A Comparative Study of Three Women; A Poem for Three Voices and To My Sister by Sylvia

Plath and Forough Farrokhzad

Fatemeh Fard
M.A student of vali e Asr, department of English language and literature
Abstract
Women in east and west have been oppressed for centuries. Many poems have been written to
illustrate women’s feeling to ward these oppressions but on one considered them until Sylvia
Plath and Forough Farrokhzad raised their voice to make a revolution in society, specially in
women’s situation.The article compares the poets’ psyche and the poems” Three Women; A
Poem for Three Voices”,” To My Sister” to depict how these poets are similar in life, thoughts
and personality and compare the poems to illustrate the society they lived , women’s situation
and their hate toward men and masculinity by psychological and comparative methods to get
both poets’ aim which is to achieve self-consciousness which means that both had lost their
consciousness at yaoung age, when they got mature, they found their consciousness and
produced aa successful poet In “ To My Sister” Farrokhzad invite women to achieve their
consciousness and revolt against the law.
Key words; three women; A Poem for Three Voices, To My sister, sylvia Plath, Forough
Farrokhzad, self-consciousness, revolt
Introduction
Comparative literature means the unity in thoughts. The poets or writers around the world may
have the same ideas, among them we mention Sylvia Plath and Forough Farrokhzad who are
from different nations but live in the same society which women are oppressed and banned from
writing by men and religious and poor culture and they are prisoned in home. Their early poems
are sensational but their last poems, they got mature and achieved more successions. They had a
tragic death and died at aged 32. The thing which they have in common is femininity in their
poems.
Sylvia was born in 27th October. at the age of 8 she lost her father. In 1950 she was admitted to
college. Besides being a good student, she was a good writer and printed her notes. She was a
guest editor in Madmazel ‘s magazines, once she got failure in suiciding, then she married to ted
Hughes and published her first collection and novel” The Collossus” and “The bell Jar”. Her
child hood’s publication poems are” In The Bosto Herald of 10 August” and “Phillipian”. She
had been unsuccessful in her application for a higher level creative writing, she depressed and
decided to suicide for the second time. In her poems she mostly focused on instability of love
and dreadful knowledge which forced her to travel. She mostly engaged to Plato. After disloyalty
of her husband, she divorced with 2children then she created her best poems. In maturity she
knew herself a confessional poet. She end her life in 11th February by suiciding or flu or
Pnemunia, the exact details have been mentioned in “The Savage God.”( the Cambridge
introduction to sylvia plath, Dr Akbari, Hassan )
Forough Farrokhzad who was known as a rebellion woman, is the first women writer who mock
the society and made a revolution in literature and wrote about love, lust and sexuality. Her
poems thematically have been divided into Farrokhzad and rebellion , Farrokhzad and self
identity(Hassanpour ,Ruzy Suliza Hashim, ,3). She illustrates women in 2 faces;1_ reflecting her
own face in a mirror2_ women are seen rebellious and lonely . She married when she was young.
Like sylvia plath, she divorced and created the masterpiece poems. She had published
5collections;” The Capture” “ The wall” “ reborn” “ lets believe the beginning of the cold
season” and “ rebellion”. Some critics say” she has two faces because her early collections are
erotic, sensual and her last poems are political and historical. When she immigrates her works
translated she became well known in west, she also played in “ Women of Allah”,” The Last
Word” which are directed by Shirin Neshat, her poems had been played in Maryam Habibian
works. At the age of 32 she died by a car accident.( Akbari, Hasan.Jasmin Darznik)
Many of their works had been compared, however, this article focus on Three women; A Poem
for Three Voices and To My Sister which are less known, to get familiar with women’s position
and the poets’ psyche on that society and the ways of getting freedom, hope.
The article compares Three Women ; A Poem for Three Voices and to My Sister in 2 phases;
first, psychological critic of the poets to know their feeling , thoughts and personality. Second,
compare and analysis of the poems to get women’s position and how much are the poems close
to their real life.
