Confessions and the Unconcious: a Psychoanalytic Study of Sylvia Plath's Ariel

Student: Numaliya Mok (Project, 2025)
Department of
Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Kaduna State

Abstract

ABSTRACT
This study offers a psychoanalytic exploration of selected confessional poems from Sylvia Plath's seminal collection Ariel. It looks at four famous poems by Sylvia Plath: "Tulips," "Daddy," "Ariel," and "Lady Lazarus." The purpose for this research is to examine these poems using ideas from psychology, particularly those of Sigmund Freud to understand what might be going on in Plath's mind as she wrote them. The significance is to offer deeper understanding of how the unconscious mind influences creativity and the writing process. The study is interested in how Plath uses vivid images and symbols to express thoughts and feelings she might not have been fully aware of. By applying qualitative content analysis research design, closely reading the poems and applying ideas like the unconscious mind, repression, the Oedipus complex etc. as research methodology and Psychoanalysis as our theoretical framework, we uncover the complex emotional world in Plath's poetry. In the end, this study concludes that Plath's deeply personal poetry is a powerful way of expressing and possibly working through serious emotional conflicts.

Keywords
Displacement Denial Projection Regression Sublimation Id Ego Super Ego Confession Unconcious
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