “bastard”
4
Q
daddy- descriptions of ted
A
“model of [Daddy]” “in black” “Meinkampf look” “vampire” “drank my blood for a year”
5
Q
messages/views and values of Daddy
A
The narrator is oppressed like a jew
The father is the oppressor like a nazi
She feels oppressed by her father and yet she attempts to die to find him and eventually marries a model of him
Inability to grow up and move on
6
Q
daddy tones
A
Childlike
Desperately fearful
7
Q
language features of daddy
A
Repetition
oo sound- emphasises the childlike nature of her
b sound like smacking
Childlike language
Irony- says she is through but still calls him Daddy
8
Q
structural devices daddy
A
Enjambment showing continuity and spreading of Daddy’s hold on her
Imagery of Jews and Nazis and devils and vampires
9
Q
messages/views and values of LL
A
About the speaker’s “mirac[ulous] resurrection from death (often suicide)
Feelings of repression by society
Her words are powerful, she has power with her poems
Nazi themes
Patriarchy themes
Idea that depression scares people
Commits suicide each decade and has 9 deaths
Mummy being unwrapped
German
10
Q
tone LL
A
Opens in a detached, bemused tone
Becomes powerless
In the end her words are powerful, her tone strong and confident
11
Q
language LL
A
“it” to describe depression Ambiguous “enemy” “shoves” and other brutal words to describe society German is used- creates fear Internal rhyme Jaring and unsettling Anaphora Irony Dramatic
12
Q
structure LL
A
Stanzas are triplets, lines short- sharp
Jaring and unsettling
Enjambment creates the flow of life and the closing of her shell. Also creates drama
13
Q
quotes LL
A
“i have done it again” “walking miracle” “do I terrify?” “nine times to die” “peanut-crunching crowd” “the big strip tease” “i rocked shut/as a seashell” “dying/is an art” “i do it so it feels like hell” “theatrical” “charge, a very large charge” “blood…hair…clothes” “Herr dokter…Herr enemy…Herr God…Herr Lucifer” “i am your opus…pure gold baby” “nothing there” “you poke and stir” “out of the ash I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air”
14
Q
summary Morning song
A
Motherhood is not glamorous
Motherhood can be hard for some women and society always paints it as wonderful and puts pressure on women
Post-natal depression
The relationship with the baby takes time and eventually the bond is powerful
15
Q
tones morning song
A
Opens in a detached, cold, disconnected, numb, empty
Tone becomes gentle, natural, loving
16
Q
language morning
A
Objectification of baby
Metaphors for what the baby represents
Assonance
Synthasesia
17
Q
structural devices morning
A
Enjambment to show the flow of morning
“oo”
18
Q
quotes morning
A
“fat gold watch” “bald cry” “place amount the elements” “new statue” “blankly as walls” “nakedness” “i’m no more your mother” “moth-breath” “cow-heavy” “whitens and swallows its dull stars” “rise like balloons”
19
Q
summary sheep
A
Depression
Being lost and alone in life
Low self-esteem
Life is meaningless, wondering aimlessly
A calling to death, a sense of belonging to death
A fear of what lies beyond, whether it will indeed be better than life
20
Q
tones sheep
A
Desperate Fearful Tired Constant stream of debilitating thought Drowned
21
Q
language sheep
A
Use of fog to create an isolated environment, no clarity, all pressing in, consuming depression and isolation
“stars”, “heaven”- create a sense that the massive expanse of life is against her- complete inability to cope with such a force, also a bit self-centred showing deterioration of sensible thought
Sheep imagery- a following, a nobody, lost, unable to be found- biblical?
