Sylvia Plath Figurative Language

Every story consists of different elements, such as characters, plotlines, and settings. Nonetheless, many stories portray the same messages or ideas. “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, depicts a reckless father who is loved by his child, while “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, depicts a hardworking father whose child is indifferent to him. Though the poems depict exceptionally different childhoods, both contribute to the idea that perceptions of parents alter as one grows into adulthood. Both poems use harsh words and critical tones in order to convey this notion, however in “My Papa’s Waltz,” they signify the recklessness of the father and how the narrator perceives his father as an adult, while in “Those Winter Sundays,” they

Sometimes it can be difficult for sons to understand the lessons that fathers teach to them, leading to a disconnect between the two. This is the case for the son and his father in David Bottoms’ “Sign for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt.” As a child, the speaker lacks appreciation for his father, yet nevertheless they share a common love. As an adult, reminiscing on his baseball experiences with his father, the son through his retrospective point of view now appreciates his father for all his father did. This poem employs diction and varying points of view to emphasize the lack of understanding between the two characters, while symbols and figurative comparisons express their mutual love; this poem analyzes the loving, yet dysfunctional relationship

In “Initiation,” Sylvia Plath tells the story of a girl, Millicent, and her search for acceptance in the wrong place, and her eventual discovery regarding the importance of individuality. To accomplish this, Plath uses bird imagery, which chronicles Millicent’s transformation into one who values individuality as opposed to conformity. She uses “flock” to describe the sorority and club mentality portrayed in the piece, and “heather birds” to symbolize an individual. However, while these piece is grounded in a young girl’s search for acceptance, as evident in the words “Millicent had waited for acceptance, longer than most,” the piece can also be viewed as a microcosm of society. This is true as, similar to the sorority within the piece, the “select flock”, or the group in which most desire to be within larger-scale society, looks down on those who are “a bit too different,” a phrase which a member of the sorority uses to describe a girl who had not been chosen to join the

“My Papa's Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke, and “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden are the two poems that are somewhat similar and both of these poems are about beloved fathers. Father is the man who is spends time with you and takes care of you. While doing so much for the family he gains the respect and love from the family. In these two poems Roethke and Hayden take a flashback at the actions of their fathers. Even though both of these poems propose that their fathers were not perfect, they still love them. I think that Roethke and Haden are regretting that they couldn’t express their feeling to their beloved fathers. They didn’t have strong bonding with their fathers like we have now. Both of the poets are capable of writing great poems

Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are similar because they focus on the same subject. However, they differ in how the speakers’ feel about their relationship with their parent(s). In Plath’s “Daddy”, the speaker is a daughter thinking about how her father treated her. She tells about how she felt trapped by him and how she tried to ‘kill’ him, line 6 of the poem, but he dies before she has a chance. The ending of Plath’s poem implies that she got married to a man like her father. In Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, the speaker seems to be an adult reminiscing his childhood through a metaphor of a dance. The poem suggests that the boy was abused and the mother stood by without doing much about it. Three topics that

“The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness.” Page 1

“My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” describe a character who reflects on their childhood. Although they based on the same theme, the two poems have very different perspectives. “Those Winter Sundays” talks about how the son regrets for not showing his love for his father, when all his actions went unnoticed. “My Papa’s Waltz” reflects on a son 's memory with is father where his danced around the house after the father long day at work. Both poems reflect on how their fathers showed his love for his son, the time spent with their fathers, a maternal conflict, and their relationship with their father.

Everyone has a father, whether their relationship with him is good or bad. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word father as follows: a man in relation to his natural child or children. “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are two poems with themes set around a father. These poems deal with accounts of the poets’ fathers as they reminisce about certain scenes from their childhood. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” show similarities and differences in structure, literary elements, and central idea.

The poem “Drifters” by Bruce Dawe explores how sacrifice is needed to belong in a family, the effects of moving communities, and how maturity is largely related to age. Through exploring these themes, Dawe shows the complex nature of identity and belonging in a family.

