Explore the ways in which Plath conveys the speakers state of mind in Tulips.

Sylvia Plaths Tulips is a poem told in a depressing tone, about a bed-stricken woman who is confined to living in a hospital due to her severe illness. The poem is a reflection of Plaths reality, her emotional torment, and desire to die. Various dark themes and ideas are explored. Plath talks of death from an alternative perspective, suggesting that there is purity to be found in death, in that it can bring physical and emotional liberties, releasing the tormented from lifes issues and responsibilities. Plath conveys the speakers state of mind in various ways throughout the depressively recited Tulips. A key theme and idea of the poem is in the speakers desire for freedom and release from her physical and emotional suffering. The speaker regards death as a positive thing from this outlook, as it will give her the liberty she craves: My husband and child smiling out of the family photo;/Their smiles catch onto my skin, little smiling hooks. The use of the words catch and hooks paint a sharp and vivid image of the pain the speaker is experiencing; whereas in normal circumstances a family photo would be a warming reminder of lifes more positive aspects and a reason to live for, in Tulips, the photo seems to pull the speaker from her slumbering, semi-conscious world, given to her by the vast amounts of medication she is receiving, back into her cruel and tormented reality. Her use of catch gives the impression of reluctance. The ironic reference to little smiling hooks further amplifies her pain and adds to the image of a delirious and psychologically fatigued woman; she is pained by her family, her responsibility and her life. She craves freedom, to the extent where she believes that death is the only way to achieve this. The metaphors used in these passages aid in emphasising the eerie sense of paranoia, present throughout the poem in the speakers tone; the face that their smiles catch onto her skin suggest an element of conspiratorial malice, the description of smiling hooks ending the passage in a sharp, aggressive and definitive way, heightening the ever-present and rising tone of aggression and anguish in the poem, in that the speaker is likening family, a possession one should love and cherish, as hooks that will in turn reel her back from her slumber into a world of torment and responsibility. Tulips is a poem which explores emotional aggravation and unrest. Plath describes the state of unrest in a physical as well as emotional sense, as the speaker is situated in a hospital bed, a place of unrest and agitation. The speaker is hopeless and reluctant to face the monotony and pain of her various responsibilities

This sense of agitation and unrest is set down immediately in the opening passage of the poem: The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here. The word excitable emphasising this sense of unrest, and seems to be an unusual adjective with which to describe flowers. We are able to decrypt the mystery of the excitable tulips in the passage which follows:Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in this line draws definition and clear contrast between the tulips, which seem to represent her burden and responsibility. The calmness of her white, untainted surroundings offers the speaker an escape from her torment. The fact that the tulips are excitable conveys the speakers dislike of the vibrant flowers in her otherwise sterile, clear environment. Through the personification of the flowers, Plath conveys the mental instability of the speaker, and the speakers emotionally ragged state of mind. The line Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds. adds to this image of mental instability, the connection between the bright red tulips and the wound, aids in heightening a sense of paranoia in the speakers state of mind and tone. The word talks gives a strong sense of conspiracy, adding to the themes of insanity and anguish building upon the idea of madness. Plath thereby suggests that the speaker may have become mentally ill during her stay at the hospital, driven mad by her isolation and torment, this image painted vividly through the speakers distrust of the flowers at her bedside. Another place where red is mentioned in the poem is in the line: Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their colour, /A dozen red lead sinkers round my neck. Red is a colour associated with pain and aggression, two conspicuous themes in Tulips. The effect of the vivid red of the tulips can be seen in these lines. In the speakers calm, white surroundings, the bright and vivid colour of the tulips is felt as physically as red lead sinkers round my neck. The red sinkers along with the description of sudden tongues, once again emphasises the speakers tone of paranoia; she sees the flowers as a malicious threat and thereby a source of danger, in that they hurt me. The speaker has become so weak and reluctant to live, the brightness and the bold, natural triumph of the tulips hurt her; they mock her in that they are everything she is not; young, fresh and vibrant; The tulips filled it up like a loud noise puts into perspective quite how painful the tulips are to her, they are a constant reminder of her tormented reality of depression and responsibility. As seen at the beginning of the poem, the speaker finds refuge in the white, sterility of the hospital. She finds it a calming sea of peace and purity where she can escape all of her burdens and responsibilities: The nurses pass and pass, they are no trouble,/They pass the way gulls pass inland in their white caps... The white caps, of the nurses who are no trouble immediately presents the idea of the speakers refuge in white and her comfort with the whiteness of the ward; the

nurses do not instigate her suffering, thereby they are no trouble and the speaker is comfortable in their presence. The way in which they pass the way gulls pass inland suggests that the speaker even welcomes the presence of the nurses, in this description she paints an image of innocents returning to a haven of safety, away from the rougher seas. Another way to view this, however is that the speaker could also be describing the nurses indifference as they pass and pass, and is merely acknowledging their neutrality and impartiality in that they are no trouble. The feel of white is present throughout the poem. The white of the hospitals walls, the pillows and bed sheets, and the nurses caps paint the picture of a sterile yet peaceful world of safety and relaxation, where refuge from the furious and unrelenting world of responsibility can be sought. The pure, untainted world of white is therefore the perfect place for the emotionally ravaged speaker to seek refuge from the pain of responsibility, and her psychological burdens. In spite of this, the speaker bitterly explains, that in spite of the sea of whiteness, she is not in the total isolation she desires. Stupid pupil, it has to take everything in. This line conveys how the speaker craves escape from her harsh and depressing reality. Her sharp and disparaging criticism of her pupil, and therefore her vision, puts in to perspective how deep her desire for isolation is. It also heightens her sense of mental instability, and suggests that her emotional torment is really quite severe. The speaker craves death, wishing it upon herself, seeing it as the only way she can escape her torment. She expresses a strong desire to be free of responsibility and possessions: Stubbornly hanging on to my name and address./They have swabbed me clear of my loving associations. The use of stubbornly suggests that the speaker wishes to be rid of all responsibility, and be totally liberated, both in body and soul. The use of swabbed suggests that her loving associations were unpleasant diseases that she felt better without. Swabbed also has clear medical connotations, taking the reader back to the sterile hospital environment; the speakers limbo. In short, the state of mind of the speaker is conveyed through her distrust of her own body and her loved ones, as well as her desire to be free from all these connections that one would be expected to love and look after. As far as structure and form is concerned, the poem is written in regular, flowing stanzas, each with the same number of lines, with punctuation throughout. The clear and conformist layout is reflected in the speech of the poems protagonist; the poem is read in a controlled and calm manner, showing that the speaker maintains control over herself and is not in a state of total insanity; she has been emotionally drained, and has no energy to rebel. The formality of the layout suggests that the speaker is a slave to the

hospital, and has to conform to formality, although not out of choice she is unable to break free of formality and routine and of course, with that, responsibility. In short, Plath conveys the speakers state of mind in Tulips via structured form to illustrate the control and reluctant conformity the speaker has over herself, she also uses language to paint vivid images by which to convey the speakers state of mind to highlight emotional state, and another prominent technique used by Plath is in her use of colour to convey the speakers state of mind, using the contrast between the calm purity of white and the angry, sharp red to illustrate the speakers desire to die. WILL TULLIS 12J