JenneFinalDraft2

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Jenne

Keith Jenne

Barbara Pittman

English 1020

10/12/10

In my rough draft it was diagnosed that my essay was anopinionated analysis of the poem and article. I added twoparagraphs, after the intro, with a better summary of thearticle.I revised my thesis a little from my rough draft to focusmore of my argument around the poem being confessional andless about devaluing the Holocaust. As I talked about in myreflections I dont believe that I should have used Ithink in my thesis. It sounds too opinionated.Much of the work below I kept intact but I moved somesentences around and added more clarity to help bettersupport a consistent argument.

Lady Lazarus and the Mysterious Black Phones

In the scholarly article Black Phones: Postmodern

Poetics in the Holocaust Poetry of Sylvia Plath Matthew

Boswell argues that Plaths poem attempts to convince the

reader that Lady Lazarus is a non-confessional look at

herself. Boswell emphasizes that Plaths poem is nothing

more than a post modernistic look at the Holocaust through

the eyes of a suicidal strip artist who performs a kind

of Holocaust-themed cabaret (54). I respect what Boswell

has written and I think that he makes a compelling argument

surrounding postmodernism, but I just cannot bring myself

to subscribe to the ideology that Plaths poem was written

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purely for art. In the end, I am not entirely persuaded by

his argument. I think that Plath wrote this poem as an

intimate self-diluted glance at her inner psyche, while

using an approach regarded as post modernistic by comparing

the Holocaust to her suicidal urges.

Boswell begins his article by looking at views of

other critics that suggest that Plaths poem is some way

confessional in nature. He employs these views to separate

his argument from his peers and to state that Plath is

brazen in her exploitation of the tropes and iconography

associated with the Holocaust (Boswell 55) and that she

conveys a clear sense of the distinction between art and

reality (Boswell 55). Boswell goes onto argue that her

style ultimately becomes the defining features of

postmodernism (55). He also examines the significance of

the Holocaust in Plaths poetry and how it illustrates her

feministic views.

In the second half of Boswells article he switches

gears to dissect the meaning of the black phones and what

they symbolize. He indicates that the metaphorical black

phone used in many poems written by Plath imply, an

amputation of poetrys relationship with the past

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(Boswell 59) and its modernistic ideas. Boswell continues

to elaborate on his interpretation of the black phones and

how it represents voicelessness (62) that is created by

artistic performances which can never equate to

historical reality (62). Boswell makes a powerful case for

postmodern influence in Plaths Holocaust poetry, but I

feel he ignores obvious hints that tell the audience that

it is much more disturbing opposed to postmodern art.

As I take a look at Plaths poem I would first like to

examine the definition of postmodernism and how it relates

to Boswells take on Lady Lazarus. Postmodernism is

defined as a late-20th-century style and concept in the arts

that represents a departure from modernism and has at its

heart a general distrust of grand theories and ideologies

as well as a problematical relationship with any notion of

art. Based on that definition, Boswell makes a compelling

argument that Plaths poem represents postmodernism. I

would have to agree with his views here to a certain

extent. I believe that Plath uses this poem as an artistic

disagreement from the conventional modernistic views by

challenging the ideas of her era. I am sure that many

people believe the Holocaust was not something to depict in

art metaphorically, particularly when much of the world was

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affected by this catastrophe at the time. Furthermore, her

unwillingness to convey sympathy for the genocide of

millions of Jewish men and women may have left many of her

critics nauseated, thus establishing a postmodern feel. In

my opinion I believe that Plaths style comes off as a

little insensitive, but as I try to compare it to her

desperate mental state at the time she probably felt more

like a tortured Holocaust victim rather than a

conceptualized suicidal strip artist (Boswell 54).

