Thursday, October 31, 2013
Sylvia Plath
Having read Sylvia Plath before, I thought that would help me to understand her poems in this book, but it didn't. The poem that I found easiest to follow was "The Disquieting Muses." Plath talks about her mother throughout the poem. At line 41 she wrote, "I woke one day to see you, mother, floating above me in bluest air." How I interpreted it was that her mother passed away, or was no longer in her life, and she was finally okay with who she truly was. The way Plath described her mother made it seem as though her mother always wanted her to be someone other than herself. In line 35 Plath wrote, "..each teacher found my touch oddly wooden in spite of scales and the hours of practicing, my ear tone-deaf and yes, unteachable." Many parents make the mistake of forcing their children into doing something they are not passionate about. Obviously Plath was not a good musician and her mother refused to accept that. On the flip side, the entire poem could be honoring her mother in some way that I, as an outsider, cannot understand. That is the difficult thing about poetry; it can be hard to decipher what the poet's intentions were at the time the piece was written. Not only that, but Plath had a very unique style and mind.
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I definitely agree with your interpretation here. I felt the same way about Plath's mother being somewhat of a menacing presence in her life. The stanza in which she describes these piano lessons and being tone-deaf yet still receiving praise from her mother indicates that her mother didn't pay much attention to her, or what her real talents and interests were.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that her mother pushed her into things and didn't take an interest in her desires. It seems that piano lessons and dancing were a way to mold her daughter into what one might consider a well-rounded young lady rather than something she actually wanted to do. I think a lot of women can probably relate to this in some situation where they try to please their own mother more than seeking out their own goals and likewise mothers try to push their daughters into certain things that they think will be good for them in some way.
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