Sylvia Plath Comparison Essay - 1339 Words

Comparison: Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Tulips† and Mary Oliver’s â€Å"Poppies† Throughout time females have found it hard to achieve acceptance and accreditation in the world of poetry. However, two American female poets, who were born in the 1930’s, did make a name for themselves. During this era of rapidly changing gender roles, social values and world politics, these women were able to produce a rich variety of poetry. These poets are known for their driven personalities and their captivating poems about alienation, life and death, imagery and transforming their reader into a world of discovery. Sylvia Plath’s poem â€Å"Tulips† and Mary Oliver’s poem â€Å"Poppies† both share flower imagery, female personas, and display themes of life, but each poem differs†¦show more content†¦Throughout Sylvia Plath’s Poem â€Å"Tulips† the persona, who seems to be a depressed and sullen female, is trying to search for comfort and tranquility while being in the morose hospital. However, it is ruined once someone br ings her the lively and colorful tulips, its here that she realizes she loathes life; it’s life that she cannot get back. These lines from â€Å"Tulips† imply that the persona is emotional, that she has left reality behind; she can no longer live the way the tulips can live: â€Å"The vivid tulips eat my oxygen. Before they came the air was clam enough†¦ Then the tulips filled it up like a loud noise.† (49-52) The persona in Mary Oliver’s poem, â€Å"Poppies†, is quite different than Sylvia Plath’s persona in â€Å"Tulips†. Mary Oliver’s persona is confident and inspired by not taking life for granted. The persona wants to cherish life in everyway that she can, just as the Poppies do. She doesn’t want to regret or fear anything; she especially doesn’t want to fear death. Oliver describes this persona throughout the last three stanzas: â€Å"But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness†¦ is a kind of holiness.† (21-26) This strong female persona also suggests that death is inevitable, that there will always be a darkness that surrounds life. She believes that light and holiness are a sign of life, and darkness is the sign of death; she wants to life her life to the fullest and to seize every opportunity because life is so precious. These lines fromShow MoreRelatedSylvia Plath Poem Comparison Essay1826 Words   |  8 PagesSylvia Plath Poem Comparison Essay Saying Sylvia Plath was a troubled woman would be an understatement. She was a dark poet, who attempted suicide many times, was hospitalized in a mental institution, was divorced with two children, and wrote confessional poems about fetuses, reflection, duality, and a female perspective on life. 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