English poetry- Sylvia Plath

Insect Overlord

We started studying Plath in English yesterday and a lot of the lads in my class aren't happy about it at all. They find the poems both too complicated and too depressing. I had heard similar reports from classes who had covered her earlier in the year.
I, on the other hand, am quite enjoying it, and so I was wondering what the general consensus is among other L.C. students?

Limerick Dude

Yeah I enjoy it alot, one of the most interesting poets anyway. Alot of her poems are linked with her infamous suicide which i find interesting, the fact that you can get into mind and the way she is thinking in her poems is cool.

Alot of people are like "Ugh she is so depressing, shes crap blah blah blah"

But tbh as she may be depressing, its still interesting stuff and I like it anyway.

Steve01

The situation with English in my school is a mess. We went through about 20 different subs in 5th year and basically restarted the course at the start of 6th Year. We did a bit on Plath last year with the one decent substitute there was.
Can't honestly say I hate her poetry. Though she's certainly not the best poet on the course you can still write a lot about her and relate her poems to her personal life when it comes to the exam. If a Sylvia Plath question comes up I wont be too put off

cheerio

It's not that I think she's too depressing or too complicated, I just don't like her poetry. I find it incredibly boring and self-indulgent, and I get absolutely nothing out of it. Maybe I just don't 'get' it, but I don't like her at all.

poobum

shes actually one of the easiest poets! once you have someone explain them to you correctly she is very easy to answer on, i wasnt a big fan of her work etc...but i found her a joke to ans questions for
! id advise if you have a good teacher to try her as she is simple! her poems are all about basic things with few exceptions(dont use the exceptions)

nedward

poobum wrote:

shes actually one of the easiest poets! once you have someone explain them to you correctly she is very easy to answer on, i wasnt a big fan of her work etc...but i found her a joke to ans questions for
! id advise if you have a good teacher to try her as she is simple! her poems are all about basic things with few exceptions(dont use the exceptions)

Spot on. Plath says so much in her poems, they are a doddle to write about, if you know what her metaphors mean. For example, the poem 'Mirror' may simply be about her vanity, but it can also be about her self-hate, ageing, her hatred of bias against women who do not conform, and being pre-judged, orher desire to conform to accepted social norms: "The opposite wall is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long, I think it is a part of my heart" Anyway, get a scholarly book on her poetry, or Google it. And don't sweat the poetry. Study the wimmin, and you'll be sound as a bell.

Rozabeez

I don't exactly enjoy her poetry, but I did enjoy studying her because I found her easy enough to understand, she's pretty straightforward when it comes to essays and I know I can probably do well on a Plath question.

JC 2K3

I dunno really, I liked her when we were doing her, but right now her poetry irritates me a bit, the main reason being it's so overrated, especially by the fúcking emo kids who look forward to doing her and proclaim her as "amazing!" after one class.

There's nothing too complicated about it, "too depressing" is not a valid argument for not liking something(you'll only hear that excuse from people with no appreciation for art/creativity) it's just... I dunno.. too self centred? Too limited in its insights?

Her poems(that I've read, ie. on the LC course) are mainly about her personal flaws, her personal problems/depression, her writers' block, her love for her children.... Forgive me for being a cynic, but it's all a bit uninteresting or something. I don't necessarily dislike her, she just doesn't amaze me.

I much prefered Kavanagh, he's my favourite of all the poets we've done so far. Some of his insights rocked, despite me disliking his persona. Bishop would be my second favourite, despite not liking her much at first she grew on me, I just love her detail and similes.

Rozabeez

^ I can't agree with the "Self-Centered" remark as an awful lot of poets base their work on themselves, however yes it is pretty limited, I mean there are only so many poems you can write about how dark your world is, which is what Plath does, her themes tend to be similiar, which is why it's so easy to write on her.

event

ryan adams has a song about her, if thats any help

Insect Overlord

JC 2K3 wrote:

I much prefered Kavanagh, he's my favourite of all the poets we've done so far. Some of his insights rocked, despite me disliking his persona.

Yeah, he's one of my favourites as well. We were studying his work in school around the time I started writing myself, so he probably infuenced me a lot.

