Search engine for discovering works of Art, research articles, and books related to Art and Culture
ShareThis
Javascript must be enabled to continue!

33

View through CrossRef
This chapter explores Sylvia Plath’s complex relationship with a clay head made by Mary Bailey Derr, which she had developed a strange fondness for over the years. Although Ted Hughes suggested they leave it in a tree in Grantchester, Sylvia saw the head as a symbol of her own identity, one she could not easily discard. The chapter cites Sylvia’s poem The Lady and the Earthenware Head, wherein she describes the clay head as a menacing, half-blind effigy representing a bond between herself and something dark and threatening. The chapter recounts how the clay head became a powerful image of Sylvia’s psyche, one that cannot be escaped. The poem ends with the clay head remaining shrined on Sylvia’s shelf, rejecting Ted Hughes’ notion that nature could resolve her internal struggle and highlighting how unresolved themes in her poetry mirrored unresolved struggles in her life.
University Press of Mississippi
Title: 33
Description:
This chapter explores Sylvia Plath’s complex relationship with a clay head made by Mary Bailey Derr, which she had developed a strange fondness for over the years.
Although Ted Hughes suggested they leave it in a tree in Grantchester, Sylvia saw the head as a symbol of her own identity, one she could not easily discard.
The chapter cites Sylvia’s poem The Lady and the Earthenware Head, wherein she describes the clay head as a menacing, half-blind effigy representing a bond between herself and something dark and threatening.
The chapter recounts how the clay head became a powerful image of Sylvia’s psyche, one that cannot be escaped.
The poem ends with the clay head remaining shrined on Sylvia’s shelf, rejecting Ted Hughes’ notion that nature could resolve her internal struggle and highlighting how unresolved themes in her poetry mirrored unresolved struggles in her life.

Back to Top