Analysis of Lady Lazarus

I need help editing and revising my 3rd draft, based on my professor’s feedback. I have included their feedback provided (which is highlighted) and need to make sure that my paper includes their recommendations. I have also included three citations.Feedback: I’d recommend that you engage more directly and clearly with the text. Consider the intersections between its symbols.  Moreover, you’ll want to decide for yourself if Plath’s main purpose for “Lady Lazerus” was to describe her views towards men,  society, etc., or to demonstrate a way of interacting with life as a then-modern woman (and writer), such as through putting it all  down, as we now often assume to be unfiltered, on paper (as per what we later call, in describing Plath’s works, confessional poetry) “Lady Lazarus,” a poem written by Sylvia Plath in 1962, is one of her most read literary works that has unveiled a variety of  interpretations to her writing. Sylvia Plath intentionally describes intense emotional depth in her writing for readers to connect, vividly  visualize, and alter emotions within. Her style of confessional poetry creates emotions, in which she expresses her deepest darkest personal emotions and moments in her journey of despair as a woman in a man-dominant society. In her poem, Plath’s usage of terms  within her writing advocates feminism conveying confessional experiences of anger and resentment towards characters depicted as  males. Her direct intentions of the allusions, symbolisms, and imagery narrate vividly annotating the experiences she endured as a  woman’s self-image in a male society. This sentence is confusing (content-wise) and incomplete (grammatically). This sentence is also where readers will be expecting a  thesis (for a top-down paper) or a path of and purpose for investigation (for a bottom-up paper). It NEEDS to be clear Plath’s many allusions throughout the poem begin with the poem’s title, “Lady Lazarus’. ‘Plath’s allusion relates to “Lazarus of  Bethany” in the New Testament where a man named Lazarus dies from an illness and is resurrected by Jesus (Britannica). Plath  deliberately places “Lady” in front of Lazarus to depict the difference in gender and her side as a feminist. Plath’s reference to “Lazarus  of Bethany ” details death to describe her conflict and agony towards men and uses resurrection to display her overcoming oppression  against her will and her image of her empowerment. Plath references her accidental and two failed attempted suicides to Lazarus as “A  walking miracle” (Plath, Line 4) “Lady Lazarus” and “Lazarus of Bethany” rose  <Unclear>Double-check: This implies that just swapping the gender is significant in taking a feminist angle to a particular trope or motif. It may not be;  you’ll have to at least lightly argue that. Moreover, this comes just a little rushed. Check if there are ways you could push and prod your frame, or  restructure this sentence (perhaps into multiple sentences), to better situate this point. back overcoming death. She amplifies that despite the control of a patriarchal society, women have the will and rage to rise  above oppression. Plath’s explicit reference to biblical figures demonstrates a tone of vengeance towards men illustrating the terms “Herr  Enemy” (Plath, line 66). The word “Herr” is German for “Mr.” purposefully addressing the figures “Herr Doktor,” “Herr God,” and  “Herr Lucifer” (Plath). These images that hold power, control, and undermine her as a woman of strength have pathways her hatred  towards them. Stating “Beware/Beware” (Plath, line 80-81) and “I eat men like air” (Plath, line 84), empowers women to stand and  advocate against inequality ruled by men. How does a biblical allusion to someone being resurrected (which we might say also is limited to a specific  grace from on high and is therefore not to be taken as universally possible or emblematic) symbolize that a  given gender will have the will, let alone the rage, to fight against oppression? very Unclear Food for thought: Are there any connections  Plath may be implying between all three–God,  the Devil, and a (quite likely Nazi) doctor? You’d have to link these things much, much tighter, and that will not be a small task (though it is probably a  necessary one). You could connect, for instance, fatal sickness with the results of oppression, but such would probably require  analysis woven over multiple paragraphs. You could connect rebirth with the brief freedom she feels from  societal pressures, matching them in their temporality, because the “sickness” needs time to take hold again.  