I'm not too sure why I like Plath. I usually find metaphors and similes too simple or just plain annoying, but for some reason hers hold a lot of significance for me. At the same time, I do have to admit that I have been feeling quite down since I read her stuff on Monday. I still like it though.

poobum

exploit the fact that so many of her poems have similaritys! and know a bit about her past and history going in, looks great saying oh she was writing this poem as she was depressed after her reacent blah blah! works a treat! actually i still know like almost all her poems off all word for word....meh! its realy such an easy question! what are all the poets on the course this year? is longley there? i thought he was easy!!! most other poets i struggled with...such as donne...i could answer him but i hated him so i found it difficult!

Garret

event wrote:

ryan adams has a song about her, if thats any help

i tried so hard to bring that up in my essays about her, to no avail

JC 2K3

Sigh...

Can we have a discussion on whether we like Plath and not if it's an easy question or not? Who cares if she's easy, this thread is for discussing whether or not you enjoy her poetry.

Rozabeez

Sup with the attitude?

Nah, I don't exactly like or dislike her poetry as a whole but I do like "Poppies in July" and "Morning Song" because I think they're very original, I like the expression of post-natal depression in "Morning Song", and the unusual themes in "Poppies in July", with a title like that you'd sort of expect a cheerful poem.

Corruptedmorals

Hated her to begin with, but her poems are very interesting, and very easy to compare against each other in an essay, except for Elm, which I'm leaving out. We did Morning Song, Child, Poppies in July, Arrival of the Bee Box and Mirror. Grand for an essay, and she's tipped to come up, woo!!

I like her poetry, despite it's major theme of depression..now Bishop, what a bitch. Much harder, and not near as interesting.

Corruptedmorals

poobum wrote:

exploit the fact that so many of her poems have similaritys! and know a bit about her past and history going in, looks great saying oh she was writing this poem as she was depressed after her reacent blah blah! works a treat! actually i still know like almost all her poems off all word for word....meh! its realy such an easy question! what are all the poets on the course this year? is longley there? i thought he was easy!!! most other poets i struggled with...such as donne...i could answer him but i hated him so i found it difficult!

Elizabeth Bishop
Patrick Kavanagh
W.B Yeats
John Donne
John Montague
T.S Eliot
Robert Frost

No Longley! We left out Eliot, Donne and Montague. Plath and Kavanagh are tipped to come up, which I'm perfectly happy with. Though they both came up in 2004..not that long ago..

Selphie

An Fhile wrote:

We started studying Plath in English yesterday and a lot of the lads in my class aren't happy about it at all.

Kinda late to be starting a new poet?? We did all of ours in 5th year, do you find it hard at all to be doing a new poet now???
I like Plath a lot. There's such an awful lot to be got from her poetry, Elm in particular, which in turn makes it easy to write on her. The whole Plath-Hughes-Wevill triangle is also really interesting, and makes her poetry much more meaningful and emotional.
They brought out a biography of Assia Wevill recently, which is pretty good. I'd recommend it, and also the film Sylvia. They give you a much greater insight into her world than any of the biographies at the back of poetry books!

We left out Donne, Frost and Eliot. I'd love if Plath, Kavanagh or Montague came up, but Bishop's a nightmare.

mateo

I hate all the poets. They're ALL depressing. Why oh why do we have to learn such depressing stuff???? I can't relate because I am not bloody depressed. Give us some happy poets

Haven't a Clue

Yeah, her poetry was very depressing. I don't mind one or two slightly morbid poems, but all six or seven were.

As for confusing, some are more confusing than others I suppose. 'Black Rook...' is really, really confusing for example.

We've done Yeats, Bishop, Plath, Kavanagh and have to do one more yet.

JC 2K3

mateo wrote:

I hate all the poets. They're ALL depressing. Why oh why do we have to learn such depressing stuff???? I can't relate because I am not bloody depressed. Give us some happy poets

Robert Frost isn't depressing, nor is Donne. Kavanagh isn't depressing, just apathetic towards society and isolated. Bishop's poems aren't depressing despite her not having a happy life. That's 4 out of the 6 I've done(Montague and Plath being the other two). How are the ALL depressing??

