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ipeli11Part One: Reflection
Both Crozier and Wilbur use extended metaphors in their poems to represent the process of growing up and to illustrate the triumphs and hardships which reflect life’s many journeys and experiences.
In The Writer, Wilbur compares his daughter’s typing to “a chain hauled over a gunwale”, exemplifying the passion and emotion put into her writing. He continues with the theme of this metaphor by comparing her life to a “great cargo”, while emphasising that “some of it [is] heavy. Here, Wilbur tries to demonstrate that while his daughter is still young and naive, she has already experienced and witnessed many wonders in her short existence. Wilbur concludes his thought by simply stating, “I wish her a lucky passage”. Those words are indicative of a father who is coming to terms with his daughter growing up, and although he wants to protect her from life’s countless struggles, he understands that she has to create her own identity in the world. Throughout the poem, Wilbur uses metaphors to describe his daughter’s writing at different stages—she transitions from enthusiastic, pause-free typing to a sudden and complete stillness “where the whole house seems to be thinking”. This on-again, off-again typing pattern demonstrates the time Wilbur’s daughter takes to reflect on her life’s experiences and voyages. Wilbur then goes on to mention a creature, possibly a bird, which just two years earlier flew into the window and dropped on his daughters work table—he explains how they watched helplessly until the small creature, after fighting for its life, got the strength to lift itself off the desk and fly away. He concludes the poem with the following:
It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.
Those words serve as a metaphor to illustrate his fear and understanding that nothing is promised tomorrow, and that although he wants nothing more than to see his daughter healthy and happy, she has to find her own strength and will to fight in life.
In Packing for the Future, Crozier uses a suitcase filled with symbolic and practical essentials to help explain what it takes to make it though life’s unexpected obstacles, speed bumps, and detours. She also uses metaphors to connect the challenges faced on the journey with lessons learned along the way. The first thing she suggests packing is “the thickest socks” which will bring hope and help the traveller overcome the most trying and difficult situations—essentially, there may be unforeseen hardships, but a thick pair of socks can walk through and survive almost anything. The next things on the list were a “leather satchel, a velvet bag, and an old tin box… with a salamander painted on the lid”. The leather satchel is symbolic of holding onto things that are close to the heart– things that will make the traveller feel at home even when they are far from home and lost on their journey. The velvet bag represents room—leaving room for new things and being open to new challenges, such as learning a new language or experiencing an unfamiliar culture. Finally, the old tin box embodies familiarity and dreams— the tin box will help the traveller get through the hardest situations and overcome any detours which may arise by reminding him/her of long-time childhood dreams. The tin box is familiar and has been in the travellers life forever, so even when tough times get tougher, the tin box will serve as a comfort blanket and constant reminder of the goals ahead.
Part Two: Looking Ahead
Find out something about Sylvia Plath's life and death. Identify areas where there is overlap with "Daddy." Are the details always accurate? Why would an author choose to write her life in this way? Jeanette Winterson wrote, "There is no autobiography; there is only art and lies." Do you think Plath would agree with her?
Plath was born in Massachusetts and was the daughter of a German immigrant who taught entomology at Boston College. Plath’s father died unexpectedly when she was 8 years old, and many believe that the traumatic passing was significant in her poetry and her brutal characterization of her father. In her junior year in college, Plath suffered a mental collapse that’s resulted in a suicide attempt and stint at the mental hospital. In 1956, Plath married Ted Hughes, an English poet. Plath often felt overshadowed by her husband’s work, and in the early 1960’s the marriage fell apart when she found out about her husband’s relationship with a younger woman. In 1963, her severe depression led to suicide—her long struggle with depression is also considered to be a crucial element to her most critically acclaimed poetry.
Plath’s poem, Daddy, overlaps much of her own life as she denounces her father’s dominance and even compares herself to a Jewish victim in the control of a Nazi during the Holocaust. In the poem she even makes references to her husband, calling him “the vampire who said he was you and drank my blood for a year, seven years, if you want to know”.
Perhaps Plath chose to write about her life in this way because it enabled her to clear her conscious and rid the resentment and hatred she was holding in her heart. Making comparisons between her life and traumatic global events, such as the Holocaust, served as an escape and liberation to a life where she felt like a prisoner in her own skin. Writing about her life through the use of imagery and in such graphic detail was likely her only way of feeling liberated and in control. I don’t believe that Plath would agree with Winterson because even though Plath may have exaggerated some of the events in her life and misrepresented the true image of her father and husband, to her the depictions were accurate. Whether her life is a reality which she created in her head or a reality which surfaced from actual events, the occurrences were real to her and it’s not up to anyone to accuse her of lying.
