Sylvia Plath Revision Booklet
Newbridge College 5th Year English
Mirror Themes:
Identity: In the first stanza of this poem we see the personified mirror contemplating its identity. Mediating upon the „opposite wall‟, the mirror claims „I think it is a part of my heart.‟ The mirrors thoughts are used to convey the emotions of the speaker, who is also unsure how to perceive herself image and whether is it essential to our identity. Passing of time: The second stanza of the poem is largely concerned with the passing of time. This can be seen as the new speaker, a reflection from a lake, describes her surroundings. Each day a woman comes to visit this lake in order to view her reflection. The lake reveals „in me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman‟. Much time has passed with the years taking their toll upon the woman‟s appearance. Reality: Throughout the poem the reflections from the mirror and lake present their surroundings accurately. They are said to „swallow immediately‟ anything around them. The mirror also claims to „have no preconceptions‟ and to be „not cruel, only truthful‟. Anything they see they „reflect it faithfully‟. Overall, the reflections possess a keen eye for detail, presenting everything they see truthfully and realistically
Imagery:
The power of the image in the opening statement is not to be underestimated. Depicting the mirror as 'silver and exact' is ambiguous in meaning. 'Silver' suggests something of value and worth, while also hints at certain lifelessness, or even something more sinister. 'Exact' suggests correctness and precision but also implies a sinister sense of demanding something from the reader. This image sets the mood of the whole poem. The image of the lake in the second stanza is also quite powerful. Using nature as a means to portray how one can drown in one‟s own consciousness has a very prominent effect on people. It represents the dark and fearful inner life. The final image of the 'old woman' rising towards the woman in the mirror 'like a terrible fish' is quite frightening but also insightful at the same time. Portraying fears and insecurities in such a way as them rising out of a person gives a very interesting insight into the formation of these fears and insecurities; they are created deep within oneself. The fear of time and old age, the fear of annihilation, the fear of entrapment and alienation and the fear of losing control are all conveyed through this vivid, powerful image.
Techniques:
Personification: Plath personifies the mirror in the poem by making it the speaker. She uses this to help achieve a sinister effect and an eerie atmosphere throughout. It also adds to the impression that both the woman in the poem and the mirror are one being, one single consciousness. The personification makes this evident and contributes greatly to the poem as a whole. Allusion: Plath had a great knowledge of folk and fairy tales. Many of these stories would have had a talking mirror and Plath may have been influenced by these ideas.
Morning Song Themes
Sense of estrangement towards her daughter A fear of change in the future The protective nature of mothers The rediscovering of one‟s self worth
Structural Techniques
Six unrhymed stanzas, 3 lines each, it is written like a song, the stanzas are like short verses of a song. The 1st ten lines has ten syllables. Plath uses run on lines.
Imagery
„Love set you going like a fat gold watch‟ this appears to display the poets negative perspective, as it seems as though she to prematurely anticipating the child growing old. There are images of distance and emptiness which really highlights the mothers sense of estrangement towards her daughter. “Our voices echo” “in a draft museum”. There “nakedness” gives us an insight into the newborn child‟s vulnerability and perhaps the poets motherly instincts to shelter or “shadow her”. Imagery of the baby‟s “moth-breath” suggests the fragility of the baby. As the mother “wakes to listen” we get a sense of her disorientation as a new mother and her need to protect her baby. We see the mother “stumble from bed”, in her “Victorian nightgown”. This shows the contrast between the mothers new life and the mothers old luxurious life. The image of the baby‟s “mouth opens clean as a cat‟s” portrays the mother‟s elation with her new baby, as she is studying her baby‟s features closely. The end imagery is of the baby crying.”Your handful of notes; the clear vowels rise like balloons”. The baby‟s cry is like a “morning song”.
The Times are Tidy Themes:
The death of adventure – In the second stanza, Plath says that there is „no career in the venture‟ anymore. People have lost interest in magic and adventure; we no longer have time for them.
The acceptance of our mundane lives – Throughout the poem Plath speaks about all of the adventure we have lost out on. In the last two lines she ironically says that „the children are better for it, the cow milk‟s cream an inch thick‟. This shows how people have come to accept our tedious lives – we no longer need adventure.
