The poem, along with the others in the Ariel collection of poetry, expresses a dark and detached sentiment of life. “Edge� is, in fact, Sylvia Plath’s last poem days before she committed suicide; in addition, the poem is famously difficult to summarize, due to its ambiguous and detached nature. in her last months before taking her own life, Plath was, in fact, in all elements detached, and this was reflected in the poems within Ariel.Plath suffered heartache and abandonment when her father died when she was just eight years old; so much of Ariel references her father, such as one of her most famous poems titled “Daddy�. Sylvia Plath’s struggle with depression is heavily reflected in her poetry, revealing a dark, tortured, and hopeless person. The theme of death deems conspicuous as well, where there is a sense of defeat and said hopelessness. These themes can be seen in the lines initially read, “the woman is perfected her dead body wears the smile of accomplishment�,where her suicide is considered a level of bravery that she will commit to. Ariel was the last work of Plath before her death, but her career in its entirety was very successful. She is considered by many a prolific figure of writing in the 20th century; she has written famous novels such as The Bell Jar and works of poetry such as Lady Lazarus and The Colossus. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and in 1982 she became the first person to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. Sylvia Plath was a novelist, poet, and overall a writer who struggled with mental illness--something that is just now gaining recognition in today’s society-- and yet she remains the most influential figure of literature in the 20th century. I recommend Ariel and all the other works of Plath because I wholeheartedly believe that she is one of the few authors who completely submerged herself into words, and not for the benefit of readers, but to make peace with her lifetime of solace.
Sylvia Plath’s struggle with depression is heavily reflected in her poetry, revealing a dark, tortured, and hopeless person. The theme of death deems conspicuous as well, where there is a sense of defeat and said hopelessness. These themes can be seen in the lines initially read, “the woman is perfected her dead body wears the smile of accomplishment�,where her suicide is considered a level of bravery that she will commit to.
Ariel was the last work of Plath before her death, but her career in its entirety was very successful. She is considered by many a prolific figure of writing in the 20th century; she has written famous novels such as The Bell Jar and works of poetry such as Lady Lazarus and The Colossus. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and in 1982 she became the first person to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. Sylvia Plath was a novelist, poet, and overall a writer who struggled with mental illness--something that is just now gaining recognition in today’s society-- and yet she remains the most influential figure of literature in the 20th century.
I recommend Ariel and all the other works of Plath because I wholeheartedly believe that she is one of the few authors who completely submerged herself into words, and not for the benefit of readers, but to make peace with her lifetime of solace.