This document provides background information on the poet Sylvia Plath and analyzes her poem "Mad Girl's Love Song." It notes that Plath wrote the poem in 1951 as a student at Smith College, before her first suicide attempt in 1953. The poem is written in a villanelle form with two refrains and follows the rhyming scheme of A B A/ A B A. The theme is that suicide provides an escape from the sufferings of life, and devices like personification, repetition, and symbolism are used.

1. MAD GIRL’S LOVE
SONG(SYLVIA PLATH)
BY
REDA E FATEMA

2. INTRODUCTION
• SYLVIA PLATH WAS AN AMERICAN POET BEST KNOWN FOR HER
NOVEL
• THE BELL JAR
• THE COLOSSUS
• ARIEL
• THE POETRY COLLECTION

3. INTRODUCTION
• BORN IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS ON OCTOBER 27,1932.
• DIED ON FEBRUARY 11, 1963.

4. MAJOR WORKS
• THE COLOSSUS AND OTHER POEMS (1960)
• JOURNALS OF SYLVIA PLATH (1960)
• THE BELL JAR (1963)
• ARIEL (1965)
• THE COLLECTED POEMS (1974)

5. MAD GIRL’S LOVE SONG
• THE POEM WAS WRITTEN BY SYLVIA PLATH IN 1951 WHEN
SHE WAS A STUDENT AT SMITH COLLEGE.
• SHE WROTE IT BEFORE HER FIRST SUICIDE ATTEMPT ON
24RTH AUGUST 1953.

7. FORM – LEVEL OF RHYME
• THE POEM IS WRITTEN IN VILLANELLE FORM.
• CONSISTS OF NINETEEN LINES.
• CONSISTS OF FIVE TERCETS FOLLOWED BY A QUATRAIN.
• THERE ARE TWO REFRAINS.
• THE RHYMING SCHEME IS R1 B R2/A B R1/A B R2/.

8. TITLE
• THE TITLE IS FAIRLY SELF-EXPLANATORY. IT IS ABOUT HOW
ONE GIRL’S SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS AND LOVE DROVE HER
TO INSANITY.
• HERE THE MAD GIRL SYMBOLIZES SYLVIA AS IT CONVEYS
THE POWER OF LOVE THAT DRIVES YOU TOWARDS
MADNESS.

9. THEME
• 1ST PERSON.
• THE THEME IS THAT IS SUICIDE IS AN ESCAPE FROM ALL
THE SUFFERINGS OF LIFE.
• THEME OF DEATH IS IN THE POEM.

10. DEVICES
• PERSONIFICATION – LEVEL OF MEANING
• ILLUSION
• REPETITION
• SYMBOLISM
• SYNONYM (INSANE)- LEVEL OF WORDS OR SENTENCES
• DICTION