Childhood – Plath brings us back to our childhood in this poem. She speaks about the „talking cat‟, old „crone‟ and „lizard‟ that were the centre of many stories we heard during our youth. This reminds us of our childhood and makes us ponder the loss of our sense of adventure.
Heroism – Plath examines our modern society and decides that there are no modern day heroes. „Unlucky the hero born in this province of the stuck record‟ – we have lost the need for heroism.
Tone: The tone of the poem is ironic and satirical. It mocks the times we live in, saying that we no longer have a need for adventure or valour.
Images:
“Of riding against the lizard” – This is a intense image of fighting against something as strong and powerful such as a dragon and also insights into the sensation of the past being a mystical time.
“The last crone got burnt up” – In this image, Plath try‟s to create the fascinating image of a women being burnt because of the suspicions of the local people. She is referring to not only the deceased old witches but how these exiting times where witches would be burned and suspicions were a common place have come to an end.
“Where the most watchful cooks go jobless” – Here Plath uses this image to provoke the stark contrast between the times of old and new where before a cook must have had to watch carefully to make sure the food would not be poisoned. In comparison, more modern a cook must only concentrate on his soul task of cooking.
Black Rook in Rainy Weather Background: Sylvia Plath was born in Massachusetts in 1932. At the age of 8, her father died, an event which haunted her for the rest of her life. Despite her academic success, Plath was deeply insecure. She experienced only fluctuating, fleeting moments of joy throughout her life. Though she sought treatment from a psychiatrist, she made an attempt to take her own life. She moved to Boston, where she suffered from writers block and great depression. Her poem “Black Rook in Rainy Weather” alludes to this. In the poem, we see Plath brave through an emotional, personal and frustrating struggle as she searches for meaning in her life. She lacks spark and motivation and so she struggles to write. We see in the poem that Plath‟s deepest fear is neutrality and her search for inspiration wards off this fear. We see that Plath feels that inspiration is a divine gift “as if a celestial burning took possession of the most obtuse objects” Plath expresses more than a desire to believe in this divine inspiration, she needs it, as we see her “with luck, trekking stubborn through this season of fatigue” this longing she desperately exuberates is finally reached with the final two triumphant lines, “the long wait of an angel, for that rare, random descent” we see from this that Plath is afraid that without moments of vision and reassurance of her creativity, life and identity will be intolerable.
Imagery: The title, as well as the first stanza is indubitably a dreary and aberrant introduction to the poem. It is the epitome of an apathetically monotonous existence, suggesting nothing but banality, depression and failure to see or expect any positives from life. Any imagery seen in the first stanza is negative – “wet black rook” as well as the words “stiff” and “hunches” fail to portray any sign of anything but.
However, as the poem progresses, the powerfully positive imagery of light and heat in the poem are juxtapositions to the bleak and morbid connotations of the title. “Black Rook in Rainy Weather” foreshadows a dark and ominous tone
through the poem, yet in actuality this is only true for the very first stanza. With omnipotent fire Plath succeeds in transforming the apathy at the start into a serene wait for a miracle. The vividness and dynamism of light and heat awaken Plath from her „total neutrality‟ with a „celestial burning‟ and instigate the beginnings of hope within her. The uplifting effect of the incandescence within this poem weaves into the religious symbols and imagery that are used throughout. The “celestial” symbolism that is used in the poem inspires hope and consequently a majestic quality in Plath‟s life. It seems that Plath has discovered new meaning in her life possibly in religion, one that inspires her creativity, allows her to regain hope and “begin the long wait for an angel”. The religious correlations throughout this poem, as well as religious imagery such as ”whatever angel may choose to flare” suggests faith was a source of incentive for Plath, one that remedied not only her writer‟s block but also some personal struggles.
