Sylvia Plath Mad Girls Love Song Analysis - 1487 Words

The Eternal Dance of Dualities. Sylvia Plath wrote â€Å"Mad Girl’s Love Song† in the early fifties while she was an undergraduate college student. The poem is written in the villanelle poetic form of which it reflects not only the rigorous fixed format, nineteen-line with two repeating rhymes and two refrains but also the melancholic tone and rhythm of the traditional dance song—in vogue in Italy and France during the sixteenth century—in which its roots lie. The title itself offers a plausible explanation for choosing the villanelle poetic form, which strict metric certainly helps to convey the sense of torment and alienation that emerges from the refrains repeated throughout the poem. A rising crescendo from one stanza to the next builds†¦show more content†¦The mastery of the author emerges from the opening terzain, which contains the two refrains alternately repeated throughout the poem setting its foundations, I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again. (I think I made you up inside my head.) (1-3) In these short verses, Plath encloses the concept of life and death—in an alternation between sensory and visual perception—expressing the eternal dilemma that sees in contraposition what is visible through the physical eyes (somehow mechanical) and what can only be perceived at the sensorial level. Hence, the intangible or not visible represents a mere figment of one’s imagination. The scenario portrayed in the first stanza brings to mind that typical feeling of incredulity one perceives when awakening from a vivid dream realizes it was an illusory perception, a mere trick of one’s mind. Moreover, the author expresses the desires to exert a sort of control over the outer world by closing her eyes as if to reject a reality that appears to be overly alienating and constraining. The sense of confinement is also emphasized by the parenthesis of the second refrain, which reinforces the concept of doubt that pervades the narrator’s imaginary world where just torment and obsession lie. Indeed, for its rigid and repetitive formula, the poetic form of the villanelle finds a perfect application in Plath’s work, by recalling aShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Literature1964 Words   |  8 PagesCertainly, the benefits of literature and the knowledge acquired from it have been acknowledged by a vast majority of individuals. Nonetheless, one must wonder, does literature hurt humans? Does it only do good? Is it good for nothing? Through careful analysis of certain pieces of literature, the ways in which literature can act as a poison to the human race becomes evident by the consequences coming from the knowledge possessed within; literature not only steals happiness from people, but also transforms