“whiteness”- cold, sterility
“O” sounds make it slow and dreary, sorrowful, mournful
“blackening” morning- complete inability to find goodness and life, even the natural light is vanquished, depression overcomes all hope
“dark water”- isolated, stagnant, evil, paradox to pure religious connotations of water- fear of after life
22
Q
structure sheep
A
Enjambment in certain places further breaks up rhythm and slows it all down, allows the consciousness to flow on, overwhelmed
— further slowing
23
Q
links sheep
A
Chill fogginess of moon and ewe tree
“threaten” - Tulips
“dark water”- Words
24
Q
quotes sheep
A
“whiteness” “I disappoint” “O slow” “dolorous bells” “morning has been blackening” “a flower left out” “my bones hold a stillness” “threaten” “a heaven/starless and fatherless, a dark water”
25
the applicant messages
Social pressure to marry- to live up to certain expectations
The oppressive nature of the patriarchy
Society has become so caught up in expectations that it is false, marriage is now a business transaction
The changing of one’s true self for conformity
“empty”- without marriage you are nothing
“stop crying”- inability for men to show “feminine” side
Women cannot live without men “sorrow”
Society profits from their mourning in funeral costs and their returning to the marrying pool- “new stock”
Women say nothing meaningful, they have one purpose- marriage for male gain
26
tones applicant
Opens persuasive, judgemental- “will you marry it?”
Condescending of male tears and females in the closet
By the end society demands marriage- “marry it”
27
language applicant
Synecdoche- fake body parts define a person, marriage “a hand”, the need for marriage as a social expectation is more important than knowing the identity behind the “hand” - womens’ sole purpose is the complete the “Empty” man
?- constantly asking, pressuring, gives a sale pitch vibe
“it”, “thing”- dehumanisation of women
Biblical imagery- “stitches” to show the rib is missing
“guaranteed”- sales pitch
Nakedness and needing to be clothed- the moulding expectations of society- “black and stiff”
Repetition of “empty”- need to be altered, not complete, society needs to contaminate your mind
“doll”, “silver”, “gold”, “paper”- valuable asset, objectified, investment
28
structure applicant
Enjambment connects the two in marriage
| Enjambment to show progression of marriage worth
29
links applicant
Munich Mannequins- doll-like women, purposeless
30
quotes applicant
```
“are you our sort of person?”
“stitches”
“Empty? Empty. Here is a hand
“it is guaranteed”
“new stock from the salt”
“naked”
“black and stiff but not a bad fit”
“sweetie”
“a living doll”
“it’s an image”
“will you marry it, marry it, marry it.
```
31
tulips message
The desire for freedom and peace but she may have confused that with absence of thought
“leaning peacefulness”- unnatural highlighting unnaturalness of her drugged method of peace
Gives herself to the doctors, gives up identity to find peace
Society tries to smooth her over, fix her through conformation
But she can’t escape thought, it keeps attacking her
By the end she appears to realise that to find health she needs to return to the world
32
tulips tone
Shifts between panicked, fearful and paranoid of tulips to empty, numb, detached unconsciousness and back
Water loses purity of the unconsciousness and becomes a eddying, dangerous, festering mass as the Tulips consume her
Glimmer of hope by the end- her heart is red but it pumps life, she needs to find peace in health
33
tulips language
Long sentences
Slow vowel sounds- “ow” “oo”
Tulips and red: mind chaos, blood connecting to wound, draws her back, loud, obnoxious
White: sterility, cold, “winter”, “snowed-in”
“look”- imperative, convincing self and audience
“pupil”: passive, unable to move or to stop thinking, to stop observing
“smiling hooks”- good things are painful, they pull her back from her peace of numbness
Water of unconsciousness, purifying her
34
tulips structure
Septets are long and slow, full stops further slow and break up- drugged effect
Enjambment shows the flow of consciousness and unconsciousness, drugged state
35
tulips links
Applicant- synecdoche, detached from self
Words- pebble, water
Sheep in Fog- rust, water
Morning Song- cat/lion
36
tulips quotes
```
“too excitable”
“Winter”
“i am learning peacefulness”
“i am nobody”
“stupid pupil”
“pebble…tend to it as water”
“little smiling hooks”
“scared and bare”
“utterly empty”
“water went over my head…pure”
“they hurt me…talks to my wound”
“now I am watched”
“the vivid tulips eat my oxygen”
“snags and eddies”
“sheer love of me”
“A country far away as health”
```
37
cut messages
The descriptions of her cut thumb
| How the mind spirals out of control
38
tones cut
Exhilaration and curiosity
Queasy, fearful
Blunt
39
language cut
— creates suspense
Metaphors- soldiers, pilgrims, blood cells, KKK etc. blow an everyday incident out of proportion
Monosyllabic words enhance shortness
40
structure cut
4 line stanzas with short sentences, create a fast, jarring rhythm
Enjambment- running on of blood, of overactive mind
41
links cut
Blunt, jarring like Lady Lazarus
| red/white colour contrasts like Tulips
42
quotes cut
```
“what a thrill—“
“hinge”
“flap like a hat”
“little pilgrim,/the Indian’s axed your scalp”
“pink fizz”
“red coats, everyone/ whose side are they on.”
