This view is further supported by Plath's use of ‘sterile’ visual images such as the “white serpent” and “hood of bone”; and also by the chilling metaphors used to describe the children, reminiscent of the death of Cleopatra, killed by an asp. “Each dead child coiled, a white serpent” the whole idea of infanticide in the poem seems to have a troubling tone.
At the end of the poem, the moon seems to be a malevolent image. The line “Her blacks crackle and drag.” to me infers a more sinister role in the suicide and infanticide committed by the woman than just innocent bystander, maybe the moon represents a power that has compelled the woman to act in this manner.
The poem “Words” was written on February 1st 1963, 10 days before Plath committed suicide. It is written in free verse, and the lack of rhythm and rhyme makes it uncertain and unpredictable. The poem begins with the word “Axes”, which is onomatopoeic and violent. In this poem Plath uses a horse to represent words and poetry. After the initial violent action of the axe cutting the wood, the echoes are set in motion irrevocably. The sap from cutting the wood “wells like tears” and is likened to water attempting to cover rocks. The rock becomes a white skull which is “eaten by weedy greens” under the water. Years later, the speaker re-encounters the words, which are unrelenting and “indefatigable”. The water still keeps its prisoner.
“From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars
Govern a life.”
Janice Markey believes that the subject of the poem is “the horror of death” and that the speaker is reflecting on her own death. She also says that “Against the ominousness of death the speaker finds consolation not only in a keen appreciation of the beauty of her surroundings but also in the knowledge that her writing will help her to transcend the limits imposed on her life and thereby achieve some kind of immortality”
I do not agree with Janice Markey on this point. I cannot find “a keen appreciation of the beauty of her surroundings” anywhere in the poem because wherever nature is mentioned it seems to me to be unpleasant in some way. For example, when Plath mentions “weedy greens”, an unpleasant use of assonance helps to create a visual image that seems slimy. An axe destroys the wood mentioned at the start of the poem,
“Axes
After whose stroke the wood rings,”
And finally the water in stanza two is likened to tears and is attempting to cover over the skull. At the end the water is involved in the lack of freedom denoted,
“From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars
Govern a life”
It seems to me also that at the end of the poem where the writing is “indefatigable hoof-taps” it is not a good thing. The immortality it provides is bad because the words have no enthusiasm “Words dry and riderless”. They live on, but without direction.
Janice Markey writes “Her art is regarded as an extension of all that is good in life; it is a lasting reincarnation of the life-force”
Yet I still disagree with her because I feel from the atmosphere of the poem that the art is forced. I think the lines
“…fixed stars
Govern a life”
Suggest that the speaker has been forced, or ‘governed’ into creating the art that has now become “dry” but will never fade.
I will now progress and talk about the positive and creative death poems, of which I have chosen “Lady Lazarus” and “I Am Vertical”. These poems show the creativity in different ways; “Lady Lazarus” shows the creativity manifesting as rebirth, while “I am Vertical” shows the creativity as a desire to become nature.
“Lady Lazarus” was written in late October 1962, just over a week after Ted Hughes had left their home after his affair with Assia Weevil. Both David Holbrook and Janice Markey have commented upon this poem and their views again differ totally from one another.
As Plath phrased it, “the speaker is a woman who has the great and terrible gift of being reborn. The only trouble is, she has to die first.”
The discrepancies between Holbrook and Markey’s views begin with the primary intent of the poem. Markey believes that “The poem’s primary intent is not to glorify some death-rebirth ritual, rather to indict an immoral consumer society which regards ‘dying’ as just another ‘act’ to be savoured.” Whereas I think Holbrook believes the poem’s main intent is to glorify the death-rebirth ritual because he says “we are almost invited to a seductive conclusion that those who suffered death in concentration camps were lucky, because they experienced a resurrection”
The first two thirds of the poem seem to focus on suicide and rebirth “Like the cat I have nine times to die.” Which would lean more towards supporting Holbrook’s interpretation of the poem. It “declares raucously that the big strip tease of death must be frequently repeated” according to Holbrook, a statement that I would agree with. His reason for forming such an opinion, however, is his belief that Plath was a schizoid and he cites Laing “attempts by the schizoid individual to experience real alive feelings may be made by subjecting oneself to intense pain or terror”.
