Lady Lazarus

For my blog post about confessional poetry, I lightly talked about the theme of control by men and overcoming that dominance in Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”. I wanted to explore this poem a little more, especially the parts which show control and the character’s prevail over control, than I got to in that post. If you haven’t read my post about confessional poetry, the most important things to know about Plath is that she was depressed, her father was a strict, authoritative parent, and her husband left her for another woman. 

“Lady Lazarus” is the title of the poem, and the footnote in our Anthology book tells us that Lazarus, a biblical figure, was raised from the dead by Jesus; this will come into play at the end of the poem. Right off the bat the poem begins with “I have done it again” (Plath 1). To me, this sound like a phrase victims say. I watch a lot of Law and Order: SVU and the victims on the show are constantly saying, “it was my fault”, which is rather similar to Plath’s opening line. She continues on later in the poem by describing her helplessness as, “A paperweight,/My face a featureless, fine/Jew linen” (7-9).

She uses several allusions to Jews, Nazis, and the Holocaust throughout this poem. She talks about being “bright as a Nazi lampshade” (4) and “A cake of soap,” (76); our Anthology gives us a footnote about the lampshade and soap--Nazi’s would sometimes use the victims’ skins to make lampshades and the ashes from the remained charred victims to make soap. Plath also uses such words as annihilate, grave, vanish, and dying which emit a feeling of helplessness and despair much like the Jews (and herself) felt at the time. She also expresses her hatred toward men with these lines: “So, so, Herr Doktor./So, Herr Enemy” (65-66), Herr God, Herr Lucifer” (79). The footnote says “Herr” means “Mr.” in German, so we get an understanding that she feels doctors (who were primarily men in those times) were controlling her (perhaps with her suicidal issues) and how they may think they have a god complex but she sees who they really are--Lucifer. However, there is a shift in the attitude of this poem.

Plath references Lazarus in the title of the poem, and here is where it comes to play. In lines 46-47, she tells us why she attempts suicide; “I do it so it feels like hell./I do it so it feels real”. Her actual, physical life is the one thing she has total control of. No one can prevent her from ending her life, which is why she feels it “Is an art, like everything else./I do it exceptionally well” (44-45). At the end, we get the symbol of a phoenix, which is a mythical bird which is incinerated and reborn from its own ashes; “Out of the ash/I rise with my red hair/And I eat men like air” (82-84). Unlike Lazarus, she states that she will rise on her own and without the help of anyone or any man. I read “eat men” like “fare men” in the way where she just copes with men like she does air; it’s difficult to be alive with depression as well as deal with men, but she gets by. I feel that for a Plath poem, this one is more hopeful than most turn out to be.

Literary Context: Confessional Poetry

Confessional poetry emerged in America during the late 1950s and early 1960s. This specific type of poetry dealt with subject matter that previously was not openly discussed in American poetry. It talked about private experiences such as death, trauma, depression, and relationships written often in an autobiographical manner. The poetry isn’t completely based on emotions; “The confessional poets were not merely recording their emotions on paper; craft and construction were extremely important to their work” (A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry).

Some authors that were involved with this movement were Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and W.D. Snodgrass. Not all the authors were fans of the term “confessional poetry”, specifically, W.D. Snodgrass. He felt that as a poet, he wasn’t writing about anything other poets weren’t already writing about. Writing confessional poetry made him feel like he needed to confess something or write about something religious, which he didn’t do on purpose if he did, because of the term.

Two authors who wrote confessional poetry that we read as a class are Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Both poets seemed to have tough lives. Both lived with depression but were hard working writers who changed the face of poetry. Plath was born in Massachusetts where she lived with her mother and father. When Plath was only 8, her father died due to health complications. Plath’s father was rather strict and authoritative and his death launched a confusing definition for Plath and her relationships with men and poetry; if you’ve ever read anything by her, you know what I mean.

Plath was always a strong writer and was published fresh out of high school. She attended Smith College where she struggled with depression and even attempted suicide. Despite that, she graduated and went on writing. She married Ted Hughes, moved to England, and worked with Lowell for a while. But then, her husband left her. This inspired Ariel to be written. She wrote several books and poems, such as The Bell Jar, The Colossus, and Letters Home. At the age of 31, she wrote her neighbor telling him to call a doctor. Shortly after she committed suicide by using her gas oven (Academy of American Poets).

Anne Sexton was also born in Massachusetts. She moved and grew up in Weston with her mother and father where she was materially well off. Her relationship with her parents was not the healthiest; it was described as difficult and perhaps even contained abuse. After the birth of her first daughter, she suffered from postpartum depression and was institutionalized several times. Her therapist recommended writing as a type of therapy. When her therapist saw she was talented, he urged her to keep writing. “My analyst told me to write between our sessions about what I was feeling and thinking and dreaming” (The Poetry Foundation). She was influenced specifically by Snodgrass saying that people told her she couldn’t write like him because his writing was to confessional. Anyway, she took his writings as permission to write her own. She committed suicide at age 46 (Poetry Foundation).

