Analysis of Sylvia Plath Poems Essay

Stringency A rigorous imposition of standards A tightness or constriction A scarcity of money or credit. Strictness conscientious attention to rules and detailsThe narrator makes reference to a stake in your plentiful black heart and vampire imagery is clearly used here as vampire jackpot only be killed with a stake through the heart. The stress falling on each develop is like each pound and thrust of the stake. In addition, monosyllabic vocalises create force and energy. The condemnation is plosive and it is almost as if the heart is going to burst.We can understand the narrators mathematical dislike of domestic chores from her depiction of how a fulminant wind funnels at me/Slapping its phantom laundry in my face. The personification of the wind makes it come alive and the word slapping is particularly explosive. It suggests that the wind is being harsh towards her. The word phantom shows death imagery. The sudden wind could refer to the death of her father or perhaps the sud den discovery of her husbands affair. This abruptness is supported by the following line because the phrase a slap in the face can be used to imply the element of surprise.The lake in reverberate has drowned a young young lady and replaced her with a middle-aged woman. Throughout the poem the mirror/lake appears as quite a a sadistic character who takes delight in the girls sadness. This text informs us that her jejuneness is passing and age is gaining on her the word young puts particular emphasis on this fact. The drowning could suggest that the girl has drowned herself in her vanity. We can liken the girl to Narcissus, who was so obsessed with his reflection that he couldnt rupture himself away and eventually died.The mushrooms declare that there are So some of us / So many of us We read this line as if it has been yelled. This is assisted by the previous line little or nothing where nothingness suggests that the line itself is almost quiet. The mushrooms in this poem are linked to women in the time of Plath and so it is like they are yelling to be noticed. This poem iswritten in a time period when womens right were very much suppressed.The poem Ariel takes a turn in the stanza WhiteGodiva, I unpeel cold hands, dead stringencies.The word white suggest starting fresh. Unpeeling implies that the narrator is unpeeling her layers, and act to find herself. Lady Godiva is famous for riding naked through the streets of Coventry which is quite a ungovernable thing to do. The narrator is rebelling from the expectancies of women at that time. She does not want to follow the rules, the constrictions, the stringencies and she makes this clear by referring to them as dead. Dead hands could mean that her hands are dead from doing household work and could also be a metaphor for the rules that have a hold on her.