Published Paper Details:

This paper investigates the romantic sensibilities of Sylvia Plath through a thematic analysis of her journal. While Plath is popularly associated with the Confessional movement of the 20th century, her journal entries reveal an intentional, sophisticated engagement with the 19th century Romantic tradition. This paper argues that her journal entries embody the core tenets of romanticism as expressed in the works of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats, specifically the preeminence of subjective experience, the transcendental elevation of nature, and the transmutation of the mundane into sublime. She believed in the transformative power of Romantic vitalism- the vibrancy and spirit of transcendental living. This paper also investigates the strategic use of pathetic fallacy, where she constantly tries to project her inner sanctum onto the physical world around her including the natural landscape. The physical world becomes a mirror of her psyche. Plath metaphorically transfigures the mundane and systematically elevates it to the level of the sublime. This paper concludes that Plath's journal entries are not merely prosaic records of her life, rather they serve as a rigorous literary testament to her romantic sensibilities.