Why is there such a noticeable amount of psychological disorder and distress among female writers? And why do the works of these disturbed authors eventually become so popular? Were these authors simply predisposed to suffer from mental problems, or was there something else that drove them crazy?
While some female writers, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” found solace, help, and hope through their art, others were not so fortunate and it is entirely possible that the act of writing caused other female writers even more pain and suffering.
Sylvia Plath – An Accomplished Poet and Writer
One author particularly troubled by her craft was Sylvia Plath, an accomplished poet and author of The Bell Jar. While it is impossible to rule out the factors of societal pressures, family stresses, and the possibility of a genetic predisposition for psychological distress, it is possible to show that the craft of poetry contributed to Sylvia Plath’s downfall and the psychological problems she suffered from.
New Criticism's Negative Effect on Sylvia Plath
While Sylvia Plath suffered from the everyday problems many young female students faced during the 1950s, she also “began to struggle with the contradictions she found” (Graham 45) in the school of literary criticism known as New Criticism, which was prominent during her time. One definition used by New Criticism was “[Cleanth] Brooks’ definition of the perfect poem,” (Graham 45) which, as Plath’s “main reputation comes from her work as a poet” (Easthope 223), particularly troubled her during her quests to write the perfect poem. The contradictory nature of Brooks’ definition made Plath anxious and “acutely uncomfortable with [its] oppositional thinking” (Graham 45).
Her struggle with the main tenants of New Criticism was not necessarily an obsession, but rather a struggle to meet the contradiction found in Brooks’ definition which believed the poem should be both organic and natural, but at the same time finely and expertly crafted (Graham 44-45). Plath was acutely aware of the multiple contradictions located within the idea of New Criticism and many of her poems serve as evidence of her impossible attempts to live up to the standards set by previous writers and critics.
Further complicating this is the fact that definers of good poetry were mostly, if not exclusively, male. Not only was the definition not of Plath’s contemporary time, it also was not formulated by a woman, making the struggle for the perfect poem not only a quest to live up to the expected standards of writing, but also a quest to live up to the expected standards of men, who do not think or write in the same ways as women.
Sources
Easthope, Anthony. “Reading the Poetry of Sylvia Plath.” English 43:177 (1994): 223-235.
Eliot, T.S. “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” Criticism: Major Statements. Eds. Charles Kaplan and William Davis Anderson. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 404-410.
Gerisch, Benigna. “’This Is Not Death, It Is Something Safer’: A Psychodynamic Approach to Sylvia Plath.” Death Studies 22 (1998): 735-761.
Graham, Vicki. “Reconstructed Vase: Sylvia Plath and New Critical Aesthetics.” Texas Review 15 (1994): 44-65.
“New Criticism.” The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Eds. Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
Plath, Sylvia. Ariel. New York: Perennial Classics, 1965.
