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great mind is androgynous: A look at the late poetry of Sylvia Plath through Virginia Woolf's theory of the androgynous consciousness

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Date Issued:
2004
Summary:
The female subject in the late poetry of Sylvia Plath experiences a physical and intellectual transformation, as Plath attempts to challenge and redefine the social construction of woman through Virginia Woolf's influence. Plath aspires to achieve a poetic voice that embodies characteristics of both genders simultaneously, an androgynous consciousness by Woolf's account, and one that can speak despite Western culture's imposed inferiority of women writers. Since traditionally masculine language has defined women's social roles through their physical bodies, Plath's aim is to immerse her female subject in the experiences of her corporeal body as a means to transcend her physical existence and symbolically achieve a supreme consciousness unadulterated by gender designs. Through the transportation of the physical, female body, then, Plath believes that her poetic voice can emerge in the form of an androgynous spirit capable of accessing powers of both genders.
Title: A great mind is androgynous: A look at the late poetry of Sylvia Plath through Virginia Woolf's theory of the androgynous consciousness.
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Name(s): Blackburn, Shilo R.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of English
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2004
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 159 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The female subject in the late poetry of Sylvia Plath experiences a physical and intellectual transformation, as Plath attempts to challenge and redefine the social construction of woman through Virginia Woolf's influence. Plath aspires to achieve a poetic voice that embodies characteristics of both genders simultaneously, an androgynous consciousness by Woolf's account, and one that can speak despite Western culture's imposed inferiority of women writers. Since traditionally masculine language has defined women's social roles through their physical bodies, Plath's aim is to immerse her female subject in the experiences of her corporeal body as a means to transcend her physical existence and symbolically achieve a supreme consciousness unadulterated by gender designs. Through the transportation of the physical, female body, then, Plath believes that her poetic voice can emerge in the form of an androgynous spirit capable of accessing powers of both genders.
Identifier: 9780496257270 (isbn), 13147 (digitool), FADT13147 (IID), fau:10008 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Adviser: Johnnie M. Stover.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2004.
Subject(s): Literature, Modern
Women's Studies
Literature, American
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13147
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.