You could look at the arbitrariness of Lazarus’s gender. You could look at the incompleteness of Jesus’s  solution, since the disease could return, which might be useful to some further clue down the line. You could tie  Lazarus’s resurrection to Jesus’s, and that in turn to Plath’s own. Etc., etc. You’ll need to connect this, too, more tightly. What are the likely intended constraints of  “like air”? What does she mean by “*eat* men”? And how would her, having been  ‘resurrected’, imply a state useful to women (especially if, say, a failed suicide is  required for that ‘resurrection’), let alone in a manner that’d allow them to stand and  advocate against inequality? You CAN prove this out reasonably, but it will take significant work.This would effectively mean “referencing a  reference to”. I would guess that the middle-man  term here is unnecessary, allowing you to simply  write “by alluding to the Holocaust”. Plath pursues to convey struggles women face in a male-dominated society by referencing an allusion to the Holocaust to  emphasize the detrimental unspoken cruelty women face. Her deliberate intense comparison of imprisoned Jews succumbed to daily  injustice, physical and emotional torture without rights reflected upon her daily inner endurance living in a time of constant rules and  injustice towards women manifested by men. Plath is burdened by feeling weak, acknowledging her role as a woman but stands firm in  her belief as she describes in the third stanza portraying herself as “a paperweight” (Plath, Line 7). She displays her perception as others  perceive her to be meaningless and unvalued. Plath felt tricked and used to their benefit and needs. Plath also refers to her face as “a  featureless, fine/Jew linen” (Plath, Lines 8-9), pointing that she feels denied and pressure to freely express and unveil lines of emotions  on her face and closely assimilates with all women to define whom they are in a world controlled by a facade of dominance. While this these quotes fit your intent for  “Manifested by men” will be obvious in that, at the time, there were only two genders considered and unless there has been prior hints that women  are significant perpetrators in this injustice, we’d assume men are the one’s doing that injustice. Again, to pull this off, you’ll need to show, at the least… (1) that the description of the Nazis refers to her real life, not an imagined alternate life (which has many further implications, in turn); (2) that what applies to her here is due to societal pressures; (3) that Plath treats the torment and/or terror analogical to the Nazis as appropriate in describing (analogical to) describing these pressures; (4) that these societal pressures are hinged upon “constant rules and injustice”; this paragraph, you may want to help your  reader out a bit further with context or a  greater amount of surrounding text so they  don’t get lost. I’d suggest having a friend or  family member read the poem and only  after some 10+ minutes, read the essay,  and see if they can still follow along easily.  If not, you may want to provide safeguards,  such as by using a larger section of quotes. Remember, you can even use a block quote  in the middle of a paragraph (that is to say,  without starting a new, freshly-indented  paragraph thereafter), allowing you to  include what context you want without  seeming to start into a new topic.You can attempt to draw this link, but you’ll need to prove it out as rapidly as possible. Otherwise, you’ll want to  stick first to the symbols themselves, making no assumptions you haven’t provided evidence for. Plath uses the symbolism of “red” and “ash” to compare herself to a Phoenix expressing vengeance and persistence in challenging  the male-dominated society and her success and control of overcoming her death. When Plath comments, “Ash, ash/ You poke and  stir/Flesh, bone, there is nothing there” (Plath, Lines 72-74), She is defining the ash to be patriarchy that “poke and stir” and is the  oppression of men attempting to think they are doing the right thing for women by maintaining them undisclosed. Plath further states,  “Out of the ash/ I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air” (Plath, Lines 79-81. Her rising “out of the ashes” means escaping  patriarchy and “rise” strengthening women’s rights. Plath details her connection to the Phoenix, a mythological creature resembling a  massive bird with gold and red feathers known to control life, death, and destruction (Geller), revealing that regardless of the attempts,  men intend to overpower her decisions, just like the Phoenix she will continue to prevail, rise and ultimately achieve her destination. What/which attempts? Be specific. The comma placement here is also strange, leading to some  bungeeing (wherein the reader first thinks you mean A, only to then  discover the grammar was slightly off and you really meant B). Feel free to grab me to go over this part, as it’d take a half-page of  sampling to cover every possible route.Symbolism described in the poem focuses on death and hell in the way of control and defeat. Plath states, “Dying /Is an art, like  everything else” (Plath, lines 43-44), a statement meant to have a negative connotation on death but described as a form of “art” in Plath’s  perception to escape suffering and find peace within herself. Plath compared death to art to state that enduring a patriarchal society and  death would be her peace and escape from her endless prison. Her desire is not to end her existence but barricade the pain and struggles  she is imposed and violated. She reveals that her actions are “so it feels like hell/ I do it, so it feels real.” (Plath, Lines 46-47). Plath faces  Unless you’re referring to some specific image presented by that quote, in which case you’ll want to specify that image, you can just say “Her reference to ‘the peanut the reality of knowing that if she fails in death, she will continue to be enslaved in a world where she does not exist as a woman. crunching crowd’ details a vivid….” Plath uses imagery comparing her skin as a lampshade, referring to the corpse of a decaying body to be viewed in a male dominate society. Her reference