Cinderella - Homework Discussion Questions & Vocabulary Words (12/20/19)

The following prompts/questions are to be answered in Googledocs and submitted before the start of tomorrow's class.
Please be sure to use your last name in the title of the document as well as "Cinderella Discussion Questions."

Plath's "Cinderella" is a re-telling of one part of the familiar fairytale about Cinderella. If we want to reach some deeper understanding of Plath's implied meaning, we must ask ourselves:

1) Describe the details that Plath includes that are different from, or additional to, the "standard" version of the story.
2) What parts of the original story does she emphasize?
3) What parts of the original story does she leave out?
4) Give a brief description of the scene being described in Plath's poem. What are some sensory details the poem employs to help build, sustain, and change the mood of the poem?
5) Using what you've learned about Plath's poem, please list a piece of fiction (literature, song, film) that uses similar themes. Describe what makes the work you have chosen similar to "Cinderella." Be sure to consider symbolism and theme when choosing your complimentary piece.

These questions can help you understand the "meaning" of Plath's own version of this story.

Please define the following words in your notebooks for tomorrow's class:

rondo
flagon
caustic

Literal vs. Figurative Language - Before We Begin (12/20/19)

Literal language means exactly what it says, while figurative language uses similes, metaphors, hyperbole, symbolism, and personification to describe something often through comparison with something different.

Think of literal language as something that is straightforward or factual; the dictionary meaning of a word.

This relates to the idea of denotation: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

Figurative language is far more interesting. It is imaginative, and conveys not just the facts, but an idea. Figurative meanings encourage us to use our imagination.

This relates to the idea of connotation: an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

If you remember these two concepts, it will help you to identify the implied meaning in a piece of text.
In the poem we will be reading, it is very important that we are able to make the distinction between literal and figurative language. In this way, we are able to understand what the author's intention beyond that actual words on the page.

Implied meaning is what is suggested but not directly expressed.

For example: When a person looks at his watch and yawns multiple times as you are talking...what is being implied?

Sylvia Plath - Cinderella (12/20/19)

“Cinderella” by Sylvia Plath

The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels,
Her green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan
Of silver as the rondo slows; now reels
Begin on tilted violins to span

The whole revolving tall glass palace hall
Where guests slide gliding into light like wine;
Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall
Reflecting in a million flagons' shine,

And glided couples all in whirling trance
Follow holiday revel begun long since,
Until near twelve the strange girl all at once
Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince

As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.

Sylvia Plath - Mirror (12/20/19)

Recommended for further reading.

"Mirror" by Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Sylvia Plath - Cinderella (12/20/19)

“Cinderella” by Sylvia Plath

The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels,
Her green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan
Of silver as the rondo slows; now reels
Begin on tilted violins to span

The whole revolving tall glass palace hall
Where guests slide gliding into light like wine;
Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall
Reflecting in a million flagons' shine,

And glided couples all in whirling trance
Follow holiday revel begun long since,
Until near twelve the strange girl all at once
Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince

As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.