... husband Ted Hughes. Plath describes Hughes as a metaphorical model of her dominant father, 'a man in black with a Meinkampf look/ And a love of the rack and the screw.' In this way, Plath uses familiar Nazi imagery as referenced in the poem's middle stanzas to more damningly critique ... plays on a familiar allusion to explore the concept of individual liberation. In this case, like a phoenix, 'Out of the Ashes/ I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air.' This familiar metaphor shows the audience a challenge to society's constructs and an aggressive ambition to rise abov...

• Word Count: 2183
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... this in further depth by looking at three poems: "A dream", "A Birthday" and one of the many poems entitled "Song", beginning "When I am dead, my dearest." By looking at her use of language, imagery, themes and her addressee I shall explore to what extent I agree with the statement that the work of ... her after her death because it will merely be futile as she will be oblivious to all of his conventional acts of mourning and love lost. The language in this poem is unsurprisingly full of images and connotations of death and funerals. The pleading tone of the speaker is ... third poem ...

• Word Count: 2526
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: Undergraduate