“O my/homunculus”
“pill to kill”
“dirty girl”
“thumb stump”
```
43
summary night dances
The fleeting nature of human existence
How small we are and our families when compared to the grander of space and time
Children grow up, they lose their wonder in the logic of the universe and they age- a blip in time
Why is she given blessings that will never last?
44
tones night dances
Awed
| Saddened
45
language night dances
!- amazement, the finality of something lost in time
“mathematics”- the elemental, scientific, cold progression of the world
Hyperbole of cosmic imagery- creates awe, insignificance
Snow imagery- creates a sense of pure blessings but as seen in other poems, it is also a curse to have children that will surely melt away into “nothing”
Juxtaposing the warmth of human relations to the coldness of the cosmos
46
structure night dances
Enjambment- a sense of time carrying on, infinity
| Listing with commas also creates a sense of time carrying on
47
links night dances
Morning Song- the fleeting nature of time and our existence- effacement of a mirror
48
quotes night dances
```
“a smile fell in the grass./irretrievable!”
“and how will your night dances lose themselves.”
“leaps and spirals”
“smell of your sleep, lilies, lilies”
“comets”
“so your gestures flake off”
“black amnesia of heaven”
“why am I given…”
“falling like blessings, like flakes”
“touching and melting./nowhere”
```
49
poppies messages
Why do humans deserve such good things?
The goodness of nature, flowers, selfless people, children gifted to people who shroud their eyes from goodness with the darkness of money and greed
We destroy the environment with cars
A desire for the sun to set on her life and the after life to begin
50
tones poppies
Awe
Appreciation
Bewilderment
51
language poppies
Poppies: a symbol of life and death, the end of the war but remembrance for those who died, peace, a change
Corn flower: could be positive, the arrival of bread, wealth, love but could also be negative- the sign of the Nazis, which would suggest the end is not positive about life and rather centres on death
October- doesn't fit in
52
structure poppies
Short blunt stanza establishes a tone shift into desperate bewilderment
53
links poppies
Sheep in Fog- contemplation of death
| Tulips- flowers
54
quotes poppies
“even the sun-clouds…cannot manage such skirts”
“red heart blooms through her coat so astoundingly”
“a love gift”
“utterly unasked for”
“igniting its carbon monoxides”
“eyes/dulled to a halt under bowlers”
“O my God, what am I”
“in a forest frost, in a dawn of cornflowers”
55
messages nick
Motherhood is dangerous, difficult and often does not seem the pure, religious blessing that society paints it as
Motherhood drains her and social expectations of her as a mother do too
How in this darkness, this evil world, can such an innocent precious, pure creature exist? She attempts to make a safe and warm world for her baby
Despite the pressures and hardships, a connection is formed
56
tones nick
pain
Boredom
Detached
Tone shifts and becomes warm
57
language nick
Cave- decent into underworld, womb
“a”- short, engulfing create a claustrophobic cave
Religion- purity of childbirth and debunking that by inverting the image to piranhas
Blue shifts to warm yellow as a connection is formed
Repetition creates desperation and later emphasises love
!
