I decided to look into Sylvia Plath’s poetry. I chose “Daddy,” “Lady Lazarus,” and “Morning Song.”
First, I looked at the poem, “Daddy”. This poem explores Plath’s loss of a father figure and how she has dealt with that throughout her life. “I was ten when they buried you” (Plath, line 58). The topic of loss itself, especially of a parent at such a young age, is a complicated topic to touch on, which is, in straightforward terms, what confessional poetry is. Loss of a parent is a challenging and traumatizing thing to go through, especially if it happens in your childhood. I myself can relate to this topic because I lost my mom when I was 14, and I am still working through how that loss of a mother figure is affecting my life. I see how that loss of a mother figure affects my younger sister, in the way she acts, compared to kids her age who have one. That event affected how we develop compared to our peers who have lived through different experiences, and I can assume that was the same for Plath, and that is why I believe it is a nod to confessionalism.
The second poem I chose to look at was “Lady Lazarus”. I chose this poem because it touches on Plath’s struggle with mental health and her near-death experiences, both accidental and self-induced. This topic is hinted at multiple times throughout the poem, first, within the first two lines, “I have done it again./One year in every ten” (Plath, Lines 1-2), which without reading the poem, is ambiguous and doesn’t tell us anything, However after reading the poem it becomes clear that she is talking about how she has nearly died at least once every 10 years of her life so far. This topic is referenced again later in the poem, where she compares herself to a cat, which are believed to have nine lives. “I am only thirty./And like the cat I have nine times to die” (Plath, lines 20-21). This topic nods to confessionalism because it’s a self-reflection on her near-death experiences, comparing herself to a cat, and realizing that this has happened every 10 years of her life, are part of the inner reflection and expression that is confessionalism.
The final poem I chose to examine was “Morning Song,” which beautifully encapsulates the early stages of motherhood or possibly postpartum anxiety. While I am not a mother and do not plan to be one for a long time, my older sister is, and there are multiple instances in this poem that I can relate to things my sister has told me. Not being able to believe that this is happening, or feeling a disconnect at first to your child, “I’m no more your mother/Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow/Effacement at the wind’s hand.” (Plath, lines 7-9). Being so anxious that something is going to happen while you’re asleep that you stay awake to listen to your child’s breathing, “All night your moth-breath/Flickers among the flat pink roses./I wake to listen:/A far sea moves in my ear.” (Plath, lines 10-12). And jumping out of bed at the sign of a single stir or noise “One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral/In my Victorian nightgown.” (Plath, lines 13-14). These things are all things my sister experienced, and she herself struggled with postpartum anxiety when she had both of her kids. Both PPA and PPD (postpartum depression) are topics that typically are not touched on super commonly, though that is starting to change with many moms taking to social media to share their stories struggling with both. I believe this is why this poem is a nod to confessionalism.
Sylvia Plath was born in 1932. According to Poetry Foundation, “her early years were spent near the seashore, but her life changed abruptly when her father died in 1940” (Poetry Foundation) This contributed to her confessionalist poetry in both her consistent references to seashells nature that could be seen throughout her poems, and one of her poems “Daddy” that touch on her struggle with her relationship with her father and her feelings after he died. In her undergraduate years, Plath developed severe depression (Poetry Foundation), which can be seen as a theme and referenced too throughout a majority of her poetry.
Work Cited
Plath, Sylvia. “Daddy.” Poetry Foundation, 1999, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48999/daddy-56d22aafa45b2. Accessed 20 Sept. 2025.
Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus.” Poetry Foundation, 1999, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49000/lady-lazarus. Accessed 20 Sept. 2025.
Plath, Sylvia. “Morning Song.” Poetry Foundation, 1999, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49008/morning-song-56d22ab4a0cee. Accessed 20 Sept. 2025.
“Sylvia Plath.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sylvia-plath. Accessed 20 Sept. 2025.