Sylvia Plath

Intense, deeply personal, disturbing
Sylvia Plath’s poetry is most certainly intense, deeply personal, and quite disturbing. We see these
features frequently in her poetry. Sylvia had a difficult life, and this is often reflected in her poetry.
When Plath was going through hardship it was blatantly obvious in her poetry.
Intensity is commonplace in Plath’s poetry, specifically her poems Child, Mirror, Poppies in July, and
Morning Song. Child, written two weeks before her suicide was likely referring to her second son,
Nicholas. Plath starts the poem in a more light-hearted tone before taking a dark turn in the fourth
stanza. These three short lines give us great insight on what a hard time Plath is going through, she
did not want her son the experience the same “Wringing of hands,” and “Ceiling without a star.”
That she was experiencing. It is likely that her suicide was to protect Nicholas from the damage that
Sylvia could have inflicted on him had she been the one caring for him. Sylvias suicide stemmed from
her inadequacy to provide as a mother for Nicholas, Nicholas also committed suicide in 2009. Mirror,
another intense poem written by Sylvia lets us see Sylvia’s view on her appearance changing as she
gets older. Prior to Mirror Plath had just had her first child Frieda. This drastic change in Sylvia’s life
caused her perception of herself to change. She writes, “Each morning it is her face that replaces the
darkness.” The poem is written from the mirror’s perspective and the ‘her’ in the poem is Plath
herself. This line tells us that Plath obsessively checks her appearance in the mirror. It is obvious
from this obsessiveness that Plath is having issues with her image as she used to be admired for her
beauty when she was younger. Poppies in July deals with Plath’s depressed mental state during her
breakup with Ted Hughes. She wishes to escape through one means or another and wishes to be
numb of the mental anguish she is currently experiencing. She describes her opiates in the poem as
“Dulling and stilling.” She views them as a way to withdraw herself. Morning Song, a poem about the
birth of her first child, Frieda, is another poem expressing Plath’s intensity. She speaks of her lack of
understanding of what she is supposed to do with Frieda, saying “We stand around blankly as walls.”
The ‘We’ in the poem signifies herself and Hughes. Neither of them knows what to do with Frieda
and Sylvia believes Frieda may be a threat to herself and Hughes’ relationship; “…your
nakedness/Shadows our safety.” The word safety is a metaphor for the security of her marriage.
Plath wrote many deeply personal poems such as Mirror, Arrival of the Bee box, Pheasant and
Poppies in July. It is clear from these poems that Plath suffered from depression and had a
troublesome life. In the poem Mirror Plath is struggling coming to terms with the changes that are
happening to her once adored appearance. She personifies the mirror using words like “swallow”,
“heart,” and “looked”. She helps us picture the Mirror the same way she does, like a powerful
creature capable of telling her what she truly looks like to others. Arrival of the Bee box is another
personal poem but in quite a different manner. Plath’s deceased father died while she was young
and the two had a poor relationship. Otto Plath, her father was a German entomologist, meaning he
studied insects. Otto died when Sylvia was just eight years old and it is likely the bee box, she
ordered was an attempt to connect with her father. It is also thought that the chaos contained in the
box is a metaphor for her mental state “I have simply ordered a box of maniacs,” If this were true its
likely depression was not the only mental struggle she had to live with. It has been said the box itself
stands for the prison that she views life as; “The box is only temporary.”
Plath has written many poems which can be quite disturbing when analysed, but the two
poems that stand out the most in my opinion are Mirror and Child. Child begins with Plath
picturing the life she wishes to provide for her new-born son, Nicholas. We see evidence of
this in the line “I want to fill it with colour and ducks,”. Plath had separated with Ted Hughes
at this point and was going through very dark times. The transition going from hopeful for
her child to dark and disturbing occurs between stanza three and four. She then lets us in on
what she believes is the best she can provide for her son “not this troublous/ Wringing of
hands, this dark/ Ceiling without a star.” This bleak reality shows us what a dark disturbed
mind Plath has which is strongly reflected in her poetry. Mirror is another extraordinarily
dark poem by Plath, detailing her once again dark outlook of her transition from a girl to a
woman. Written a few months after the birth of Frieda, the rapid changes in her appearance
has great effect on Plath’s mental state. She has given the mirror a great amount of power
and searches it for “what she really is.” She then paints a seriously disturbing image for us
writing “In me she has drowned a young girl and in me an old woman rises towards her day
after day, like a terrible fish.” Plath feels threatened by old age and the loss of her attractive
appearance. The abstract use of “terrible fish” to describe Plath’s appearance on old age
emphasises Plath’s disturbed nature.
Plath is most definitely a disturbing, intense, and deeply personal poet. Her poetry his
honest and confessional. She does not hold back in releasing her strange thoughts and
outlooks. It is likely her poetry would be a lot different if she were alive today.

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Intense, deeply personal, disturbing

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