Both Crozier and Wilbur use extended metaphors in their poems to represent the process of growing up and to illustrate the triumphs and hardships which reflect life’s many journeys and experiences.
In The Writer, Wilbur compares his daughter’s typing to “a chain hauled over a gunwale”, exemplifying the passion and emotion put into her writing. He continues with the theme of this metaphor by comparing her life to a “great cargo”, while emphasising that “some of it [is] heavy. Here, Wilbur tries to demonstrate that while his daughter is still young and naive, she has already experienced and witnessed many wonders in her short existence. Wilbur concludes his thought by simply stating, “I wish her a lucky passage”. Those words are indicative of a father who is coming to terms with his daughter growing up, and although he wants to protect her from life’s countless struggles, he understands that she has to create her own identity in the world. Throughout the poem, Wilbur uses metaphors to describe his daughter’s writing at different stages—she transitions from enthusiastic, pause-free typing to a sudden and complete stillness “where the whole house seems to be thinking”. This on-again, off-again typing pattern demonstrates the time Wilbur’s daughter takes to reflect on her life’s experiences and voyages. Wilbur then goes on to mention a creature, possibly a bird, which just two years earlier flew into the window and dropped on his daughters work table—he explains how they watched helplessly until the small creature, after fighting for its life, got the strength to lift itself off the desk and fly away. He concludes the poem with the following:
It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.
Those words serve as a metaphor to illustrate his fear and understanding that nothing is promised tomorrow, and that although he wants nothing more than to see his daughter healthy and happy, she has to find her own strength and will to fight in life.
In Packing for the Future, Crozier uses a suitcase filled with symbolic and practical essentials to help explain what it takes to make it though life’s unexpected obstacles, speed bumps, and detours. She also uses metaphors to connect the challenges faced on the journey with lessons learned along the way. The first thing she suggests packing is “the thickest socks” which will bring hope and help the traveller overcome the most trying and difficult situations—essentially, there may be unforeseen hardships, but a thick pair of socks can walk through and survive almost anything. The next things on the list were a “leather satchel, a velvet bag, and an old tin box… with a salamander painted on the lid”. The leather satchel is symbolic of holding onto things that are close to the heart– things that will make the traveller feel at home even when they are far from home and lost on their journey. The velvet bag represents room—leaving room for new things and being open to new challenges, such as learning a new language or experiencing an unfamiliar culture. Finally, the old tin box embodies familiarity and dreams— the tin box will help the traveller get through the hardest situations and overcome any detours which may arise by reminding him/her of long-time childhood dreams. The tin box is familiar and has been in the travellers life forever, so even when tough times get tougher, the tin box will serve as a comfort blanket and constant reminder of the goals ahead.
Part Two: Looking Ahead
Find out something about Sylvia Plath's life and death. Identify areas where there is overlap with "Daddy." Are the details always accurate? Why would an author choose to write her life in this way? Jeanette Winterson wrote, "There is no autobiography; there is only art and lies." Do you think Plath would agree with her?
Plath was born in Massachusetts and was the daughter of a German immigrant who taught entomology at Boston College. Plath’s father died unexpectedly when she was 8 years old, and many believe that the traumatic passing was significant in her poetry and her brutal characterization of her father. In her junior year in college, Plath suffered a mental collapse that’s resulted in a suicide attempt and stint at the mental hospital. In 1956, Plath married Ted Hughes, an English poet. Plath often felt overshadowed by her husband’s work, and in the early 1960’s the marriage fell apart when she found out about her husband’s relationship with a younger woman. In 1963, her severe depression led to suicide—her long struggle with depression is also considered to be a crucial element to her most critically acclaimed poetry.
Plath’s poem, Daddy, overlaps much of her own life as she denounces her father’s dominance and even compares herself to a Jewish victim in the control of a Nazi during the Holocaust. In the poem she even makes references to her husband, calling him “the vampire who said he was you and drank my blood for a year, seven years, if you want to know”.
Perhaps Plath chose to write about her life in this way because it enabled her to clear her conscious and rid the resentment and hatred she was holding in her heart. Making comparisons between her life and traumatic global events, such as the Holocaust, served as an escape and liberation to a life where she felt like a prisoner in her own skin. Writing about her life through the use of imagery and in such graphic detail was likely her only way of feeling liberated and in control. I don’t believe that Plath would agree with Winterson because even though Plath may have exaggerated some of the events in her life and misrepresented the true image of her father and husband, to her the depictions were accurate. Whether her life is a reality which she created in her head or a reality which surfaced from actual events, the occurrences were real to her and it’s not up to anyone to accuse her of lying.