—
Liquid “l”
58
structure nick
Enjambment- flow and drip of stalactites and milk, flow of growing connection
59
links nick
The Moon and the Ewe Tree- blue-lit, cold connection to children
Daddy- fairy tales and draining blood
Morning Song- Victoriana, cosmic, elemental
60
quotes nick
```
“i am a miner”
“the light burns blue”
“waxy stalactites/drip and thicken”
“the earthen womb”
“black bat airs”
“weld to me like plumbs”
“a piranha/religion, drinking/its first communion out of my live toes”
“its yellows hearten”
“O love”
“blood blooms clean/in your ruby”
“the pain you wake to is not yours”
“victoriana”
“let the stars plummet to their dark address”
“you are the one solid the spaces lean on, envious”
“you are the baby in the barn”
```
61
messages moon
The speaker feels isolated in her struggles with no aid from her parents or religion
The choking encompassing nature of depression and no way out
Obsession with death
A desire for comfort but an inability to find it
Death of father
62
tones of moon
```
Detached
Depressed
Sad
Gloomy
Eery
Lost
```
63
language moon
Ewe tree: masculine, her father, pointing up to the darkened sky, no answers for her but her dark mother
Moon: far off, isolated, grieving, unable to offer comfort
Religion: stagnant, ghostly, funeral aspect, not life, stiff and fake
Blue: cold, eery, isolated, depressed
Black: darker than blue, totally lost, death
64
structure moon
Enjambment surrounding “God” creating a sense of isolation, existing utterly alone, no one being around to witness power, being utterly meaningless
Long phrases and stanzas, further slowed with full stops creating a gloominess
— makes startling bells seem very unnatural, jars smooth rhythm
65
links moon
Nick and the Candlestick- cold cave, eery, bat-like, no comfort as a child
Daddy- no comfort from father
66
quotes moon
“cold and planetary”
“the trees of the mind are black”
“the light is blue”
“separated from my house by a row of headstones”
“the yew tree points up. It has gothic shape”
“the moon is my mother. She is not sweet like Mary”
“i have fallen a long way”
“the saints will all be blue”
“cold pews”
“faces stiff with holiness”
“she is bald and wild”
“the message of the ewe tree is blackness—blackness and silence”
67
letter in November messages
```
Loneliness
Isolation
In England, pregnant with no husband
Loves the brutal history and thoughts of death
Disconnection from property
```
68
tones letter
Sad, grieving
Warmth lingers and is devoured by cold
Desperate, trapped
69
language letter
Colour imagery- creates coldness, warmth, emotion, atmosphere
I and my- no we, she is alone in all of this and the repetition creates a sense of maddening desperation
Trees- poisonous and fringe her property
Personification of trees- gives her oppressors power
Imperative “imagine it”
70
structure letter
Pentuplits that start dark and end dark but have warmth in the middle
71
links letter
Daddy- confined by dark colours
| Bee Box- laburnum
72
quotes letter
```
“the world/suddenly turns, turns colour”
It is the arctic”
“i am so stupidly happy”
“beautiful red”
“barbarous holly”
“wall of old corpses/i love them”
“gold leaves metal and breathless”
“O love, o celibate’
“nobody but me/walks the waist-high wet”
“golds bleed and deepen, the mouths of Thermopylae”
```
73
you're messages
Extreme love her her unborn baby
Hope in the connection she has formed
Pure, a “clean slate”, seperate from her patriarchal pressures
The pride she has in what her baby will become
74
you're tones
Loving
Warm
Marveling
75
language you're
Metaphors and similes to describe the growing baby in a loving and cosy way
Maths- perfect, logical, part of the universe
76
structure you're
Two 9-line stanzas representing the 9 months of her two children
77
links you're
Morning song- love of her baby and the logic of her baby (maths, cosmos)
78
quotes you're
```
“feet to the stars”
“moon-skulled”
“thumbs-down to dodo’s mode”
“mute as a turnip”
“O high riser, my little loaf”
“vague as fog and looked for like mail”
“right, like a well done sum”
“a clean slate, with your own face on”
```
79
bee box messages
The attempts to take control of her thoughts
No control over her mental health and attempts to convince herself otherwise
Can’t find her identity in there or escape
Too much looking in destroys her
80
tones bee box
Assuring
Paranoid
Fearful
81
language bee box
Sound of bees- incomprehensible, irritating, on going, inescapable, fear-inducing, just like thoughts
Descriptions of it being heavy, a coffin- a burden, thoughts of death
Repetition of “dark”
“they”- personification of bees, gives them power
Repetition of “i wonder”- paranoid
“oo” sounds of mourning
