Friday, November 1, 2013
Plath's poems
It is evident that in the poem Medusa Plath is writing about her mother. She also relates back to birth or the processes of giving birth:
“You steamed to me or the sea,
Fat and red, a placenta”
I somewhat got the feeling that she is describing her love and admiration for her mother by relating it to the connection that they started to develop when she was in the womb. From reading her poems it seems like she writes out of complete respect to her mother. For example when she says, in The Disquieting Muses:
“Mother, you sent me to piano lessons
And praised my arabesques and trills
Although each teacher found my touch
Oddly wooden in spite of scales…”
This really made me think about mother’s love and sometimes it can be blinding, like they can see perfection when others cannot.
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Plath did a wonderful job of showing her strong connection to motherhood, which was discussed in her biography. I like how in this poem, vs. Nick and the Candlestick, she discussed her relationship with her mother vs. the relationship she has with her children. It goes back to the intro to the section and how we can describe motherhood from a daughters point of view, as well as a mothers point of view. Plath does both extremely well!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your interpretation of Medusa and The Disquieting Muses, although that wasn't my initial interpretation. In Medusa I knew she was speaking of her mother and their relationship prior to her actual birth, but in The Disquieting Muses for some reason I thought she was writing about her mother in a disrespectful way. I tried to read it as praising her mother, but I didn't see a close emotional connection between her and her mother. At the end of the poem when she wrote about her mother leaving her or floating away, Plath seemed relieved that her mother was gone.
ReplyDeleteactually, sylvia plath's relationship with her mom was very bizarre because it was "love-hate", in a way? because yes, the beginning of this poem portrays a kind of brilliant adoration from her mother, but look at the last couple lines,
ReplyDelete"Ghastly Vatican.
I am sick to death of hot salt.
Green as eunuchs, your wishes
Hiss at my sins.
Off, off, eely tentacle!"
i'm pretty sure the "eely tentacle" is referring to "medusa's" hair, and arguably here, medusa is her mother. she felt her mother was holding her back, or was leeching on to her, or poisoning her in some way, or attempting to smother her, maybe. it's the eternal struggle between loving someone so much but also really hating a lot of what they do, i think.