Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 In Massachusetts.
She published her first poem at 8 years old. She was a perfectionist and an ideal student. Her father died when she was eight and that’s when she started to change. She attempted suicide in college by overdosing on sleeping pills, but once she recovered she became successful in literacy. She wrote over 400 poem while in college.
She married Ted Hughes in 1965, and a year later, at age 28 she published her first book, The Colossus, in England. She lived for a time in England and had a total of 2 children. Two years after the birth of their first child their marriage fell apart.Usually Sylvia turned to writing poems to cope with her problems and it was something to do in the middle of the night. Her later poems talk a lot about death and pain. On February 11, 1963 Sylvia committed suicide by sticking her head in the oven while the gas was turned on.
A few years after her death, a book of her later poems was published. The poem, Facelift, was written in 1961. In 1960 she gave birth to her daughter and published her first book of poems. But, in the year of 1961, the year she wrote the poem, she had a miscarriage, and a year later had a son.She also was having a difficult time with her Marriage. She moved to London soon after having her son and separated from her husband.
So at the time of writing, Facelift, she was depressed and was having a hard life. Analysis: This poem is definitely one you have to read more than once, you have to read it like ten or more times. It is a free verse narrative poem. I find this poem has a lot of depth.
It has a tone of softness yet is kind or horrific. I don’t know exactly what Sylvia was trying to express in this poem. It seems to me like she wanted to be remade, turn back time, and make everything better.She could have possibly done something she regretted or simply wasn’t happy with the way she was and she wanted that to change. The whole poem is like a metaphor, comparing her life to a facelift surgery.
At the beginning, she is sick and is unsure (like Sylvia’s father’s death), and then she thinks of the results from this pain, results that will make her beautiful. She is out for 5 days in secret, almost as if she’s ashamed of going through with it,(like when she attempted suicide) but once she wakes up she has grown younger(changing her life around and becoming successful at college).Although she will continue to age she has trapped the old lady, the past her, in a laboratory jar where she will continue to wither (the troubles she is having with her husband). However, the new fresh woman is pleased with the results and is like a new woman who can start over her life. (This her life with poetry and nothing else but unfortunately she doesn’t start over she ends it completely). I find the theme in this poem is change can happen but only if you do something to promote it.