to “the peanut -crunching crowd.” imagery details a vivid unhuman traumatic event illustrating how a  crowd of people surrounded her unresponsive body as men tried to revive her unclothed body. Plath continues the use of imagery “shoves  in to see/them unwrap me hand and foot” (Plath, lines 29-30) to describe the event of her lifeless body seen as entertainment and being  cruelly humiliated with no sense of remorse or empathy as a woman. Only to prove that her existence, as they resurrected her,  empowered her strength as a woman to defy limitations. Plath used imagery to describe her skin and bones. She describes a horrific  scene of being exposed without any coverings leading to her statement, “I may be skin and bone/ Nevertheless, I am the same, Identical  woman” (Plath, 33-34). She is describing herself as “skin and bone” regardless of her physical appearance. She maintained to be the  same woman internally with the same intelligence, thoughts, ethics, beliefs, virtues, and emotions. Despite the scrutiny of a man’s  society where women’s bodies are displayed for entertainment, Plath suggests that she is an “identical woman,” interpreting that she has  shown her strength by not complying with the needs and wants of men based on her body but her mind and virtues. This is important. Did they — the Nazis, oppressive men, or societal pressures — resurrect her, did God or something like God do so, or did she resurrect herself (like the  Phoenix)? Was she a Phoenix before ‘dying’, or only through something in the process or some tampering that occurred after it? ? Isn’t that… her physical appearance at the time? “Skin and bone” will usually mean that both are visible (the body is rotting  or is emaciated, exposing bone, at least far more than is usually seen — especially, on someone healthy); here it could also  just refer to having no clothes or other decoration. You’ve gotten near to linking this to the poem, but not quite reached it; as such this just seems to be a claim of your own, not Plath’s, which could make you feel like you are  “hyjacking” her work (or, more positively but still not kindly put, that you are reading your experiences into the poem, in place of Plath’s own). In analysis, one will want to make  sure that they are engaging clearly and carefully with the artist’s ideas, not merely using them as soundbite by which to bolster one’s own thoughts with (not entirely relevant)  authority. Keep in mind that you can reference Plath’s other works in order to draw readers towards the conclusion that Plath would have held this position — among others you mention  here. That said, that brings forward another question: Does Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” act as something of a manifesto for her own viewpoints as a feminist, or for her own breed of  feminism in writing (e.g., confessional poetry).Plath imagery about a cat depicts a tone of anger, sadness, and frustration. She compares her lifespan in decades as to a cat’s rumored nine lives. In the stanza “what a trash/to annihilate each decade” (Plath, lines 21-24), she refers to the course of decades she  attempted to commit suicide and failed. She expresses that her attempts and failures to commit suicide have ruined decades of her life,  and like a cat with nine lives to live, she is denied of dying and being forced to live in a male-dominated society cell unwillingly. Plath’s unsuccessful attempt at suicide is referred to in her stanza, “The second time I meant/ to last it out and not to come back  at all” (37-38), which depicts her determination to succeed in her death without being found and saved by male dominance. She continues  to state in her stanza, “rocked shut/as a seashell/they had to call and call/and pick the worms off” (Lines37-42), further detailing her  suicide attempt left her in a deep sleep transcending to her death only to be relived without consent by a male doctor calling her name  to gain consciousness and transcended to the real world she desperately wants to escape. The ‘resurrector’ has seemed to switch three times over the course of  your analysis, from Jesus, to self, to men. Which is it? Alternatively,  why might these different interpretations enter, and how do they  differ? If one wanted to die, and they were prevented from doing so,  is it so important that the doctor who saved them was male? (Remember also, though female doctors at the time were rare,  female-only medical schools had been around since the  1840s; while invasive surgery was primarily limited to men,  such would not necessarily be relevant to, say, suturing her  leg-wound or her attempted suicide by sleeping pills.)Did they control her intent, though? More practically, to what degree? She certainly has these thoughts, and she followed through thrice,  after all, so the control cannot be complete. Plath’s allegories depict the empowerment she embraced as a woman in a dominant man’s society controlling her intents to  succumb to suicide. Plath’s anger and oppression that led to her death convinced her to liberate herself and women from a society that  enables their co-existence in a patriarchal society. In a prominent male dominant world, women face this reality in secrecy to avoid  conflict and disrespect. Plath wanted to prevail with dignity, her pain, revenge, and anger to be accepted and viewed as a woman of  equal standards to a man. Plath’s dark manner in writing about women’s inequality is a message that is profound and reality and can  sometimes lead to depression and suicide. Plath’s words are read through the eyes of many women to advocate and stay true to their  beliefs and values. Plath’s feminist approach to her writing is conveyed in hidden messages that portray her empowerment of words. What does this mean? How she empowering words themselves?Works Cited As in… this is (A) the purpose with those readers read Plath’s work, or  (B) that is the purpose they, in reading her work, imagine Plath had  (for her readers)? Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus”. 1962. The Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49000/lady-lazarus. Accessed  9 November 2021. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Lazarus”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Apr. 2020,  https:/www.britannica.com/biography/Lazarus-biblical-figure. Accessed 9 November 2021. Geller. “Phoenix.” Mythology.Net, mythology.net, 29 Sept. 2018, mythology.net/mythical creatures/phoenix. Accessed 9 November 2021. Feedback: I’d recommend that you engage more directly and clearly with the text. Consider the intersections between its symbols. Moreover, you’ll want to decide for yourself if Plath’s main purpose for “Lady Lazerus” was to describe her views towards men, society, etc., or to demonstrate a way of interacting with life as a then-modern woman (and writer), such as through putting it all down, as we now often assume to be unfiltered, on paper (as per what we later call, in describing Plath’s works, confessional poetry) “Lady Lazarus,” a poem written by Sylvia Plath in 1962, is one of her most read literary works that has unveiled a variety of interpretations to her writing. Sylvia Plath intentionally describes intense emotional depth in her writing for readers to connect, vividly visualize, and alter emotions within. Her style of confessional poetry creates emotions, in which she expresses her deepest darkest personal emotions and moments in her journey of despair as a woman in a man-dominant society. In her poem, Plath’s usage of terms within her writing advocates feminism conveying confessional experiences of anger and resentment towards characters depicted as males. Her direct intentions of the allusions, symbolisms, and imagery narrate vividly annotating the experiences she endured as a woman’s self-image in a male society.Plath’s many allusions throughout the poem begin with the poem’s title, “Lady Lazarus’. ‘Plath’s allusion relates to “Lazarus of Bethany” in the New Testament where a man named Lazarus dies from an illness and is resurrected by Jesus (Britannica). Plath deliberately places “Lady” in front of Lazarus to depict the difference in gender and her side as a feminist. Plath’s reference to “Lazarus of Bethany ” details death to describe her conflict and agony towards men and uses resurrection to display her overcoming oppression against her will and her image of her empowerment. Plath references her accidental and two failed attempted suicides to Lazarus as “A walking miracle” (Plath, Line 4) “Lady Lazarus” and “Lazarus of Bethany” rose back overcoming death. She amplifies that despite the control of a patriarchal society, women have the will and rage to rise above oppression. Plath’s explicit reference to biblical figures demonstrates a tone of vengeance towards men illustrating the terms “Herr Enemy” (Plath, line 66). The word “Herr” is German for “Mr.” purposefully addressing the figures “Herr Doktor,” “Herr God,” and “Herr Lucifer” (Plath). These images that hold power, control, and undermine her as a woman of strength have pathways her hatred towards them. Stating “Beware/Beware” (Plath, line 80-81) and “I eat men like air” (Plath, line 84), empowers women to stand and advocate against inequality ruled by men. Plath pursues to convey struggles women face in a male-dominated society by referencing an allusion to the Holocaust to emphasize the detrimental unspoken cruelty women face. Her deliberate intense comparison of imprisoned Jews succumbed to daily injustice, physical and emotional torture without rights reflected upon her daily inner endurance living in a time of constant rules and injustice towards women manifested by men. Plath is burdened by feeling weak, acknowledging her role as a woman but stands firm in her belief as she describes in the third stanza portraying herself as “a paperweight” (Plath, Line 7).  She displays her perception as others perceive her to be meaningless and unvalued. Plath felt tricked and used to their benefit and needs. Plath also refers to her face as “a featureless, fine/Jew linen” (Plath, Lines 8-9), pointing that she feels denied and pressure to freely express and unveil lines of emotions on her face and closely assimilates with all women to define whom they are in a world controlled by a facade of dominance.Plath uses the symbolism of “red” and “ash” to compare herself to a Phoenix expressing vengeance and persistence in challenging the male-dominated society and her success and control of overcoming her death.  