Assignment: A comparative review of Articles

I have noticed the differences among the quality of these articles on the basis of dealing with the
argument, its specification and the quantity of primary data. Mehrpouyan’s argument has a very
broad sense and diversity. The focus of her study is on the whole poetry of Silvia Plath in order to
check her as a contemporary women’s writing and female culture through feminist critical
perspective. She has not given enough description about “feminist critical perspective” and
“contemporary women’s writing and female culture” to contextualize her study. Neema Mathew’s
(2016) argument has specific and clear sense as compare to Mehrpouyan’s argument. She has also
observed Plath’s poetry, “The Colossus” and “Full Fathom Five”, as women’s writing through feminist
approach. She has opted Plath’s only two poems which are explained with reference of Plath’s other
poems and the poems of other poets. Susan Van Dyne’s article is an explanatory essay, that’s why it
is published into a famous literary magazine, the Massachusetts Review. In the essay, she has
explained not only Plath’s poem, “Lady Lazarus” but its manuscript also, with reference to Plath’s
personal life and the history of the poem. She has compiled relevant data to a great extent in order
to explain one poem. Van Dyne’s uses powerful language to present her point. As she has used,
“Phoenix” and “Soap Opera”. She tries to explain the poem by getting poet’s opinions mentioned in
her journals and though her biography.

Feminist Critical Study on Contemporary Women’s Writing and Female Culture with Special focus on
Sylvia Plath’s poems
Mehrpouyan has declared the study as multidisciplinary but confined herself just to the definition of
feminist literary criticism which is also attached with the complexity of the sense of feminism. In this
article, Mehrpouyan tries to trace the impact of contemporary female culture on women’s writing
especial refence to Sylvia Plath’s poetry. There is multi-disciplinary approach opted in this study. It
is difficult to define feminism because of diverse arguments among feminists while there is a
prominent part of feminism in literary criticism. The major focus of feminism is to challenge the
concepts and values of patriarchal system and Plath’s poetry has also challenged this system. She
supports her perspective about feminist critical study by Elaine Shower’s (1981) argument about
theory based on a model of women’s culture can give a better insight as compare to theories based
on biology, linguistics and psychoanalysis. Modern feminist critics focus on women’s writing with
female perspective to elaborate those points of female culture which may be ignored in men’s
writings about women. Mehrpouyan has given an account about the themes and proposed that
Plath’s audience is not limited to women only because she got Pulitzer Prize.
On the part of discussion and analysis, the author has given reviews of the numerous poems having
themes of subordination of female and male dominance. “The Colossus”, Path’s first collection of her
poems, highlights motherhood and feminism within contemporary culture. A number of poems in
the collection show the cruel image of father. In “Lady Lazarus” there is a woman who speaks to “Herr
Doctor” and claims a revenge against him as an enemy. This same thing is also found in “Daddy”, in
which a woman speaks to her father and compares him with Hitler. The author gives review of many
other poems and explains the dominant group, in “Ariel”, with the reference of Bordo’s (1995)
argument that women are dominated by dominant group conventionally on the basis of power
relations. The same themes have been sketched with a new taste and sense in “Tulip”. In the poem,
a lady is detached by patriarchal system because of her illness and is in hospital. Her husband sends
her red tulip. These followers make her realize to the social duties and norms from which she is
detached by her illness. Male world is denoted as “wild zone” in the poem. Plath’s poems have been
observed in relation with feminist movements. “Mushrooms” gives a sense of the time when females
were seeking for vote rights. The Conclusion of the article is there is a relation between culture
theories and feminist literary criticism which help to understand women’s writing and Plath’s poetry
has attained the attention through both perspectives.
Feminist Approach In Sylvia Plath’s poems, “The Colossus” and “Full Fathom Five”.
Neema Mathew has observed Sylvia Plath’s poems, “The Colossus” and “Full Fathom Five”, as
women’s writing in order to check representation of female body and maintenance of female literary
tradition. Sylvia Plath’s both poems deal with the gender related social issues from a feminist
perspective. The author supports her feminist approach with the arguments of Adrienne Rich, Simon
de Beauvoir and Silvia Plath. Rich declares Plath’s poetry as a female voice and female energy.
Beauvoir identifies the roots of sovereign solitude through the liberty, anguish and pride in
apprenticeship. Helene Cixous says to women writers to write enough about their body that your
body can hear it. On the base of these views, the author explains the features of both poems.

In “The Colossus”, the poet gives a very disturbed image of human life which is also visible in “Daddy”.
There is a comparison between masculine presence and women’s sensibility. The Colossus statue is
symbolic representation of dark, dead and giant figure. In the poem, she tries to join the all pieces by
glue but her efforts of thirty years are field. Plath hates maleness in the poem. There is identity crisis
in the poem as by R D Laing’s argument that the girl is rapped of her identity. Plath tries to create an
identity or recognition of her physical and creative potentiality outside the marriage and male
relationship. The author draws a similarity of identity with “The Beekeeper’s Daughter”.
In “Full Fathom Five”, there is father as the king of the sea who has firm feet on the sea. This image
is related with patriarchal scheme that father is the head or king of patriarchal system which is
attached with power and strength. The atmosphere in the poem is full with nameless cold feeling.
And the poet takes herself as a virgin in front of god to be accepted and the sea is symbolizing as a
bridal chamber where she has to give her physical and mental state to god. According to author, Path
explores her social life and problems by talking to males through her poetry, breaks the binaries of
language and writes of female body and words.

Fueling The Phoenix Fire: the manuscripts of Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”

Susan Van Dyne’s explanatory essay gives the statement that the poet, in the poem, is not only
worried about her definition but also about her security of self. The author has supported the
statements with both, poet’s personal life and comparison with other poems. The author has an
account about the background of the poem that Plath has composed this poem on her thirtieth
birthday when she had been separated from her husband. The author also suggests that there should
be re examination of autobiographical instances from Plath’s poetry after the access to the
manuscripts. In Smith’s rare room, 4000 pages of her manuscripts which have 200 poems have found.
She tries to calculate Plath’s sense between the unpublished final manuscript of poem and the
published version with the reference of Phoenix who wants to appear again after its death.

“Lady Lazarus” includes Gothic and means to offence and outrageous claims. Plath attaches her
association with bareness through Lazarus story. the Author notes “Lazarus My Love” as a seed of
the poem in her journal. “It seems an analogy of failed marriage. Plath tries to check her myth making
capability and tests her authority. The author explains the poem by drawing similarity between
Phoenix and Plath. Phoenix renews its life itself after its death. Plath also tries again and again to
commit suicide. She has Phoenix spirit. The author notes from Plath’s worksheets a progressive
purification of poems.