Sylvia Plath is renowned for her confessional poetry, and ability to cause controversy by exploring conventionally forbidden emotions and events with raw honesty. The theme of relationships is one that appears often in Plath’s poems, possibly because of the dominant influence people surrounding her had on her life. I will be comparing this to the poetry of Ted Hughes, whose poetry similarly explores relationships; however he tends to have a more optimistic writing style. Undoubtedly, the famous marriage and tragic events of Hughes and Plath’s private lives evidently affected their poetry, it is important we don’t become ignorant to the many other perspectives, and meanings embedded in their work; they should still be appreciated as individuals, and their poetry should be interpreted and explored from many angles. Therefore, by analysing the theme of relationships in their work we can distinguish their differences and similarities as the individual artists they are.

Flowers are emblematic of relationships, they are given and received on the most happy of occasions, to the most tragic ones. In ‘Tulips’ by Sylvia Plath, she takes the usual delicate flowers, and with her callous words personifies them as “too excitable”, and transforms them into “African cat” style predators, consuming her back into reality. The third stanza paints vivid, horrific imagery of the strain on the character, caused by their family. “My husband and child smiling out of the family photo; their smiles catch onto my skin, like smiling hooks.” Hooks can connote fishing, since the hook on a fishing line has inevitable grip on the vulnerable fish once it’s been “caught”. By using a positive “smiling” image, and injecting it with a sinister meaning, Plath creates a clarified contrast of the characters mental state in comparison to how one would typically think. The sinister meaning injected, is that encumber of family relationships is causing her pain, and from the rest of the poem, the reader can gather that the character is happier alone; it is Plath’s use of language which depicts this. When the character talks about having no possessions, and the feeling of being numb, positive language is used; for example the needles that bring her numbness are “bright”, and when she talks about being possession less she is “pure”. This is possibly because at these points she is empty of bad thoughts, and is striving for anonymity. As soon as another person is brought up in the poem, negativity appears, even if that person is a metaphor like the “awful baby”; Plath is sending a clear message that relationships make the character weak, weighing them down.