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Week 8 - Poetry
Mar. 4th, 2012 12:06 pmPart 1
Seamus Heaney uses digging to symbolize different types of work in his poem "Digging". After describing watching his father and grandfather dig in the Earth with spades, our narrator concludes "But I've no spade to follow men like them. / Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests. / I'll dig with it." Here Heaney uses digging to describe the work of a write as well. While a writer doesn't dig into soil, he can dig while looking to unearth truth or symbolism in a piece of literature, or dig into the hearts and minds of his readers by writing a poem that is close to people's hearts.
Part 2
Sylvia Plath was an American writer born in 1932 to German parents. She, along with members of her father's side of the family, suffered from depression, and many of her most well-loved works (including "Daddy")were written in her periods of depression following the discovery that her husband, Ted Hughes, was unfaithful and their subsequent separation. She attempted suicide once in 1953 and successfully committed suicide in 1963 at the age of 30.
Some of the details in her poem, "Daddy", do not match the information I found while researching her. For instance, her father passed away when Sylvia was 8, not 10. And I could find no evidence that he was a nazi.
To me, this poem is pure, unadulterated anger. At this period in her life, her husband has left her with two small children. She seems to both blame her father for everything and desires to be with him. Perhaps she believes that if her father had lived, she would not have married an unfaithful man. It seems certain that she speaks of Ted Hughes when she says "If I've killed one man, I've killed two - / The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year / Seven years, if you want to know. / Daddy, you can lie back now." She met Ted in 1955 and separated in 1962 - 7 years.
The only reason I can think of to write in this manner is to vent out emotions. If only she could have seen the positive aspects of her situation, she may have been far better able to cope with the negative aspects. For instance, it is a blessing that she was able to find out that her husband was cheating and get out of that marriage. If you suspect your partner cheats on you, you risk being infected with any number of STDs, as well as going through the mental torture of wondering if, when, and why. If you know your partner cheats on you, you can leave and find a man who will treat you as you deserve to be treated. But Plath seems to replay the world's injustices over and over in her head like a movie. How can anyone expect to get over someone if they do that?
Works Cited
Plath, S. “Daddy” Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan...[et al.]. Canadian Ed. Toronto:Pearson Education, 2005. 448-450. Print.
Seamus Heaney uses digging to symbolize different types of work in his poem "Digging". After describing watching his father and grandfather dig in the Earth with spades, our narrator concludes "But I've no spade to follow men like them. / Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests. / I'll dig with it." Here Heaney uses digging to describe the work of a write as well. While a writer doesn't dig into soil, he can dig while looking to unearth truth or symbolism in a piece of literature, or dig into the hearts and minds of his readers by writing a poem that is close to people's hearts.
Part 2
Sylvia Plath was an American writer born in 1932 to German parents. She, along with members of her father's side of the family, suffered from depression, and many of her most well-loved works (including "Daddy")were written in her periods of depression following the discovery that her husband, Ted Hughes, was unfaithful and their subsequent separation. She attempted suicide once in 1953 and successfully committed suicide in 1963 at the age of 30.
Some of the details in her poem, "Daddy", do not match the information I found while researching her. For instance, her father passed away when Sylvia was 8, not 10. And I could find no evidence that he was a nazi.
To me, this poem is pure, unadulterated anger. At this period in her life, her husband has left her with two small children. She seems to both blame her father for everything and desires to be with him. Perhaps she believes that if her father had lived, she would not have married an unfaithful man. It seems certain that she speaks of Ted Hughes when she says "If I've killed one man, I've killed two - / The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year / Seven years, if you want to know. / Daddy, you can lie back now." She met Ted in 1955 and separated in 1962 - 7 years.
The only reason I can think of to write in this manner is to vent out emotions. If only she could have seen the positive aspects of her situation, she may have been far better able to cope with the negative aspects. For instance, it is a blessing that she was able to find out that her husband was cheating and get out of that marriage. If you suspect your partner cheats on you, you risk being infected with any number of STDs, as well as going through the mental torture of wondering if, when, and why. If you know your partner cheats on you, you can leave and find a man who will treat you as you deserve to be treated. But Plath seems to replay the world's injustices over and over in her head like a movie. How can anyone expect to get over someone if they do that?
Works Cited
Plath, S. “Daddy” Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan...[et al.]. Canadian Ed. Toronto:Pearson Education, 2005. 448-450. Print.
