English questions on the poem lady lazarus

1. What or whom does the title “Lade Lazarus” allude to?

2. Although the poem is openly autobiographical, Plath uses certain symbols to represent herself (Lady Lazarus, a jew murdered in a concentration camp, a cat with nine lives and so on.) What do these symbols tell us about Plath’s attitude toward herself and the world around her?

3. In her biography of Plath, Bitter Fame, the poet Anne Stevenson says that this poem penetrates “the furthest reaches of disdain and rage… bereft of all ‘normal’ human feelings.” What do you think Stevenson means? Does anything in the poem strike you as particularly chilling?