Theme: Inspiration is a key theme of the poem “Black Rook in Rainy Weather”. The poem suggests that poetic inspiration, or any other form of it is a heavenly gift. It is beyond control, and no amount of wishing or hoping can change that. At times we may almost give up. But when a revelation finally occurs, it has the quality of lighting everything in our lives on fire. Even the “most obtuse objects” are now monumental. Although the inception of the poem suggests a bleak and morbid existence, the final message of the poem bids us to not give up, and instead wait for that “rare random descent” of our own inspiration. Faith as a theme also features in the poem. Although it is simple to succumb to fear and lose ourselves in “total neutrality”, Plath reminds us to remember that “minor light” that at any moment may shake us from our reverie and perform a miracle on our life, or even in the way we view it. The poem is laden with religious and heavenly symbols that Plath feels bestow “largesse, honour” on otherwise inconsequential things.
Finisterre Imagery
The imagery presented in Plath‟s poem has a very bleak outlook. Plath skilfully combines the sound effects in the poem with detailed and descriptive language to create the vivid imagery. In stanza 1, Plath portrays the battle between the sea and the cliffs, her imagination depicting the rocks „leftover soldiers from old, messy wars‟ The imagery in the first two stanzas creates a sinister atmosphere, but is contrasted to the bright and idyllic image of „Our Lady of the Shipwrecked‟ in the third stanza. In this same stanza, Plath creates a different image of the sea, describing it‟s „beautiful formlessness‟
Techniques Plath personifies the cliffs and rocks, „leftover soldiers‟, to show the conflict between them and the sea. Repeated „r‟ and „k‟ sounds at the start of the poem create harsh sound effects. Discordant and cacophonous sounds emphasize the sinister personification of the cliffs. Consistent syntax of the lines creates a dull and steady rhythm which captures the sombre mood. Contrast in tone between bleak start and brighter finish. Contrast in Plath‟s depiction of the sea, starts off dark and sinister, „doom-noise‟, but is shown in a different light with Our Lady of the Shipwrecked, „beautiful formlessness‟, before she describes „the Bay of the Dead‟ there, compared to other seas „tropical and blue‟.
Themes • The contrast by Plath of fluid (ocean) and static (land). • The contrast of death and rebirth throughout the poem. • The image of death conveyed repeatedly in the poem. • The forgotten people who have died at sea.
The Arrival of the Bee Box Techniques Symbolism Plath‟s father had been an expert on bees, she use the symbol of a bee box to explore the nature of herself, her fears and her attitudes toward freedom and control. It symbolises her inner life and the bees represent the swarm of her innermost feelings. The bee box could also be said to symbolise Plath‟s entrapment, confinement and agitating for release. Allusion She alludes to Pandora‟s box, a box which contained all the evil in the world. The fear and anxiety Plath portrays throughout the poem alludes to this, her wonder and fascination also portrays this allusion. Internal rhyme „The poem has internal rhyme thread throughout, examples include: „Square as a chair‟, „box is locked,‟ „my eye‟, „appals me most of all‟ and „mob…god,‟ I believe she use this internal rhyme to show us how it is an internal struggle for her with her own feelings. She must face them on her own on her own terms. Sound Patterns
She uses strategically use certain words to imitate the sound of bees „me‟, „tree‟, „cherry‟, „immediately‟, „honey‟, „me‟, „sweet‟, „free‟ and finally „temporary‟ , this emphasis appeals to the readers senses making us hear what Plath is hearing.
There is also a repeated „r‟ sound throughout the poem, this is to indicates the building frustration and anger of the bees. She has suppressed these feelings for a long time because she is afraid of what they might do to her. She reveals this fear in the line „so why should they turn on me‟.
Imagery We gather from the title that the box is something of which was anticipated. „The‟ Bee Box lets us know the entity was being awaited by the speaker, yet for some reason she is not sure how to react when it arrives. The connotations the speaker has with the box are negative things such as death as he/she thinks „it was the coffin of a midget.‟ The speaker sees the box as „dangerous‟ and therefore an uncomforting image of intimidation is created when the speaker has to „live overnight with it.‟ An optimistic image is created at the end of the poem when the speaker realises that he/she can control the lives of the bees „they can die, I need feed them nothing.‟ Yet, he/she decides against this in the end, giving the reader a more confident ensuring image of the speaker. „Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.‟ This is a content image given at the end, as it brings the reader through the apprehensive journey of the speaker and shows a positive outcome.