Plath wrote dark poetry. She was depressed throughout college and the remainder of her life. The poem “Lady Lazarus” has several dark symbols and imagery throughout. She uses the Nazi’s and the Holocaust several times as references to express how she feels; defeated, like the Jews felt at the time. “Bright as a Nazi lampshade” (5) and “A cake of soap” (76) to me provided the most gruesome imagery by far. During that time, Nazi’s would sometimes use the skin and the ashes of the Jews to create lampshades or soap. There’s also dark words such as grave, annihilate, and the talk of incineration and suicide/death.

Another aspect throughout the poem I found was oppression and overcoming it. The fact that her husband left her for another woman made the connection more clear why she felt under the weight of men. Plath writes: “A paperweight,/My face featureless,” (7-8), “I do it [suicide attempts] so it feels like hell./I do it so it feels real” (46-47), “So, so, Herr Doktor. So, Herr Enemy” 64-65), which are all lines that show the powerlessness Plath feels under men. She talks about suicide and death as a way of taking control of her own life instead of someone else doing so; she also rises from her own “death” on her own when she says, “I rise with my red hair/And I eat men like air” (83-84). Although she felt oppressed, she found ways to take control of her life without men guiding her decisions.

Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath were friends. In Sexton’s “Sylvia’s Death” we get some insight into how Sexton felt about the suicide of her friend. Both of the authors suffered from depression throughout their lives, and suicide was a topic discussed often by the two. One of the memories being “the one we talked of so often each time/ we downed three extra dry martinis in Boston” (21-22). Sexton also refers to Plath as sort of a cheater; “Thief--/how did you crawl into,/crawl down alone/into a death I wanted so badly and for so long,/the death we said we both outgrew,/” (15-19). Sexton and Plath seemed to have discussed their suicidal thoughts together in the past, and swore it off; she seems upset that Plath would go back on their vow. Sexton personifies death, referring to it as “our boy” and “the sleepy drummer” which makes the aspect of Plath’s suicide all the more real.

Learning about the background of the confessional poetry and the specific poets within add information and depth to the poetry. I found it interesting how their lives tied into their works in a significant way. Had I read “Sylvia’s Death” before learning about Plath’s depression and suicide along with Sexton’s own depressive state it would have made the poem’s context of discussing death together confusing--it helped to know they were friends. Also knowing that Plath’s husband left her made the powerless feeling of “Lady Lazarus” more apparent; I probably would have missed the feeling of oppression under men without the author history.

Works Cited

"Anne Sexton." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web.
     16 Apr. 2015.

"A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry." Poets.org. Academy of                   American Poets, 2014. Web.16 Apr. 2015.

Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.               Eighth ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. Print.

"Sylvia Plath." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web.  16          Apr. 2015.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche is a character who tries to be someone she’s not. Appearance and reputation seems to be all she cares about, which seems to be more than ironic when we discover why she ran away from home. When she gets to Stella and Stanley’s home, she puts on airs for everyone. And one thing she’s self conscious of is her age and appearance; when she tells Stella “But don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I’ve bathed and rested! And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciles (sp) glare” (1119)! at the beginning it’s apparent she’s slightly vain. She’s constantly blotting her face with makeup and taking baths to refresh her appearance. It seemed most of the story unraveled when Blanche was in the tub, actually.

There’s also a point near the end where Mitch confronts her about never seeing her in decent light or during the daytime. Blanche feels she needs to hide herself from everyone due to her age and being older and unmarried.  An example of how she hides herself is the use of the lamp shade she puts over the bulb in the house. Near the end when she’s being taken away, Stanley asks if she wants her paper lantern and tears it off. The stage note says “She cries out as if the lantern was herself” (1175). The lampshade represents the cover she puts over herself; the fancy clothes and makeup, keeping herself in dimmed settings, talking about refined things and acting high class, they are all ways she hides who she is, which is apparently crazy.  
Her reputation is something else she constantly worries about. She isn’t upfront with Stella about why she left her job, or even Belle Reve for that matter, and averts Stanley’s accusations when it comes to staying at the Flamingo. She kisses the young man who comes to receive donation for the paper but refused to do anything with Mitch because “I guess it is just I have -- old fashioned ideals” (1152)! Blanche later tells Stanley that Mitch came over and apologized and brought her flowers after she received a call from a rich man who asked her to take a cruise with him. Of course, Stanley calls malarkey and she immediately clams up.

It is also revealed that Blanche was locked out from her teaching job for hooking up with a seventeen year old male student. This can be related to her acts of kissing the young man who comes for collections. She thinks that a young man will make her feel young, too. I think her mental insanity has something to do with the first boy she fell in love with; I think she felt happy then, like she didn’t have to try as hard as she does now, and she tries to usher in the sense of youth. All in all, Blanche is an untrustworthy character. She may play the sympathetic sister, but she’s unstable from the get, and her obsession with her vanity is the proof.