When Plath comments, “Ash, ash/ You poke and stir/Flesh, bone, there is nothing there” (Plath, Lines 72-74), She is defining the ash to be patriarchy that “poke and stir” and is the oppression of men attempting to think they are doing the right thing for women by maintaining them undisclosed. Plath further states, “Out of the ash/ I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air” (Plath, Lines 79-81. Her rising “out of the ashes” means escaping patriarchy and “rise” strengthening women’s rights. Plath details her connection to the Phoenix, a mythological creature resembling a massive bird with gold and red feathers known to control life, death, and destruction (Geller), revealing that regardless of the attempts, men intend to overpower her decisions, just like the Phoenix she will continue to prevail, rise and ultimately achieve her destination.Symbolism described in the poem focuses on death and hell in the way of control and defeat. Plath states, “Dying /Is an art, like everything else” (Plath, lines 43-44), a statement meant to have a negative connotation on death but described as a form of “art” in Plath’s perception to escape suffering and find peace within herself. Plath compared death to art to state that enduring a patriarchal society and death would be her peace and escape from her endless prison. Her desire is not to end her existence but barricade the pain and struggles she is imposed and violated. She reveals that her actions are “so it feels like hell/ I do it, so it feels real.” (Plath, Lines 46-47). Plath faces the reality of knowing that if she fails in death, she will continue to be enslaved in a world where she does not exist as a woman.Plath uses imagery comparing her skin as a lampshade, referring to the corpse of a decaying body to be viewed in a male-dominate society. Her reference to “the peanut -crunching crowd.”  imagery details a vivid unhuman traumatic event illustrating how a crowd of people surrounded her unresponsive body as men tried to revive her unclothed body. Plath continues the use of imagery “shoves in to see/them unwrap me hand and foot” (Plath, lines 29-30) to describe the event of her lifeless body seen as entertainment and being cruelly humiliated with no sense of remorse or empathy as a woman.  Only to prove that her existence, as they resurrected her, empowered her strength as a woman to defy limitations.  Plath used imagery to describe her skin and bones. She describes a horrific scene of being exposed without any coverings leading to her statement, “I may be skin and bone/ Nevertheless, I am the same, Identical woman” (Plath, 33-34). She is describing herself as “skin and bone” regardless of her physical appearance. She maintained to be the same woman internally with the same intelligence, thoughts, ethics, beliefs, virtues, and emotions.  Despite the scrutiny of a man’s society where women’s bodies are displayed for entertainment, Plath suggests that she is an “identical woman,” interpreting that she has shown her strength by not complying with the needs and wants of men based on her body but her mind and virtues.Plath imagery about a cat depicts a tone of anger, sadness, and frustration. She compares her lifespan in decades as to a cat’s rumored nine lives.  In the stanza “what a trash/to annihilate each decade” (Plath, lines 21-24), she refers to the course of decades she attempted to commit suicide and failed. She expresses that her attempts and failures to commit suicide have ruined decades of her life, and like a cat with nine lives to live, she is denied of dying and being forced to live in a male-dominated society cell unwillingly.Plath’s unsuccessful attempt at suicide is referred to in her stanza, “The second time I meant/ to last it out and not to come back at all” (37-38), which depicts her determination to succeed in her death without being found and saved by male dominance. She continues to state in her stanza, “rocked shut/as a seashell/they had to call and call/and pick the worms off” (Lines37-42), further detailing her suicide attempt left her in a deep sleep transcending to her death only to be relived without consent by a male doctor calling her name to gain consciousness and transcended to the real world she desperately wants to escape.Plath’s allegories depict the empowerment she embraced as a woman in a dominant man’s society controlling her intents to succumb to suicide.  Plath’s anger and oppression that led to her death convinced her to liberate herself and women from a society that enables their co-existence in a patriarchal society.   In a prominent male dominant world, women face this reality in secrecy to avoid conflict and disrespect. Plath wanted to prevail with dignity, her pain, revenge, and anger to be accepted and viewed as a woman of equal standards to a man.  Plath’s dark manner in writing about women’s inequality is a message that is profound and reality and can sometimes lead to depression and suicide. Plath’s words are read through the eyes of many women to advocate and stay true to their beliefs and values. Plath’s feminist approach to her writing is conveyed in hidden messages that portray her empowerment of words.Works Cited Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus”. 1962. The Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49000/lady-lazarus. Accessed 9 November 2021. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Lazarus”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Apr. 2020, https:/www.britannica.com/biography/Lazarus-biblical-figure. Accessed 9 November 2021. Geller. “Phoenix.” Mythology.Net, mythology.net, 29 Sept. 2018, mythology.net/mythicalcreatures/phoenix. Accessed 9 November 2021.