Since the beginning of time, fathers have been one of the key figures in a boy 's life. In the poems, “Those Winter Sundays” by Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Robert Hayden, and "Digging" by Seamus Heaney, the love between a father and his son are shown in a variety of ways. These three wonderful poems inspire people, especially fathers and sons, to have deep relationships with one another. The words written by Roethke, Hayden, and Heaney show that it is difficult to keep a relationship strong between a father and his son, because even the smallest mistake can destroy it. Each of these poems demonstrate, in their own way, the complicated and strong love between a father and his son.

Maintaining a healthy relationship can present some reservations because of the way characters interact with each other and also as a result of bad nurturing. For example, in “Those Winder Sundays and “The Possessive” both authors face discomfort as a result of each protagonist in the poem relying on someone else to make them happy. A level of maturity is the key to understanding one’s self- identity and one’s own independence. In Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” he explains how his father’s motive for loving him and raising becomes a challenge for the son to accept, because of his adolescent behavior and likewise in Sharon Old’s poem “The Possessive” the narrator would describe how uncomfortable she felt when she her daughter grow up too fast. Both poems use a narrative that suggest that there are

Billions of people live in this world, each one taking part in countless relationships. These relationships form through the various interactions of everyday life. There are the relationships between friends, teachers and their students, and even the relationships between pets and their owners, all of which develop unique and amiable friendships over time. These relationships, however, often end and cannot withstand life’s hard ways, leaving only the strongest and deepest bond to survive the storms—the bond within the family. Simon J. Ortiz and Robert Hayden both depict this family bond differently in their poems. In “My Father’s Song,” Ortiz describes the caring and tender relationship between a father and his son. Hayden, however speaks in

“Daddy” reflects two completely different time periods in Plath’s life. The first age it reflects is her youth, particularly right after her father died. She confesses in an interview that her life was “sealed off after the age of seven and that her adolescence was not too happy, causing her to become introverted and to write diary poems between the ages of nine and sixteen” (Butscher 14). Her father’s death was the reason behind many of the poems she wrote, often serving as her muse (Rietz 418). This traumatic event appears in Plath’s poetry as an end to her wholeness and her perfect childhood (Kroll 1). In the poems she wrote in her younger years, the part of Sylvia that is left behind from her father’s death has been “amputated from reality; it is incomplete, false, because an essential part of her has been buried with him” (Kroll 1). Plath does not feel complete again until she meets someone to replace the hole in her heart that her father left, which was Ted Hughes. Once she met Hughes, they inspired each other’s poetry and success. When Plath became pregnant with a child, her creativity was stimulated and she was put in touch with her deepest resources (Kroll 1). This made her poetry written during this time more positive and her new and improved poetic skills were easily attained (Kroll 1). However, according to the authors of Plath, Sylvia 1932 – 1963 include in their biography of her that “some of Plath’s poems hint at darker forces in her marriage; her Newnham tutor later commented on ‘the passionate rage which has since come to be recognized as the dominating emotion of her poetry’ (Wagner 84)” (Brown and Taylor 1). Things took a sudden turn one day when she finds out he had been having an affair and abandons her. This sent her into another pit of depression, however this time she does not survive. Everyday Plath wakes up during what is called “the Blue Hour,” which gets its name from being the time of day she is most depressed (Alexander 332). During

In “Daddy”, poet Sylvia Plath uses imagery and allusion to show her bad relationship she had with her father, how her life was miserable while she was writing the poem, and blaming her father for her status by comparing her depression to the holocaust during World War 2, thereby suggesting that her pain is greater than a world catastrophe.

The poet compares this mother to other mothers in the refugee camp to amplify her love for her child and therefore the suffering she has to go through while watching him die. The other mothers are described by the poet as having “long ceased to care”, suggesting that they have tragically given up their jobs of motherhood, heartbreakingly accepting the death of those close to them. However this is contrasted with this mother’s lovingness and refusal to accept the death of her son, portrayed through the short and sharp phrase “but not this one”. Ugly, disturbing, and brutal images of camp-life such as, “the air was heavy