The Effects of Death, Personal Experience and the Supernatural Element

These five poems by Sylvia Plath are all connected by the theme of death, self-loathing, and by the presence of historical, even mythological, concepts. Sylvia Plath uses very powerfully charged imagery of controversial and emotional topics in order to best describe her own life. Most of the poems reflect her own personal life, including the events that she has experienced and, more appropriately, the relationships and emotions that she has felt. Every single one of these five poems uses the word â€Å"dead† and the topic of death itself is prevalent in some manner. Of particular interest is the presence of her relationship with her deceased father, and her own reluctance to let go of his memory. Plath's poetry reflects her own self-loathing and disregard for her own existence. Her poems often mention her own attempts at suicide, in addition to her personal experiences with trying to get rid of her suicidal desires. In each of her poems she evokes the images of historical and mythical creatures and concepts linked with the religious and the supernatural. In addition, her poems can be connected by the idea of being held back or held down by some sort of feeling, either of desire for a loved one, escape from mortal existence or of a fantasy world. . The five poems are all relatively similar in structure, as they are all done with stanzas of continuous set lengths in each poem. â€Å"The Colossus†, â€Å"Daddy† and â€Å"Balloons† are all written in five-line-stanzas. While â€Å"The Colossus† has no particularly obvious rhyme pattern, it does maintain a steady rhythm. â€Å"Daddy† does have a rhyme scheme focusing on the sound â€Å"U†; it is present in every stanza except for one. â€Å"Balloons† does not have a set rhyme scheme, but it does have a sort of flow to it,... ...s." Introduction to English Literature. Comp. Trent University Department of English. Toronto: Canadian Scholars, 2010. Print. (Plath 57) Plath, Sylvia. "Cut." Introduction to English Literature. Comp. Trent University Department of English. Toronto: Canadian Scholars, 2010. Print. Plath, Sylvia. "Daddy." Introduction to English Literature. Comp. Trent University Department of English. Toronto: Canadian Scholars, 2010. Print. Plath, Sylvia. "Lady Lazarus." Introduction to English Literature. Comp. Trent University Department of English. Toronto: Canadian Scholars, 2010. Print. (Plath 55-57) Plath, Sylvia. "The Colossus." Introduction to English Literature. Comp. Trent University Department of English. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., 2010. Print. Webster's English Dictionary. Canadian. Toronto: Strathearn Books Limited, 2006. Print.