Time for feminism:
Sylvia Plath's conceptions of gender and time
Sylvia Plath's conceptions of gender and time
From ekphrasis to photography and fairy tales to folklore, Sylvia Plath utilized the sonnet to discuss intricate details of her personal life and American culture. Although the study of her oeuvre has been focused upon the free form of her confessional poetry, her use of structured forms dominated her work in juvenilia and before the explosion of free formed poems after her separation from Ted Hughes in 1962. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of Plath’s intersection of feminism and time. Since its inception within the Renaissance, sonneteers have utilized the form as a functional tool to discuss time and feminine figures, often through their attempts to immortalize their beloved. Through Plath’s own function of the sonnet, she too finds the intersection of these two topics and forms her argument throughout her sonnets. Of particular interest is her sonnet “Cinderella.” Walt Disney’s Cinderella had premiered in 1950 and “Cinderella” was written in juvenilia. The speaker of the poem makes time the crux of the sonnet’s argument and with this focal point a feminist perspective may be applied to this fairy tale retelling. What is more, Plath has used the sonnet as a means to explore other American legends and folklore with her poems “Mayflower” (1957) and “Goatsucker” (1959). The respective speakers of these poems critique and debate the reverence for these two subjects to reveal insights into American culture and superstition. Special emphasis will be placed upon Plath’s use of meter and rhyme schemes.
maximillien is an ma candidate at the university of texas of the permian basin specializing in the poetry of sor juana inés de la cruz. he is rooted in the interdisciplinary nature of literature and its sister arts, particularly theatre and painting; utilizing ekphrasis to describe the intersections therein.