“i,i,i” echoes the din
82
structure bee box
Quintets until the end- all falls apart in attempts to escape confines of mind
Internal rhyme
No end rhythms
Unsettled
Free verse
Active sentences
Enjambment at end- procrastination, paranoid, reassuring
83
links bee box
Applicant- synecdoche of African hands
Letter in November- laburnum
Moon and the Yew Tree- cold, mourning, bee keeper suit
84
quotes bee box
```
“i ordered this”
“heavy”
“coffin”
“i have to live with it overnight”
“grid”
“dark, dark”
“black on black”
“unintelligible syllables”
“they can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner”
“hungry”
“i am no source of honey”
“the box is only temporary”
```
85
messages mannequins
The disgusting dehumanisation and objectification of women
The sterility and coldness of these “dolls”
The unachievable standards women have to reach being perfect, objects and domestic house wives
Women have become plastic and inhuman under oppression
Women are needed for the continuation of life
Criticism of the American Dream
Perfect women are powerless
86
tones mannequins
Cold
| Sarcastic
87
language mannequins
```
Underworld metaphors
snow, sterility, winter
“oo”
Toxic chemicals
Synecdoche
Comparisons to dolls and sweets
German- patriarchy, oppression
Phone
```
88
structure mannequins
2 line stanzas until end where there is a single line
89
links mannequins
Daddy- oppression of women, phones, German
Lady Lazarus- objectification of women
Applicant- objectification of women, synecdoche
90
quotes mannequins
```
“perfection is terrible, it cannot have children”
“Cold as snow breath”
“tamps the womb”
“unloosing their moons…to no purpose”
“no more idols but me”
“blood flood is the flood of love”
“sulphur loveliness”
“orange lollies on silver sticks”
“naked and bald”
“without mind”
“pieces of darkness”
“hands”
“broad toes”
“O the domesticity”
“the thick Germans slumbering in their bottomless Stolz”
“black phones…glittering and digesting”
“voicelessness. The snow has no voice”
```
91
balloons messages
beautiful, innocent, pure imagination of children
| The joy and freedom she is getting from watching them
92
tones balloons
Loving
Amused
Warm
93
language balloons
! Laughing with amusement, love and joy
“oo”- cooing, loving, warm
bright colours bring warmth and joy
Water- clear, understanding, dazed, awareness floods in, innocent simplicity
94
balloons structure
Enjambment creates joyous suspense, the suspense the children feel
95
links balloons
You’re- joy and warmth
Moon and the Yew Tree- moons
Morning Song- “rise like balloons”, fat jug
96
quotes balloons
```
“soul-animals”
“queer moons”
“instead of dead furniture!”
“delighting”
“globes”
Beaten in starry metals”
“a funny pink world”
“fat jug”
“contemplating a world clear as water”
```
97
kindness messages
The oppressive and horrible nature of being a domestic house wife
But a true connection with a child is pure and not oppressive, it is the tainting of society
Her true power comes from her creativity but that is not compatible with her life
98
tones kindness
Sarcastic
| Dotted with seriousness
99
language kindness
Imagery of sorcery
doll-like, plastic, fake
Slicing “ice” sounds, anger is slicing through
100
structure kindness
Enjambment of the swanning, flowing lady
101
links kindness
Munich Mannequins, Applicant, Lady Lazarus- doll
| Words and Lady Lazarus- power of language
102
quotes kindness
```
“glides”
“so nice!”
“rings smoke…mirrors”
“what is so real as the cry of a child?”
“sugar can cure everything…necessary fluid”
“little poultice”
“sweetly picking up the pieces!”
“pinned”
“anaesthetised”
“wreathed in steam”
“the blood jet is poetry/, there is no stopping it”
“you hand me two children, two roses”
```
103
words messages
Words last through history and give power
| But her words are getting away from her, she is losing control
104
tones words
Powerful to powerless
Proud to humble
Lively to deathly
105
language words
Axes on wood cutting to the rings- echoes, rings off, hits the core of her and others
Horses- freedom, power
Sap- heals
Water- moulds her, smoothed by society, attempts to find identity
Internal rhythm
“ee”- eery, gross
Riderless words- cannot control her creativity anymore
Water is stagnant at the end
106
structure words
Enjambment- flow of words, sap and water, emphasis
107
links words
Sheep in fog- stagnant water
| Tulips- smoothing stone
108
quotes words
```
“axes”
“wood rings”
“echoes!”
“off from the centre like horses”
“the sap/wells like tears”
“Water striving/to re-establish its mirror”
“weedy greens”
“white skull”
“words dry and riderless”
“from the bottom of the pool, fixed stars/govern.a life”
```
