Imagery and Influence: An examination of Sylvia Plath and Exra Pound

Abstract

The desperate, prophetic voices of authors Sylvia Plath and Ezra Pound echo loudly in the canon of modernist literature. Together, this panel will examine the honesty and brutality of Plath‟s and Pound‟s poetic diction, as well as its impact on future American poets. Using close reading and critical commentary, the first two panelists unveil the range of themes and emotions prevalent in Plath‟s work. These essays assert that Sylvia Plath‟s writing relied heavily on natural imagery and feminist themes to convey the disappointment and marginalization of women in the 1950s. Plath attends to these themes through the search for identity and love, while struggling to find where she belongs. The last panelist focuses on one of the most influential figures in modernist literature: Ezra Pound. Pound‟s translations of traditional Japanese works influenced the birth of Imagism, and his Imagist manifesto heavily influenced other later modernist poets. Both Plath and Pound transform a solipsistic world view into timeless literature that resonates with a contemporary audience.