I love Bishop btw, I don't see what's so hard about her....

Insect Overlord

Selphie wrote:

Kinda late to be starting a new poet?? We did all of ours in 5th year, do you find it hard at all to be doing a new poet now???

I don't find it hard at all. We spread the poets out over the two years and balanced them with essay writing, Macbeth, etc.

Mateo wrote:

I hate all the poets. They're ALL depressing. Why oh why do we have to learn such depressing stuff???? I can't relate because I am not bloody depressed. Give us some happy poets

This isn't really related to the Leaving Cert, but most good poetry tends to be written by "unhappy" writers. I've been reliably informed the same can be said for most great art. They're not necessarily all suffering from depression, but a lot of inspiration is drawn from the things which are perceived to be "wrong" in the world of the writer.

Start a thread in the arts forum if you feel like discussing this idea more. Keep to the topic of Plath's poetry here. (I am fully aware I have gone off-topic myself! Sorry! )

JBoyle4eva

TBH, I quite like Plath's poetry. I find it to be very insightful to the human mind. If you can get past the fact she was very depressed, you'll then see in her poetry why.

Anyway, on the topic of LC poetry, I only hate 2 out of 5 poets we've studies, those being John Donne and WB Yeats. I can't relate to Donne whatsoever and being somewhat half-English I find his poetry quite unrelateable aswell, despite me living my whole life in Ireland.

Haven't a Clue

I liked Yeats. His poems are a bit easier if you're studying history I'd say as 'September 1913' and 'Easter 1916' are both very political.

I also liked Kavanagh because I could relate to him, being a culchie n all.

KnifeWRENCH

plath is one of the few poets i enjoyed reading,and is my favourite on the course."elm" "mirror" and "the arrival of the bee box" are all really good,intersting poems."elm" is great because there is so much you can write about it in the exam.
as for the other poets,we left out montague (fortunately) and donne (unfortunately,coz i read the flea and its really good"
if bishop comes up,no way am i answering that question.luckily,i was sick for a month when my class studied her,and so i never had to,an never will,read "the fish"!!!OH MY GOD HOW BORING
yeats i dont like (because he sounded like a horrible person and a complete ass) but his poetry is so easy to answer on.likewise kavanagh,altho he sounded like an ok person.
frost is okay,a bit hit ("acquainted with the night" "design") and miss ("the road not taken" "birches") eliot is definetly the most difficult but is quite a good poet..
by the way,can i just say i HATE leaving cert english.thank god after june ill never haver to study english again.

superhobo

I run a blog where I go through different parts of the LC. I just did an article on Plaths poem "Mirror". Check it out at: http://leavingcert.wordpress.com/2007/01/23/examining-the-poetry-of-silvia-plath-mirror/

Milktrolley

There's a couple of reasons why I don't like her poetry, or more specifically, the one's we have to study. Mainly it's just because her poems are depressing. I know it's meant to be creative and an insight into her state of mind but I consider myself optimistic and it's just... I dunno, annoying, I suppose, reading a poem like Child which lends itself to such happiness, yet it all ends up coming back to Plath's troubled being.

1huge1

i find her poems get quiet easy once you get into her frame of mind but as for them being depressed ya thats definetly true

favourite poet ive done so far thats for sure

JC 2K3

Milktrolley wrote:

There's a couple of reasons why I don't like her poetry, or more specifically, the one's we have to study. Mainly it's just because her poems are depressing. I know it's meant to be creative and an insight into her state of mind but I consider myself optimistic and it's just... I dunno, annoying, I suppose, reading a poem like Child which lends itself to such happiness, yet it all ends up coming back to Plath's troubled being.

Well then, if Sylvia Plath does anything for you it'll make you more open minded

Steve01

Selphie wrote:

Kinda late to be starting a new poet?? We did all of ours in 5th year, do you find it hard at all to be doing a new poet now???

My class basically just started the entire poetry course yesterday. How do you think i feel?

Rozabeez

As long as you've got everything else covered, it shouldn't be that bad....well, apart from the whole Mocks thing...