Psychological critic
The psychological critic of literary works at first level is the expression of mental state and the
writer’s personality. Dr Abdul Hussein Zarrinkub in his literary criticism expresses “some critics
rely on psychological principles, these critics try to comprehend and express the poet’s and
writer’s inner feelings and thoughts to evaluate and determine the poet’s literary talent ,
imagination and emotion. Through this way, they study the influence of environment, society
and traditions on developing these currents to evaluate the poet’s type of thoughts”(qtd,in.
Akbari, Hassan,3). There are 3 ways which critics choose to analyze the poet’s literary works
but in order to get the poet’s psyche, the third way, the mode of literary reading especially as the
method for experiencing the subjectivity of the writer, is very useful . Taslimi says” Forough
look at the things around her and avoid using traditional and gnostical language, by this way the
reader need less cultural, linguistic and eastern knowledge in forough’s poem rather than Sohrab
Sepehre’s poems”(qtd,in, Taleb zadeh, Nushin, Saeed Hesampour). Sylvia and Forough wrote
their inner thoughts and feelings in their poems. Their most poems are biographical , language is
colloquial, both poets were introversion.In comparative study of two poems in psychological
perspective, we have to focus on the style, statement, values and personal feelings
Emotions and Reactions
Both used negative words including; patient, upset, desolations, harrowing sounds, death,….in
sylvia’s poem. Blood, tyrannical men, weak, concubine, angry tears, lamentation, chain, wounds
in Forough’s poem .we get that they hate men and both are looking for a way to rescue women.
These emotions derived from their thoughts , so they may have similarities in thinking.
Thoughts
Poets wrote the poems by their genius and inspiration not logic ,the inspiration comes from the
inner truth. Reimon Aroun states” intellectuals are the ones who existence doesn’t satisfy them
rather they want to justify their existence” (qtd,in., Akbari Beiraghi,13). Both in their poems
invite women to break the silence and look for freedom, the poems are biographical and the
poets anecdote their dailiness to justify their existence, society. due to breaking they had
different perspective toward what they had or what were their emotional mistakes.
The common intellectual and emotional horizons
both depict the other aspect of love in their poems. Both married at young age, sylvia loved her
husband as much as she loved her father, she lost her father at the age of 8 so she loved her
husband to fill her father’s lost but he betrayed to her and she divorced or in the case of forough,
her husband forbid her from writing and put her under pressure so she had to divorce, after that
they divided love in two categories; true love and earth love which can be consider as platonic
love which they address men tyranny and ruthless. Sylvia mostly tried to show the instability of
love.
Comparative studies of the two poems
Three Women; A Poem for Three Voices is a social poem which reflects women’s choices
between body and the other choices in patriarchal society. Its theme is the question of
voicelessness with male medical authority. Plath has an alignment with voices. It’s a monologue.
First voice, is voice of a happy mother. The moon is metaphor for femininity and fertility which
are astonished by her. the second voice is a voice of a woman who had a miscarriage, depict the
image of cold and rational masculinity. In stanza two of her voice” The cold echoing tapping of
the type writer key” suggest a metonymy for writing and depict how flat and inadequate is the
reason of creation. The third voice, is the voice of a student who tooke a way her unwanted
child” the pregnancy is figure of violation” ( the Cambridge companian,70) between her body
and her choices, her body had been chosen, an unwanted pregnancy will ruin life of women
mentally and physically in masculine society. some times poets for expressing the reality, they
decide to be unfamiliar
The three voices are unknown, sylvia demonstrates diversity of female experience and equal
validity of of each routes open to them. Actually these women’s agency had been taken, they
cannot choose a particular routes, they just response to particular circumstances in which their
sexuality and gender place them. Middle brook states “ three voices may well be semi
_conscious emanation of plath disquite regarding the emotional figuration of that had developed
after her own miss carriage and the birth of Nicholas”(qtd,in, the Cambridge companian,71), .”
Plath experiment with voice and persona depict as a psycho biographical narrative of self
discovery” The poem is biographical and each voice relates to each stage of sylvia plath’s life,
sylvia used figurative, simple and colloquial language, the third and second voices are the voice
of immature person, but the first voice is the voice of a mature mother who is happy and patient
and this relate to after her divorce and birth of Nicholas when she achieved a self-
consciousness . the unknown voices have power to tell the truth without disturbing others.
