Plath Revision – quick overview Black Rook in Rainy Weather Morning Song Mirror Poppies in July (O.L) The Arrival of the Bee Box (O.L) Child (O.L)

Voice of the poems is sometimes anguished Poems have a dreamlike or surreal quality Imagery influence by the threat of nuclear war Images of entrapment/release Poems carefully composed and beautifully phrased

Poems are poised between celebration and despair Explores extreme emotions and extreme states of mind Writes about nature, the weather and children Writes about the importance of love and motherhood Writes about her life but no simple relationship between her life and her poetry

Black Rook in Rainy Weather The poem alerts us to many features of Plath’s style: The confident handling of rhyme and stanza form. The exploration of emotions and states of mind. The use of weather, colours and natural objects as symbols. The dreamlike or surreal world of the poem. This poem explores the nature of poetic inspiration, and the necessity of such inspiration to ward off the speaker’s fear of total neutrality.

Morning Song Is clearly the celebration of birth, but there is also a suggestion of loss and separation in the imagery of the poem. The voice of the narrator, the mother, seems puzzled by what is happening, even as she speaks to her child. The sense of estrangement is captured in the imagery of the second stanza, where things seem out of proportion. The sense of estrangement leads to a declaration in stanza 3, which rehearses an often-expressed fear in Plath’s work: the fear of effacement, of annihilation. There is a change in tone in the 4th stanza. The sound of the child’s breath, symbolising its fragile, though insistent, hold on life, evokes the mother’s protective response. The poem ends on a note of elation as the child’s ‘clear vowels rise like balloons.’

Mirror Plath employs the technique or personification to achieve a sinister effect. Mirrors occur in many of Plath’s poems. Perhaps they suggest the dangers of judging ourselves too harshly, or of seeking perfection. Or they may suggest the lonely drama of living and dying, as it was, in the end, for Plath herself.

Mirror The opening statement can be read in quite different ways Surface meaning: I am valuable and accurate. Implied meaning: I am heartless and demand payment. Succeeds in expressing both meanings simultaneously, moving back and forth between the ordinary and the symbolic. If we identify the mirror with the perceiving self, then the opening statement suggests a harsh and unforgiving way of viewing the self. (lack of self love) Plath suggests many fears and insecurities: the fear of time and old age; the fear of annihilation, the fear of entrapment and alienation; and the fear of losing control. The world of the poem is a bleak and unloving one. The perceiving and recording intelligence is cold and inhuman. It gives nothing creative, war or assuring to the woman.

Poppies in July From the first line we realise that the speaker of the poem is troubled. The word ‘harm’ is striking and from here on the speaker explores and contemplates the different kinds of harm that she associates with flowers. Couplets 5-7: The speaker changes tack and focuses on the by-products of the poppies: the colourless fumes, their opiates. The speaker seems trapped, unable to live life to the full or escape from it. The poem concludes with a chilling wish for annihilation in place of her present inability to feel or experience life.

Poppies in July Short dramatic statements and questions Range of emotions expressed Intricate sound patterns Concludes with a wish for annihilation Dramatises a speaker in distress, feeling trapped Striking imagery Contrast between vivid red and the absence of colour Poppies associated with harm and danger

The Arrival of the Bee Box The poem may be taken at face value: it describes the arrival of the bee box and the speaker’s response to it. The box both frightens and fascinates the speaker of the poem. However, the bee box is often read as a symbol for the inner life of the speaker or a symbol for poetry itself, a formal shape which contains a swarm of ideas and feelings.

The Arrival of the Bee Box The poem opens on a note of wonderment as the speaker seems surprised by the bee box and by the fact that she is responsible for its presence. The 1st stanza reveals the speaker’s fascination with the contexts of the box. 2nd = reveals speakers fascination with the contents of the box. 4th = speaker doubts her capacity to copes with the bees and their dangerous potential. 5th = speaker is more confident. She defines the situation and the solution to the problem with a new clarity. 6th = speaker calmer, still curious 7th = reveals the speaker’s fears that the bees might hurt her. She anticipates the pleasure of exercising her power in a generous way, though the action itself is postponed. Final line = there is a note of optimistic triumph in the final line

The Arrival of the Bee Box Box frightens and fascinates the speaker Theme of power and control Images of entrapment and confinement Growing sense of calm in the poem Ends on a note of optimism Language is direct and powerful Surreal imagery Last line falls outside formal pattern of the poem.

Child She tells the child that its eye is the one thing in her life that is beautiful The mother then expresses her wishes for her child She wants to create a world of excitement and colour to fill the child’s eye For the mother, the child is her April snowdrop, the symbol of spring and new beginnings. Now the child’s eye is a ‘pool’. The mother thinks that ‘grand and classical images should fill it. The final stanza gives us the image that fills the child’s eye. It is a classic image of despair: the ‘wringing of hands.’ The speaker is reduced to expressing his own anguish.

Child Mother caught between love and despair Mother’s love is evident Humour and inventiveness in the wishes expressed by the mother Lyrical language Imagery of reflection Carefully phrased poem Troubled ending Speaker has no confidence in her ability to create joy