Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet and novelist (1932–1963) whose confessional poetry explored depression, death, and female identity with searing intensity.
Her novel *The Bell Jar* depicted mental breakdown; her posthumous poetry collection *Ariel* secured her reputation.
She died by suicide at thirty, and her work has become central to discussions of women's writing and mental illness in literature.
Vacuum-sealed glass dome
- ArielAiry supernatural being
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
- verseMetered poetic passage
- confessionalBooth for admitting sins
imagery · metaphor · symbolism · lyricism · diction · voice · cadence · alliteration
Prolonged low state
- suicideVoluntary death by oneself
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- despairTotal absence of hope
- ovenEnclosed cooking chamber
melancholy · grief · sorrow · breakdown · asylum · hospitalization · electroconvulsive · mental illness
Male-dominated social order
- gender rolesExpected behaviors by sex
- domesticityLife centered around home
- motherhoodState of being a female parent
- womanhoodAdult female state
marriage · identity · oppression · fifties · housewife · ambition · rage · double bind
Arising from deep instinct
- rawIn original state
- searingBrowning with intense heat
- passionateIntensely emotional or enthusiastic
- ferventIntensely and sincerely felt
fiery · piercing · powerful · vehement · unfiltered · emotive · overwhelming · dramatic
Concerning one's own life
- self-revelationExposing inner truths
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- catharsisPurification through emotional expression
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
honesty · diary · journal · personal · soul-baring · therapy · psychoanalysis · self-exploration
The Bell Jar
Vacuum-sealed glass dome
confessional · imagery · metaphor · symbolism · lyricism · diction · voice · cadence · alliteration · assonance
depression
Prolonged low state
oven · melancholy · grief · sorrow · breakdown · asylum · hospitalization · electroconvulsive · mental illness · bipolar
patriarchy
Male-dominated social order
- gender rolesExpected behaviors by sex
- domesticityLife centered around home
- motherhoodState of being a female parent
womanhood · marriage · identity · oppression · fifties · housewife · ambition · rage · double bind · female artist
visceral
Arising from deep instinct
- rawIn original state
- searingBrowning with intense heat
- passionateIntensely emotional or enthusiastic
fervent · fiery · piercing · powerful · vehement · unfiltered · emotive · overwhelming · dramatic · volatile
autobiographical
Concerning one's own life
- self-revelationExposing inner truths
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- catharsisPurification through emotional expression
vulnerability · honesty · diary · journal · personal · soul-baring · therapy · psychoanalysis · self-exploration · testimony
- Famous AuthorsShakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Hemingway, Twain
- poetspoet, Homer, Dante, Milton, Emily Dickinson
- Women WritersJane Austen, Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, Anne Bronte
- American WritersToni Morrison, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, John Updike, Thomas Pynchon
- AuthorsShakespeare, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- British LiteratureShakespeare, Dickens, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Austen
Sylvia PlathMaya Angelou
Walt Whitman · Mary Oliver · Pablo Neruda · Rumi · Toni Morrison
Sylvia PlathT.S. Eliot