Sheep In Fog By Sylvia Plath Analysis

Having a low self-esteem and self-confidence, didn’t stop the highly ambitious and gifted Sylvia Plath. However having these problems may have been what led her to have psychological problems. Plath today had all the characteristics of a feminist, and through her literary work she expressed the ideology of femininity that had been indoctrinated into the women of her time. This then led to a schizophrenic split within herself. Not only did she face internal problems, she also faced external problems, those having to do with her father. Otto and Aurelia Plath, who were both teachers, and Plath’s father died from having diabetes at an early age, and her mother was very often aiding her younger brother who was quite ill. Since she wasn’t getting

Every moment she wanted love, affection and care. Her life was full of torture, suffering, pain, misery, etc. and thus this poem is expression of bitter experiences. “Sheep in Fog” is poem of metaphorical juxtaposition between the images of the sheep, and its full white fluffiness and the fog, which is misty, and formlessness. The use of the preposition “in” in the title may have been used by Plath to highlight the dubious effect of the fog. During the poem the sheep is lost, and is presented as an easily deceived, innocent creature, which can be a personification of Plath, who ultimately feels lost and alone. Where the fog is presented as the metaphorical representation of skepticism, lack of focus and orientation. Plath creates a world of rejection, bitter and melancholy, her rejection from the world. This is emphasized a lot in the first

The representation of stars could be presented in the poem to mention her lack of interest, lack of knowledge, and mainly the lack of proficient skills in science. In addition, Plath feels she is a disappointing creation to culture and systems that values the scientific ability of its native people; this can be linked back to when she criticized the American Education system. This would come forth because of not living to the ideal stereotypical ideal woman of the 1950’s, because of Plath’s differences, she sees herself a disappointment towards her family and friends.

Though it’s questionable whether Plath intended to subject herself to the envisioned or real pressures, which women of today could easily relate to, the pressure of societal expectations, presentation pressure, practically everyday pressure of being an ‘ideal woman’. The first verse “The hill steps into whiteness”, this could anticipates the felling of worthlessness through the rest of the stanza, which contributes a glimpse to the reader into Plath’s imaginative world. It also shows how Plath’s fixation with suicide as a way to remove herself from further disappointment to the