For the period of repression, sounds and poetic voices play an important part. A voice mostly
relates to female body.” Orality marks both the creative-destructive power of maternal body and
stigmatized female sexuality through color”( the Cambridge companion,192).” When I first saw
it, the small red seep, I did not believe it.”” The blue color pales. He is human after all”( Plath).
It means that voices refers to female body and by expressing the color blue and red this
assumption gets true, The color red refers to female’s physical appearance, red is the symbol of
erotic aggression which is directed by male character toward a sexual powerful woman. The
blue color refers to sexual inaccessibility. “ the voice has a power to infiltrate and to undermine
the symbolic order in localized weak spot”(the Cambridge companion ,193). By using auditory
devices sylvia states the reality. Blood has a symbolic meaning which is in corrspodence with red
and blue colors.
Blood has an symbolic meaning in poem.“in plath poetry blood is troop of bodily access which
violates both aesthetic and ideological closure”( the Cambridge companian,197).” The creative
source of violence is female body”( Eileen M. Aird,3). ” A red lotus opens in its bowl of blood,
It is she that drags the blood-black sea around/ Month after month, with its voices of
failure”( plath). blood is a symbol of aggression toward female sexuality. The fist verse refers to
a student who had been raped by a man, the second verse is a voice of women who had a
miscarriage, both of them after violation had been changed and made a new identity to forget
the past.
I remember the minute when I knew for sure. (...)
The face in the pool was beautiful, but not mine
(...) And all I could see was dangers: doves and words,
Stars and showers of gold–conceptions, conceptions! ( Plath177-8).
After pregnancy the dangers are; dove which refers to” Holy ghost” or mentality, words refer to
pressure of religion which people may call you prostitute and through you away.
Men believe that women have a perfect body when they are pregnant.” Perfect body of woman_
a scarte fact”( the Cambridge companian,199). variety of desires marks the female’s body
associates with child birth and perfection is revenge upon life and motherhood. In most of her
poem she celebrates the mother infant relation. Freud divides human’s desire in three levels; id,
ego and super ego in order to control them. Steven Axelrod discusses the idea of “ the
unfortunate creature without a penis of the Freudian text(female sexuality) and points out women
feel satisfied at whole” ”(qtd,in. Fernandes, Luis Alfredo,6). ” women feel completion,
wholeness after child birth”(qtd,in, Luis Alfredo Fernandes,6). In contrast to freud theory which
is mentioned that women are jealous of men, The second voice call men” jealous god” because
they are jealous of women’s body and completeness .
Women were limited by religious and give advances to men.” I see the Father conversing with
the Son/ (...) ‘Let us make heaven/’ they say, ‘Let us flatten and launder the grossness from these
souls. Father is metaphor for God who has a special attention to men. The Christian god is
portrayed cruel to his creature by Plath actually more cruel to women because of religious
limitation which surrounded them. Three voices are charted on time, third voice is a voice of
student at collegue who represent the early stage of the poet, married to an English poet, the
second voice, a secretary narrates the period after that, first voice is a mother in the period of
1962 after Nicholas birth. third voice is in the past and talk about the distance between inner and
outer of the poet, the second voice is an author transitional stage, in this stage author concern
about reality.
Literary arrays gives beauty and strengthto the poem. Harriet Rostein argues that “ three women
is the longest and surely the weakest work in winter trees and a garbled compendium of images,
reflection and state of mind that plath was to put to stunning effect later in briefer lyric”( qtd,in.
Fernandes, Luis Alfredo,5). the poem is biographical, each voice relate to sylvia’s life and full of
experience and symbols and metaphors which make it valuable. .“ the great swan” recalls the
ancient story of leda’s rape by Zeus in the guise of a swan. Sylvia refers to “ snake in swan” to
reveal the phallic threat and treachery of Zeus. Its imagination is expressed In simple language.
