Explore Plath's thoughts about fear, power and death in two of her poems, 'Medallion' and 'The Arrival of the Bee Box'.

English Coursework

Task: Explore Plath’s thoughts about fear, power and death in two of her poems, ‘Medallion’ and ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’.

‘Medallion’ is a poem about a snake that has been killed. There is a lot of description of the snake, some of which is not pleasant, this makes it a very visual poem with lots of imagery. Plath is not morbid about the death of the snake nut she uses it as her inspiration. The title, ‘Medallion’ links in with the content of the first stanza ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ is a poem more about mystery and intrigue. Elements of fear and danger are also evident. The box is possibly a metaphor, which concerns a potentially destructive chaos that the poet senses within herself.

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Both of these poems have a structure of some kind. ‘Medallion’ has a three line methodical rhythm and it enhances Plath’s reflective tone and highlights her calmness in the face of death. The descriptions of the brilliant colours in this poem emphasises the beauty of the snake There is no smiles or alliteration etc. as this is a predominantly visual poem. ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ has no rhyme or rhythm but the reader gets a sense that practical skill is involved in the bee keeping and the element of mystery in the production of honey is an analogy for the craft of the verse. The poem uses the simile ‘As square as a chair’ which is referring to the box being a perfect square as the four legs underneath a chair are. There is also repeating of words ‘Its dark, dark’ this enhances the meaning of the word, it seems to get more powerful the second time you say it.

The title, ‘Medallion’ links in with the content of the first stanza ‘The bronze snake lay in the sun’ because medallions can be made out of bronze and are usually given as a prize for reaching a goal. In this case touching the snake, this goal would never have been achieved if the snake had still been alive. One is often only in control when the product of fear is dead. Here she conquers her fear and a whole new world opens up. There are other images of the snake, ‘Inert as a shoelace’ we don’t really notice shoelaces but we know they are there like we don’t notice snakes because they are camouflaged but we know they are there. A shoelace is also the same simple long bendy shape as a snake. There is grotesque imagery in this poem ‘I saw white maggots coil’ this is referring to the maggots that the snake has possibly eaten or that are eating the rotting flesh of the dead snake. There are also hints of how the snake met its end ‘The yardman’s flung brick perfected his laugh’ the brick probably hit the snake on the head and killed it. ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ also has lots of imagery ‘coffin of a midget’ is what the bees arrived in and it also has a theme of death in there. Plath is intrigued by the box that ‘I can’t keep away from it’ there is a sense of curiosity, even fascination with the box even though ‘the noise appalls me most of all’. Appalls is a stronger word that hate so she obviously doe not like the droning on of the bees. She also talks about setting them free ‘how can I let them out?’ and ‘I wonder if they would forget me’. She doesn’t like the noise and ‘She has simply ordered a box of maniacs’ so she wants to get them away from her and let them out into the wild.

Overall both of these poems are very descriptive and grasp the attention of the reader throughout. ‘Medallion’ is a very visual poem and has some hidden meanings whereas ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ is not as descriptive but contains more hidden meanings and is a poem which you have to read in depth and think about to understand it fully.