Approaching the edge of Sentimentality

I found this weeks poems more effective than previous poems we have read for the very reason of sentimentality. I think too many writers lose sight of their emotion when writing and sometimes that very emotion is what makes writings, especially poetry, so very effective. When a reader sits down and begins to read a poem that is calling out for attention and compassion, they are drawn to that poet on a different level than any other type of poetry. A particular poem I was fond of in this weeks collection of poems was Plath’s, “Daddy.” I was partially drawn to this poem for personal reasons and personal feelings I have towards my father. I don’t think Plath was successful in avoiding sentimentality in this particular poem. Certain stanzas and lines of her poetry speak to the reader as if she was saying them directly to whoever is reading the poem at that very instance.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time---

I think Plath was very unsuccessful at avoiding sentimentality and pours her heart out on a personal level when she writes:

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

In order for a writer to successfully avoid sentimentality, they have to be effective at keeping the reader out and not letting the reader in his/her state of mind emotionally. Plath had a personal relationship with the reader and connected with the reader.

A poem in which the poet was able to successfully avoid sentimentality, in my opinion, is Anne Sexton’s, “The Truth the Dead Know.” In this poem Sexton was able to convey an emotion to the reader, yet not overdo it causing and she was able to avoid the use of sever emotion to make her connection with the reader. She writes to a dead figure, although it is a broad reference. I think she was able to keep her distance from the reader yet still get her point across. In my opinion this was especially apparent in the third stanza.

My darling, the wind falls in like stones
From the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one’s alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.

To some level she connects with the reader emotionally and by reading these words, I almost felt as if I was there experiencing the touch as she did. However, she does not have that personal sentiment that Plath had all throughout her poem. Plath invited the reader into her mind while Sexton explains her feelings and almost gives the reader the opportunity to connect with her and experience her poem on a different level. The reader can become part of the poem, while Plath draws the reader to her mind and her sentiment as if the reader enters Plath’s mind and can understand her thoughts directly.

There is a direct and indirect difference between the two poems in the way in which they connect with the reader. Plath is more direct while Sexton uses an indirect way of connecting.