This document discusses and provides discussion questions about poems by Sylvia Plath and Ann Sexton. It analyzes Plath's poems "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus," examining themes of father/daughter relationships, the Holocaust, and resurrection. It also provides discussion points about Sexton's poems "Little Girl, My String Bean, My Lovely Woman" about body changes and motherhood, and "Sylvia's Death" about Sexton's relationship with and views of Plath's suicide in comparison to Plath's poem.
2. Daddy
• Examine images of the father that relate to huge size and a
monstrous body. consider what kind of sexual/oppressive
associations the images have.
• In this poem, Plath “kills” the father. But the poem also
shows the love/ attachment between father and daughter.
What particular parts of the poem reflect the love/hate
relationship the speaker has with her father?
• What images or sections of the poem particularly frame the
father/daughter relationship in terms of WWII death camps
where Jews and gypsy’s were murdered?
• Where does Plath particularly equate “daddy” with the
vampire? How does the vampire myth function in the
poem?
3. Lady Lazerus
• Like “Daddy,” LL makes use of images relating to the
German death camps. How do these images describe
Plath’s body that survived a suicidal attempt?
• In what part of the poem does Plath refer to her body as a
circus attraction? How dos this comment on the public’s
curiosity about celebrities? Where in the poem does she
describe herself as a saint who has performed a miracle?
• At the end of the poem, which describes her
resurrection, she is not a holy figure. What kind of a figure
does she come by as after rising from the dead? Do you
think her anger is connected with her need to kill herself?
4. Ann Sexton
• In “Little Girl, my String Bean, My Lovely
Woman” Discuss images of the body and the
changes into womanhood
• What is Sexton trying to tell her daughter
about the body and being a woman?
• Does she talk to her daughter about sex?
Where? And what does she say?
5. Sylvia’s Death
• in “Sylvia’s Death” What is her relationship
with Sylvia Plath?
• How does she feel about her suicide and her
desire for death?
• How would you compare and contrast
Sexton’s view of death with Sylvia’s in Lady
Lazarus?
