Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932, Sylvia Plath was the oldest of two children. She studied at Smith College and Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, before receiving acclaim as a poet and writer. It was well known that Plath suffered from depression for much of her adult life, and ultimately lost her battle to the disorder in 1963 and committed suicide. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing even until this day. Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two published collections, The Colossus and Ariel. In 1982, she won an posthumous Pulitzer Prize for the Collected Poems. Plath wrote poetry from the age of eight, with her first …show more content…
Plath composed the poem during her most productive and creative period. It is commonly interpreted as an expression of Plath’s suicide attempts and impulses, as at the time she too had endeavoured to take her own life for the third time. Lady Lazarus’ most recent recovery is presented as a failure, whereas the suicide attempts are presented as accomplishments - "Dying is an art" that she performs "exceptionally well." She seems to believe she will reach a perfection through escaping her body. The poem’s tone veers between menacing and scathing, and it has drawn attention for its use of the biblical character, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the …show more content…
This structure can be depicted as ironic, as there were three suicide attempts undertaken by Plath – the third being successful. Throughout the poem, there are many examples of perfect rhyme (“hair”, “beware”, “air” in the poems final lines) as well as slant rhyme (“ring”, “filling”). While these various forms of repetitions of sounds occurring through the entirety of the poem, they do not occur in a set rhythm (like a sonnet may). It appears to the reader that the lack of control over Plath’s life juxtaposes with the control she had over her writing, as the poem uses repetition in various places to reinforce these statements: “I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real”, then in lines “it is easy enough to do it in a cell. It’s easy enough to do it and stay