The three poems I chose are “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, “The Applicant” by Sylvia Plath, and “Morning Song” by Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was only 8 when she wrote her first poem. Before her father passed away when she was 8 years old, her parents’ relationship was not healthy. She attended Smith Plath College, where she suffered from depression, spent time at a mental institution, and attempted suicide. She later married Ted Hughes and had 2 children with him. Eventually they got divorced because he had an affair. She died of suicide, after mass producing poems and short stories for the last three years of her life.
One of the poems that she wrote in her last three years was “Daddy”. This poem was written toward her father. She speaks about the Germans and says “I began to talk like a Jew. I think I may well be a Jew,” which is significant because her dad was German (Plath, lines 34-35). I believe this symbolizes abuse in her relationship with her father because in WW2 the Germans abused the Jews in concentration camps, which she mentions in the poem. The poem as a whole focus on her relationship with her father and the toxicity and abuse that came with it.
Another man who hurt Sylvia was Ted Hughes, her husband who abandoned her and her two children for his affair. The poem “The Applicant” signifies her relationship with her husband and the traditional roles of women in the time period. The poem is written from the perspective of a shopkeeper, who is selling wives, but comparing them to various items. She states “Black and stiff, but not a bad fit. Will you marry it?” (Plath, lines 21-22). In these lines the shopkeeper compares the wife to a suit, asking the guy if he will marry it. This signifies that choosing a wife is like going shopping. Sylvis wrote this poem shortly after her husband left her, so the poem is an outlet for her anger and sadness against men.
The last poem I chose is about the birth of a child. In the poem Sylvia talks about the midwife, the arrival, and crying. After reading about these symbols, I came to the conclusion that the poem was about birth. The line “Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue,” talks about the moment the child is born (Plath, line 4). Unlike the other two poems I read that had an upset demeanor, this poem seemed to describe a happier moment in Sylvias life.