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'The Writer', Packing For The Future:Instructions' and 'Miracle' are three separate poems that use an extended metaphor to relate the journey of live with everyday objects. In 'The Writer' the author relates happenings on boats to the idea that being a writer has its definite highs and lows. When its stated that "In her room at the prow" and "like a chain hauled over the gunwale" it gives the imagery of a constant battle which is the idea trying to be expressed throughout the poem but in relation to writing. Later on in 'The Writer' the imagery is changed from being a boat to being a bird. "I remember the dazed starling which was trapped in that very room" conveys a strong image that the life of a writer at times can be as frustrating as a bird being trapped in a room. The title 'Packing for the Future' gives imagery right from the get go of a person packing for their lifetimes adventures. Throughout the poem the author uses socks, a leather satchel, a leather bag, old tin box with a salamander painted on the lid. Just looking at these objects one would not be able to associate them with life's adventures but when analyzed with relation to the rest of the poem it becomes more clear. The random assortment of objects are directly related to different traits or characteristics such as humour, humanity, remembering old memories, and being thick skinned. The poem 'Miracle' takes a third and final approach to comparing life with objects. The author compares the creation of a strawberry to the evolution of noticing time over a life. Young children take ever second as though it were their last and therefore don't really consider waiting for something to grow but an adult on the other hand notices the benefits of waiting for the strawberry to mature. The child in the poem wanted to pick the flower blossom not recognizing that if the flower was left then a strawberry would develop in its stead. The adult recognized this and states this to the child but the toddler " looks at [her] as if [she had] told her a lie". The three separate poems all use extended metaphors to relate different aspects of life with everyday objects or occurrences. The extended metaphors all were used to develop a richer and more enjoyable poem to read.
Sylvia Plaith's life was that of immense sorrow, or at least from an outsiders perspective. She went to school at fairly good universities and from there gained an amazing internship opportunity with Mademoiselle magazine. From there she had become extremely depressed and mentally unstable and had tried to commit suicide. The attempt failed and from there she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. She was released from the hospital but over the course of her life she showed tendencies to be unstable. Finally she committed suicide by way of carbon monoxide in her oven while her kids slept in the other room. Sylvia Plaith's poem 'Daddy' is one of immense emotion and heart wrenching anguish. When she states that they "stuck me together with glue" it leads me to believe that it is the same as when she got out of the hospital; just repaired and easily breakable again. "At twenty i tried to die" which is around the age that she tried committing suicide. The poem is directly related to her lifetimes events. An author would choose to write her life this way because it develops a sense of sorrow and understanding for the reader. I think Plaith would definitely agree with Jeanette Winterson that "there is no autobiography; there is only art and lies". An autobiography is built with one persons perspective and therefore doesn't contain accuracies (which leads to lies) and therefore a good autobiography is based solely upon good art.
Sylvia Plaith's life was that of immense sorrow, or at least from an outsiders perspective. She went to school at fairly good universities and from there gained an amazing internship opportunity with Mademoiselle magazine. From there she had become extremely depressed and mentally unstable and had tried to commit suicide. The attempt failed and from there she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. She was released from the hospital but over the course of her life she showed tendencies to be unstable. Finally she committed suicide by way of carbon monoxide in her oven while her kids slept in the other room. Sylvia Plaith's poem 'Daddy' is one of immense emotion and heart wrenching anguish. When she states that they "stuck me together with glue" it leads me to believe that it is the same as when she got out of the hospital; just repaired and easily breakable again. "At twenty i tried to die" which is around the age that she tried committing suicide. The poem is directly related to her lifetimes events. An author would choose to write her life this way because it develops a sense of sorrow and understanding for the reader. I think Plaith would definitely agree with Jeanette Winterson that "there is no autobiography; there is only art and lies". An autobiography is built with one persons perspective and therefore doesn't contain accuracies (which leads to lies) and therefore a good autobiography is based solely upon good art.