Fairy-Tale Plots and their Transformations in Sylvia Plath’s Early Poems

Abstract

In her work, Sylvia Plath repeatedly refers to mythological and fairy-tale images. The characters associated with fairy tales and folk culture in general are not so numerous and arise mainly in the early work of the poetess. But even stories about Cinderella, Bluebeard or a princess descending into the goblins’ kingdom acquire mythological associations, turning into a kind of allegory of life. Through fairy-tale images, the poetess tries to overcome the existential fear of death and the psychological trauma received in childhood after the death of her father.