Early on it is clear that Plath represents herself

through a woman named Lady Lazarus, a Jew executed in the

Holocaust, but as I look deeper into this poem it all seems

like a red herring covering up the definitive truth. Lady

Lazarus reads like a woman screaming for help specifically

when she writes, And I a smiling woman./ I am only

thirty./ And I like the cat have nine times to die. (Plath

19-21). Plath issues the reader a warning that she is not

afraid to die and that she will continue to pursue death

until she succeeds. As I read ahead Plath informs the

audience that Dying/ Is an art, like everything else./ I

do it exceptionally well. (43-45). As I read these

stanzas it sounds less like a fictional character and more

like a poet in need of psychological help. I agree with

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Boswell that she uses touches of postmodern art, but it all

seems to detract from her underlying attitude concerning

death that is impossible to ignore.

In an attempt to persuade the readers, Boswell

promotes the idea that Plaths exploitation of the

Holocaust behaves as a platform used to illustrate her

feministic views in a strip tease like fashion that,

borders on prostitution (56). I tend to agree with

Boswell that Plath uses strong feministic tones throughout

her poem, particularly when Boswell writes, the aggressive

feminist position, that Lady Lazarus assumesis not a total

distortion of the concerns of Holocaust verse, and could be

justified by the insight that the Holocaust was an event

which was, for the most part, conceived and perpetrated by

men (57). His statement rings true in a sense that her

writing is femininely driven, but I think that Plaths

writing runs considerably deeper. We see her feministic

tone illustrated when Plath writes, And I eat men like

air. (Plath 84). Boswell states that this feminist

posturing is intended for the masters from Germany

(58). This could be true figuratively, but this sentence

seems to be clearly pointed at the men that mistreated her

throughout her life. It would almost certainly not be a

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stretch to say that the men in Plaths life in all

probability facilitated her mental state of hate. Therefore

inspiring her true voice for Lady Lazarus while exposing

the main antagonists in her life.

Boswell suggests that the black phones referenced in

Plaths Holocaust poems symbolize the death of modernism

and the reigning in of postmodern views. He refers to the

black phones as a mode of communication with the past that

can only transmit incommunicability. (Boswell 61). Once

again he tries to insinuate that the black phones rally

around his hypothesis that her poetry is artistic in nature

and less confessional. I fail to see the connection of the

black phones artistically. The central character of Lady

Lazarus has tried to commit suicide three times. I believe

that character to be Plath, literally. I get the feeling

that she is truly crying for help in her poem, specifically

when she says, I do it so it feels like hell./ I do it so

it feels real./ I guess you could say Ive a call. (Plath

46-48). The black phones could be translated as her

metaphorical disconnect from the world. This detachment

from reality has left her vulnerable to her ultimate goal

of self-destruction. She fuses this into our consciousness

when she articulates that, I turn and burn (Plath 70).

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Boswell makes a strong case for his ideas on

postmodernism and the black phones regarding Plaths

poetry, but I tend to classify her work as an open

proclamation of her inner being. I did some research on

Sylvia Plath and discovered that she committed suicide

months after writing this. It came as a shock to learn

this, but I really was not that surprised after all. Plath

was most likely beyond a point of no return at the time and

this reinforced my opinion of her dark mental state. It is

hard to comprehend any interpretation other than a

confession of a depressed woman. With that said, Plaths

poem demonstrates to the reader how afflicted she was when

she wrote Lady Lazarus and I feel it embodied her true

feelings for suicide.

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Work Cited

Boswell, Matthew. Black Phones: Postmodern Poetics in

the Holocaust Poetry of Sylvia Plath CriticalSurvey;

2008, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p53-64. Ebscohost. Web. 13 Oct.

2010. http://web.ebscohost.com.libauth.tri-

c.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?

vid=3&hid=15&sid=0150fb72-83d7-42e4-b185-295b206a684e

%40sessionmgr4

Plath, Sylvia. "Lady Lazarus." An Introduction to Poetry.

By X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 13th ed. N.p.: Longman,

2010. 262-264. Print.

Postmodernism. Oxford Online Reference. Oxford U Press,

2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2010

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1279801

#m_en_us1279801

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