The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar - context Summary
Written 1961, Published 1963
Written in 1961 and published in 1963 in Ariel, the poem uses the title and echoes of Plath s life to evoke themes of mental illness, female identity, and public misreading. It places a narrator s response to another reader s reaction beside biographical awareness, suggesting how personal suffering can be compressed or misunderstood. The context of Plath s own struggles shapes the poem s anxious, witnessing tone.
Read Complete Analyses"Teeth like tombstones," I said, "Do you see nothing eerie in that?" She shook her head. I wondered, had she read the book. With a shy look, she said, "I liked Esther:" I was impressed. But why had she not picked up upon the rest, the atmosphere of sick decay, the dark ceiling without a star? Sometimes we impose our thoughts upon the young. Why should not she see the whole book as an exciting story? Nothing gory. Not a bit depressed. She'd rather missed the message. But who's to say? The facts of Ms Plath's life are too well known pared to the white of bone: And this girl had shown how life Is so much happier, without the cruel knife, the sad domestic strife.
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