“I am slow as the world. I am very patient,”(plath,4).It’s the voice of mother. she talks about
freedom and is able to speak with her own voice. In this stage , the poet is mature and has lots of
confident and feels happy , this voice talks about present. The “chilling willows” and “white
clouds/Aside...dragging me in four directions”(plath) these show that the pregnancy is unwanted
she feels guilty and responsible for sex, violence and death. The cry of child for mother is “the
hook I hang on”(183) but for the student is “hooks” that “grate” (182). So both of them have a
different perspective to ward children, mother is happy to have child but the student is not “ the
great swan” beside referring to Zeus story, it also links to the poet’s father death.
“I am a mountain now, among mountainy women, The doctors move among us as if our bigness
Frightened the mind. They smile like fools. They are to blame for what I am, and they know it
They hug their flatness like a kind of health. And what if they found themselves surprised, [as I
did? They would go mad with it” (Plath,180).The student distinguishes herself from others
because after child’s birth, she has an unusual situation, if they have her condition, they may go
mad. Men despite being symbol of normal world , they are the symbol of repression form .
Student is blaming them for making her old and flat.” I leave someone/Who would adhere to me:
I undo her fingers like bandages: I go” (184). She feels empathy and vulnerable because instead
of staying at hospital, she leaves her child.” Today the colleges are drunk with spring. My black
gown is a little funeral: It shows I am serious. (...) I had a dream of an island, red with cries. It
was a dream, and did not mean a thing” (Plath,185). The graduation is symbolic to put away the
past and she had lost inner self due to confirm outer conventions .“This is a disease I carry
home, this is a death” (177). The second voice is a secretary who works among men; like a bad
disease . she talks about death , her tone is angry since she had lost her child. “The fertility of
women is opposed to the rationality or “flatness” of men”( Fernandes ,Luis Alfredo,6). The
second women make us think about the creativity aspect of women. The flatness is connected
with death, she thinks she has lost herself and is fragment. Belk argues ”it is not coming from
her whole being , its passing from her head , with thoughts perhaps not really her own, through a
mechanical device”(qtd,in. Fernandes, Luis Alfredo,7). She works among men, she is a
secretary, she works like a robot and is controlled by men , men have stolen her consciousness so
she is crazy, her words and thoughts are not real. He says because he is a man and looks at
women from patriarchal perspective, he says that women are weak , men control women, the
words she says are not real. This stage relates to a part of sylvia’s life which she says” I lost life
after life”( qtd,in. Fernandes, Luis Alfredo.8) she works hard to validate an identity, then she
disappointed and realized that the world can not give what she needs.
“Turning through time, the sun and stars/Regarding me with attention” (Plath,176) this is voice
of a happy mother who is surrounded with images and metaphors.” The moon’s concern is more
personal: She passes and repasses, luminous as a nurse. Is she sorry for what will happen? I do
not think [so. She is simply astonished at fertility” (plath,176). There is a connection between
mother and the moon, the moon is metaphor for mother. the poet’s inner outer are in a harmony
with nature . Birth of a son gives mother a sense of wholeness and power, son give form and
identity .” I shall meditate upon normality. shall meditate upon my little son. He does not walk.
He does not speak a word. (...) I will him to be common, To love me as I love him. And to marry
what he wants and where he [will” (plath,186). Mother put all wishes for her son; to be like
others free, mother sees her children as miracle and this is the only positive aspect of plath’s life.
Forough Farrokhzad as an Iranian poet tried to depict sylvia’s themes in most of her poems
including To My Sister to depict women’s situation in Iran before and after the revolution.
To My Sister analysis
It is one of her early poems which didn’t publish in her collections ,but it has as similar theme as
the capture collection has. Tallatof argues “ Farrokhzad’s poems are mostly concerned with
social condition, time addressing human suffering”( qtd,in Hassanpour ,Forough. Ruzy Suliza
Hashim,3). This poem is a social poem which concern with women’s condition in masculine
society and look for a way to rescue them. Most biographical poems concern with social issues.