Markey’s interpretation seems to be based on the poem, rather than based on Plath herself as Holbrook’s view very possibly is. This makes her view much easier for me to agree with because Holbrook has not taken into account Plath’s use of persona within her poetry, which may very well echo some parts of Plath’s life but is not necessarily entirely her. “The first time it happened I was ten.” Echoes Plath’s first suicide attempt, but
“It’s the theatrical
Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout:
‘A miracle!’
That knocks me out”
Seems to me to be heavily ironic. Janice Markey says, “The systematic self-destruction of the speaker is a titillating experience for the ‘peanut-crunching crowd’, and it is the crowd, not the speaker or Plath, which wishes the perverse circus act to be repeated.” for example, “I guess you could say I’ve a call”
At the end of the poem the woman demonstrates her power and shows “determination to revenge herself upon those responsible for her torture” according to Markey, which I agree with. A view supported by the final lines
“Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air”
Holbrook, however, believes
“The triumphant note in Lady Lazarus is false: there is no real triumph, but a shriek of desperation, bewilderment and despair – a despair so schizoid, so deep, that it is utterly without hope, and this hopelessness can only find relief in recklessness.”
A view I do not share. I think the speaker has won her battle over “Herr Doktor” and wants her revenge.
“I am Vertical” is, in my opinion a very beautiful, but very solitary poem. There is a continual play on the letter I, which is a vertical letter. Standing up it is a symbol of life and individuality. Laying flat it is more like the ground and in this way the poem begins its theme of the speaker swapping individual life for the notion of general life as nature.
It was written in early march 1961 and is read by many as Plath’s death drive. The speaker is waiting for death so that she will finally become “useful” and can join nature. She will then be able to share in the immortality of trees and the beauty of flowers, “Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me”. As Markey states, “The theme of death as a means of reintegration with nature pervades ‘I Am Vertical’”
Prompting this desire for death is, according to Markey, “her apparent dissatisfaction with the life of the intellect. This motivates her desire to be similar to the Lethe-like flowers and trees: ‘thoughts gone dim’” I do not agree with this statement. I think the line “I am not a tree with my root in the soil” shows a desire for security and comfort. The speaker needs to be free of isolation and to finally belong. The line “sucking up minerals and motherly love” As well as showing this need for security and comfort is a possible reference to the early death of her father, specifically “motherly love”. Also, the line “Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed” shows that the speaker desires that beauty; she is not beautiful enough in life. I think the line “Thoughts gone dim” signifies more literally the moment of death of the speaker.
Janice Markey states, “It is important to note that the dissatisfaction the speaker feels with her life does not give rise to any overt suicidal tendencies”. I would agree with this because there seems to be no urgency in the speaker’s tone, it is calm and although it reflects longing it does not seem desperate. “And I shall be useful when I lie down finally:”
Finally I will talk about the positive, but not creative death poems, from which I have chosen “Tulips” and “Poppies in July”.
“Tulips” was written on the 18th march, 1961, around the time of Plath’s miscarriage. The poem is about a woman who is recovering in hospital after an operation. She has been sent some tulips and she did not want them. Janice Markey says of it, “A conflict between life and death occurs, ultimately tending towards an acceptance of lie, in spite of the suffering this entails”, a statement that I believe is entirely accurate.
In stanza one, Plath uses personification to demonstrate the lack of welcome she feels for her tulips “The tulips are too excitable” they seem to be like naughty little children. The line “It is winter here” suggests that the speaker is somehow frozen. Janice Markey says that “the female speaker, ‘learning peacefulness’, has withdrawn from normal existence to become ‘nobody’, ‘a nun’, ‘purified’” A statement supported by the line “I am a nun now, I have never been so pure” and the reference to “communion tablets”.
