Poetry appreciation of 'Tulips' by Silvia Plath.

Authors Avatar

SHABNAM ABUBAKER                  ENGLIGH LITERATURE          2001

POETRY APPRECIATION OF ‘TULIPS’ BY SILVIA PLATH.

The poem ‘Tulips’ was written by Silvia Plath. When looking at the title a lot of thoughts come into my head. At first I thought how nice, because it is a flower and flowers are pretty. I looked at it again and a lot of people resemble tulips with death. It is said that tulips are a flower of death and they are put on graves.

    The poem is divided into eight parts each with about nine lines. Nine is superstitiously known as the death number. Its form is rather regular with broken lines here and there to emphasize tensions. The opening line of the poem is a personification, as it says, “The tulips are too excitable.” This suggests that they have human features and are very exciting. Automatically we get a sense of coldness because Plath describes it to be “winter” and “everything is white.” This gives us the impression that it is not a very happy poem. Also we think of a hospital because in hospitals everything is normally white both physically and mentally. There is a repetition of the ‘igh’ sound; this gives the effect of everything being quiet and cold. She is “learning peacefulness”, she could be getting peace from the drugs they have been wadding her with or she could be learning peace from lying there for so long.

Join now!

    This verse is broken and she goes on to say she is “nobody”. This is very sinister. She could be a nobody because no one seems to really care about her. She has given everything “up to the nurses”, and her “history to the surgeons”. She has been in the hospital for so long she has lost her identity and she has been having so many operations that her body now belongs to the surgeons.

    They have “propped her head between the pillow and the sheet-cuff”, and she is like an eye that will ...

This is a preview of the whole essay