A Psychological Drift in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath
Keywords:
: psychological drift, existential dread, trauma, dissociation, poetic disintegration, psychoanalysis, confession, bodily alienation, patriarch, self-annihilation.Abstract
Sylvia Plath’s poetry serves as a profound exploration of internal psychological disintegration, existential dread, and the fragmenting self. This article examines the phenomenon of “psychological drift”—the gradual, irreversible thematic transition from structured emotional alienation to radical, self-annihilating transformation within her oeuvre. Early works capture a restrained anxiety, where the poetic speaker observes isolation from behind protective glass or structured metaphors. However, as Plath’s stylistic trajectory moves toward her posthumously published collection Ariel, the psychological landscape undergoes a distinct metamorphosis. Themes of maternal claustrophobia, patriarchal oppression, domestic confinement, and bodily dissociation become dominant drivers of this cognitive descent. Using psychoanalytic concepts alongside structural literary analysis, this article investigates how language mirrors the unraveling of identity. Plath employs sharp, clinical imagery, surrealist landscapes, and rhythmic repetition to express a speaker caught between the desire for rebirth and the compulsion toward oblivion. The term “drift” does not signify a random wandering but rather a calculated, relentless movement toward severe psychological extremes, where the boundaries between the internal self and external reality permanently blur. Ultimately, this research demonstrates how Plath transforms personal psychic trauma into a universal mythos of female marginalization and creative autonomy achieved through destruction.
How to cite this article:
Suman S. A Psychological Drift in the Poetry of
Sylvia Plath, J Adv Res Eng & Edu 2025; 10(4):
12-16.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2456.4370.202518
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