The hospital is a silent “sterile” environment and is therefore an image of death and of lost identity
“I have given my name and day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anaesthetist and my body to the surgeons.”
Everything appears blurred to the speaker who does not wish to absorb anything about her surroundings “Stupid pupil, it has to take everything in” she reflects on her life as “A thirty-year-old cargo boat” carrying the cargo of her family and responsibilities.
She did not want to recover after her operation; she just wanted to stay in the absolute peace that she had found,
“I only wanted
To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty”
The “red” of the tulips is an image of life and energy and they make her see herself as “flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow” . As Janice Markey says, “the intensity of their colour, the colour of the ‘red/Eye’ – the creative force of “Ariel” – reminds the speaker of her own vitality and she begins to doubt the value of her purified state” I agree with this point of view.
However, Janice Markey also says “She is stricken with guilt, as she realises how, between these two vital forces she has tried to deny her own self: ‘And I have no face, I have wanted to efface myself’” which I do not agree with. I do not see any semblance of guilt in that line quoted; to me it seems more a quiet realisation.
The speaker, at the end, begins to defrost, “The walls, also, seem to be warming themselves”, and the poem ends with the speaker returning to reality, brought back by the tulips.
“I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me”
Janice Markey says, “In the majority of Plath’s poems there is a conflict between life and death and except for the few poems of complete disillusionment, the choice is emphatically for life.” I believe that “Poppies in July” is one of those very “few poems of complete disillusionment”.
It was written in July 1962; on the day she discovered Hughes had been having an affair. The attitude towards death is positive even though death is sterile because it is an escape from life.
The poppies represent flames and hence life. The line “I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns” show a loss of feeling for life, a definite numbness. Life is tiring her “it exhausts me to watch you” and she longs for death. “Where are your opiates, your nauseous capsules?
If I could bleed, or sleep!—“
The final line “But colorless. Colorless” shows that in death the redness has gone and left only nothingness.
David Holbrook said “There were circumstances in the life of Sylvia Plath when, it would seem, she felt she could no longer stand going on living.” I would definitely agree with this statement in relation to this poem, because of the first person narrative in the poem and the use of “I” through it.
In conclusion, I have agreed with and disagreed with Janice Markey and David Holbrook over different issues throughout this essay.
They have completely contrasting views about Plath’s poetry, although this difference can be summarised quite well. David Holbrook said, “She believed that death could be a pathway to rebirth, so that her suicide was a schizoid suicide” and completely oppositely Janice Markey said, “One of the most frequent charges levelled at Plath is that she regarded death as a means of rebirth and purification. Death on an individual and universal basis was indeed a theme which interested Plath, but there is no evidence that it was a condition she aspired to.”
The difference was probably instigated by the difference in gender of the two critics, and indeed the difference in date written. Holbrook wrote his critique in 1976 when society was much less tolerant of eccentricity than it was in 1993 when Markey wrote her critique.
Holbrook seems to continually overlook the possibility that Plath was writing in a different persona, but Markey seems to always assume that she is. Holbrook appears to believe that the majority of Plath’s poems demonstrate her “schizoid impulse to ‘give oneself up to the joys of hating’, she wrote poetry that deepened her own delusions””, a statement which I do not agree with at all. I cannot find anywhere in the poem “I Am Vertical” anything even remotely resembling hatred. The nearest emotion can be found in “Lady Lazarus” where there is a desire for revenge and a hatred of her torturers. “I eat men like air”
Conflictingly, Markey says, “Nowhere is there anything even remotely resembling a paean to death; the subject is always treated negatively and associated with the corruption she believed inherent in a decadent society” I do not agree with this statement either.
I believe that Plath, like all people, had differing emotions but mostly wrote in a character differing (albeit only slightly at times) from her own, for example in “Lady Lazarus”
“And I a smiling woman.
I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.”
Sometimes, probably in her darkest moments, she wrote her desperation down as herself, for instance in “Poppies in July” her death wish seems real.
“There are fumes I cannot touch.
Where are your opiates, your nauseous capsules?”
