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"Lady lazarus" by sylvia plath

Who is sylvia plath?

Sylvia Plath was born October 27, 1932 and was a daughter of a German immigrant. Plath was born shortly before WWII, which could explain her reasoning of connecting Jews and Nazis into her poem. She tried to commit suicide twice and after her first attempt when she was 20, she was treated for months with electro-shock therapy. Her written work expressed many of her interests with despair, violent emotions, and her obsession with death.

Plath's Life

Performing and purpose of the poem

Purpose

The purpose of "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath is to demonstrate her torture by her own mind and how she sees suicide as her only release. She explains her previous attempts of suicide, and her plans to try again. After "Lazy Lazarus" was written, Plath took her life just months later, they found Plath dead of carbon monoxide poisoning with her head in the oven, having sealed the rooms between her and her sleeping children with tape, towels and cloths. At approximately 4:30 a.m. Plath had placed her head in the oven, with the gas turned on. She was 30 years old. The poem is seen by many as her last attempt to depict her weakness of her mind before her death.

More about her purpose

More Info

Sylvia Plath draws attention to herself and other's fascination with death and relates to the Holocaust in order to compare her mental suffering as highly similar to the physical suffering experienced by the Jewish during the Holocaust.

Literary Devices

Similes;“ Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell” (43-46). The comparison of death and art highlights the beauty that Plath sees in death. Ultimately emphasizing her desire to die in order to be released of the overwhelming feeling of depression.

Metaphors;“My face a featureless, fine Jew linen” (7-9). She refers to herself as a Jew because she was feeling oppressed from her emotions, just like the Jewish were oppressed by the nazis. She considered her life as one like a Jew because, the trauma they went threw seemed similar to the trauma she was going through.

Anecdotes;Plath introduces us the story of her past which included the death of her father, as well as her first attempt at suicide. She acknowledges her past in order to emphasize the struggles in her life that have been building up until the last straw. It also provides the readers with an understanding that her desire to die was from a series of unfortunate events.

Tone & Diction; Throughout the poem, the tone seems to be optimistic by using some words such as, "home","walking miracle", " A Miracle!", and in the 23rd stanza she states, "I am your opus I am your valuable, the pure gold baby". But, with her optimism comes the underlined tone of hopelessness hidden in the poem, which is proven with the words and phrases, "The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth", "what a trash", "flesh, bone, there is nothing there". The multiple tones leaves the readers feeling multiple ways, one being weary of her infatuation with death, but also an intense feeling of sorrow for her devotion of death.

Symbolism; The entirety of the poem is a symbol. The title " Lady Lazarus" is a religious term that refers to a woman (phoenix) who has the gift to be reincarnated, like Jesus was. Plath believes that she is the Phoenix, which she believes to be a beautiful gift, but then she realizes that in order to be reincarnated she must die.

Literary

devices

Analysis and Theme

Analysis/ theme

Lady Lazarus illustrates her emotions as if she was losing touch with reality. Plath believed death would be a way for her to resurrect into a new life. This poem explains how all of her deprecating emotions all began with death, which was the death of her father. This work was her way of expressing the toll death had taken on her soul, and how she could not come back from it. The theme of "Lady Lazarus" is the desire to escape reality. Plath's mental illnesses made her believe death was her only escape from her own mental state. This theme is prominent in the poem beginning with the title. Lazarus is a Saint who Jesus restored. By calling herself Lady Lazarus she believes she will resurrect into a better life.

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