Thr Art of Sadness

“The Art of Sadness”

Sadness takes over someone like a massive wave in an angry ocean. Writing poetry will release the stress and tension that sadness puts over us. Sylvia Plath, a poet in the middle 20th century, pours out all of herself in most of her poems. She does not have a particular style of writing, but just goes with the flow. The mood and tone pretty much stay the same in her works and her point comes through with her “damsel in distress” attitude. I can relate almost all of these poems to my life story. There was a piece of me in Plath’s works, including “Daddy,” “Kindness,” “Mad Girl’s Love Song,” and many more. The depth of her sadness is an art in itself and should be recognized as an art. People can walk around being sad, while Plath embraces it though her writing.

Sylvia Plath struck my interest when I read “Daddy”. Though my father is not a Nazi, I can relate to her resentment toward her father. My dad acts like a child most of the time and he always treats me like one even though I am an adult now. She describes herself as a foot inside of her father’s black shoe. The hate built up inside of her until she wanted to explode and kill her father, who was already dead. If he were to come back to life, she would have taken great pleasure in killing him. No words can describe a relationship between a father and daughter but Plath describes it as the worst thing in the world. He hates the Jews and she feels like a Jew for it. He focuses all his attention toward the people he hates when he has someone to love right there and will not accept it. Plath says, “…they stuck me together with glue.” She felt that the people around her did not help her and did a crumby job looking out for her. Though my father loves me, we did not always get along and this poem gave me a sense of strength and courage to admit it.

The poems are surrounded by sadness. Each and every line of most of Plath’s poems is sad, depressing, or resentful. In “Mad Girl’s Love Song”, she wants to keep the hope alive “but all the world drops dead”. Something exciting and fun will happen and then it does a 360 degree turn and everything falls apart. The stars were dancing in blue and red, but then blackness follows. The happy thought is interrupted with a horrible circumstance. Did she make up this person that she wants so much or is he real? The person is here, with her, and then he is not. She can’t make up her mind on what she wants from him or herself. The smallest thing can set her off at any given moment because of her overly emotional mind.

“Never try to trick me with a kiss, pretending that the birds are here to stay…Sooner or later something goes amiss; The singing birds pack up and fly away…” Now the trust issue with her lover is coming into play. When he kisses her, she believes every word he says and regrets it in the end. She has been lied to many times before and just won’t learn to trust again,