To My Sister as a biographical poem which has been aligned with forough’s imagination and
emotion. Kianoosh argues that “ Farrokhzad’s poetry is informed by the notion of life, death,
happiness and sorrow that are associated with her poetic vision , the sacredness of womanhood
and the mystical beauty of sex”(qtd,in, Hassanpour,Forough , Ruzy Suliza Hashim,3). Shamisa
argus that “ farrokhzad’s poems give voice to her situation in community which is undesirable
for her”qtd,in, Hassanpour , Ruzy Suliza Hashim,3). Forough looks at the things around and
bring her feelings, imagination, thoughts to her poems, the language is empty of religion and
tradition, its colloquial and easy to understand, she is mostly concern about Iranian women’s
situation and men’s lust. Forough seeks for respect for women. To My Sister and Three Women;
A Poem for Three Voices are dramatic because both talk about women’s situation which may
impress your feelings, forough like Sylvia can be categorized as a confessional poets due to the
reality which exist in her poems. Ann Rosalin Jones states” if women are to discover and express
who they are, to bring the surface what masculine history has repressed in them , they must begin
with their sexuality, their sexuality begin with their bodies, with their genital and libidinal
difference with men”( Leila Naderi , Aysheh Nosrati,4). Luce Irigrary states” women’s body
determines both her identity and her mode of writing and thinking” ”(qtd,in. Naderi,Leila .
Aysheh Nosrati,4).
“How long will you be the object of pleasure
In the harem of men's lust?
how long will you bow your proud head at his feet
like a benighted servant?

How long for the sake of a morsel of bread,

will you keep becoming an aged haji's temporary wife,
seeing second and third rival wives.
oppression and cruelty, my sister, for how long?”( Farrokhzad,9_16)
Women’s identity is defined by their body they didn’t have other choices, they are inferior and a
tool for men’s lust , women have to respect men’s needs, social limitation wont allow them to be
independent and this is a great violation against women in patriarchal society then forough
decided to rebel and break the silence by her pen to illustrate her thought to defend women’s
right.
One of the most important elements which keep Forough and sylvia close, is the femininity of
their poems. Shamlo says” farrokhzad’s writings some times are too feminine that I could not
read them with loud voice , when I do it , it seems as if I have worn a dress, when I hum her
poetry, I hear them in the voice of a woman” ”(qtd,in. Naderi, Leila , Aysheh Nosrati,4). It starts
with “ rise up” Her tone is loud and the repetition of “ rise up” depict her anxiety to warn
women to wake up and do some thing and how long they wan to bear this situation. He means
that in order to get forough poems, you have to be a woman. Women were associated with the
concept of capture in this regard they had to stay at home like prisoners and waiting for a guard
to rescue them
In her first collection” The capture” , woman is an oppressed creature who is waiting for a man.
“Seek your rights, Sister, from those who keep you weak, from those whose myriad tricks and
schemes ,keep you seated in a corner of the house”(Farrokhzad,5_8). Women are victim of fate
and passive against the erring men, woman is helpless and dependent. in the contemporary
world, she has nothing to do in outside, she is a house wife. Every thing in her first collection is
symmetrical, women are weak and passive, in contrast, men are strong, selfish and have a vague
personality.
“This angry moan of yours
must surly become a clamorous scream.
you must tear apart this heavy bond
so that your life might be free.
Rise up and uproot the roots of oppression.
give comfort to your bleeding heart.
for the sake of your freedom, strive
to change the law, rise up”(Farrokhzad,17_24)
forough find a solution and advice them to struggle more to change the law to get their self
consciousness and identity, to repress the tyrannical men and take their rights back. The
repetition of “ rise up” in last stanza shows her anxiety and emphasizes that women should not
be quite.
Conclusion
During the centuries, women beared many oppressions but the poets like sylvia and farrokhzd
didn’t let this situation accomplish with their silence, both encouraged them to break the silence.
The comparative study means compare persons who have the same thoughts, emotion and life in
different location. The article mention the contemporary poets; Sylvia Plath and Forough
Farrokhzad who made a revolution in literature tried to convey that among men, women have to
be respected and let them be free. the article tried to illustrate how much this theme is related to
our contemporary world and still the absurd thoughts exist. the culture has been changed but the
thoughts have to be changed either to have a righteous society.
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