“Dying, like all things, is an art.” It is an extraordinary feat of art.
Sylvia Plath is long considered a poet icon. Many of her previously unknown works were discovered and celebrated after she committed suicide in the thirties. She was rejected by the literary world throughout her adult life. After writing short stories, poems, and “The Bell Jar”, she wasn’t satisfied with the success of each piece and her personal life. We can see the woman behind her words, who used writing to express grief, sadness, and anger. Plath began to write poems shortly after her death. They allow you to see her internal conflicts. Many of these poems are about suffering and death. Plath used death imagery in Ariel poems to express her desire to escape from reality and to dissociate herself emotionally and physically. I will describe how Plath has become depressed and death obsessed through her life experiences and her reactions. I will also give examples of Plath’s death imagery from several poems and explain why they are used the way they are. I will then show how Plath uses death imagery in her poetry from Ariel. We see how Sylvia Plath’s few tragic events impacted her. Her father, who was eight years old, died of complications from diabetes. Plath was close to her dad. “The Bell Jar,” Plath’s autobiography that is supposed to include his thoughts, does not mention Plath. But we can see Plath’s internal struggle over the death of her father in the poems she wrote in Ariel. Her most acclaimed poem, “Daddy”, shows her anger and sadness. The angry tone in this poem suggests that she is trying to understand her father’s death. Plath tried suicide twice before writing Ariel. We see Plath expressing the need to be with her father again. “I was ten in the day you were buried/I was twenty when I tried to get back/And go back, back to your father/I thought the bones would be enough” (51). These lines illustrate how her father’s death has impacted her life. She is not able to think realistically when she says that “I thought even bones would do”. Although she believes that having a small amount of her father would give her happiness, it is clear that this is impossible. Plath is confused by her father’s passing and needs to be close to him. Later, she speaks of a relationship which is closer to a matrimonial than one between father and daughter. “And she said I do, and I do.” (51). Plath, who was suffering from severe depression at the time of this writing, can be believed that Plath has a strained relationship with her husband and father. Plath refers to them as “Daddy” and “Daddy” together.
Ted Hughes, Plath’s former husband, had been having an affair while she was writing the Ariel poems. This event was the second that caused Plath to experience a decline in mental health and death imagery. Plath is shown grieving over her father’s death, but she also shows anger towards Hughes in “Daddy”. “Daddy, you have to be killed” (49). Plath here is content with Hughes’ absence and feels a need for her to “kill” Hughes or even the possibility of them being together again. Plath’s contentment and anger at death is evident in the poem’s last line. “Daddy, daddy! You bastard, it’s over” (51). Plath is overcome by the thought of death when Hughes’s death leaves her with yet more reasons to not live.
Plath’s works may be lighthearted, like “The Bed Book,” which is a children’s book. But Ariel’s poems contain death imagery. This is a sign of Plath’s loss and need to disconnect herself from negative emotions. She quotes the following in “Lady Lazarus”:
“Dying, like all things, is an art.” It’s an exceptional feat”(7).
We all know that death is not an art form. It is impossible to repeat what you have done. Plath reveals how her obsession over death has made her a “hobby”. Plath is almost overcome by the idea that death will return in Lady Lazarus, when she declares, “Soon, the flesh/The tomb cave ate/At the home on me/And i am a smiling women.” Plath anticipates a gift but displays ambiguity while in “The Birthday Present”. She asks for the present and then says she does not know. Plath isn’t excited about the present, but she is excited about her life.
Plath’s poems are filled with self-loathing and inner despair. These poems demonstrate how her self-image contributed to her thoughts and feelings of failure and death. Plath wrote the poem “Sheep In Fog” in Ariel. This shows Plath’s thoughts about how other people view her. “People and stars see me sadly, they disappoint them…They threaten with letting through to a paradise 3 Threatening is often used to convey negative consequences to an act. Heaven is the place most people think of as their ideal destination after death. Plath’s line “threatening to let me through Heaven” is a way to express how she feels about going there.
Plath’s poem Cut describes how a young girl accidentally cuts her thumb while suddenly falling in love with it. It is a view from the perspective of a self mutilator. People who self-mutilate themselves do it because they feel a certain emotion. Mutilating oneself can give sufferers a sense accomplishment. Plath writes in “Cut,” that it is a “great thrill.” My thumb rather than an onion (13). It is possible that she intended to cut an onion but accidentally hit her thumb. She was then infatuated by the result, bleeding from the wound. Last stanza: “How to jump-trepanned Veteran/Dirty Girl/thumb stump” (13). Plath may be disappointed that she “jumped”, which Plath considers a sign of weakness. She should have been able to tolerate it better. Plath’s characterization of herself as “Dirty boy” accentuates her self-deprecating words.
Plath’s perceptions and those of others are also revealed through her art. Plath is in “The Birthday Present” waiting for a present, but she is resistant to accepting it. Plath uses the term “veil” a lot to indicate that she believes people aren’t what they seem to be. Plath said, “only let down that veil, that veil…the veil” (44). These emotions are later referred to as death by Plath again. “If it was death, I would admire its deep gravity” (44). It could make her happy, but it would be death. She doesn’t know what the gift is so she can’t feel any excitement.
Plath shows fear when she is made into what her friends want. Even though we can see that she is unhappy through her poetry, she doesn’t make any effort to improve her situation. Plath writes about the box where she finds bees to be a temptation. “I can’t live without it/And I have to accept it every night” (59). As she becomes more attracted to a well-known evil, her self-destructive tendencies are again revealed. Plath later says that she wonders if they will forget me… They might ignore me immediately…I’m no honey source…so why should I turn on them?” (60). These lines are Plath’s view of herself. Plath can say that she is “no honey source” to indicate that she doesn’t provide the services that people require. However, she may not be able to be attacked because of her appearance. Honey is what bees are after. They won’t like her if they don’t have honey. In the same breath, if she does not want, or give them what they need, she can remain the way she is-depressed, lonely, and again…self-loathing.
Sylvia Plath’s writings are open to many interpretations. One theme is evident in all her writings: Death. It is not known what meaning Plath has given death, or the terminology that she uses to describe it. However, it is there and that cannot be denied. Plath does an amazing job showing that people may not be able to receive the gifts of success and knowledge they desire.
She was gifted with the ability to write and was successful. However, every day she felt empty and lonely. She felt so depressed and in turmoil that all the virtues she had received from life were not enough to help her. Her writings are a glimpse into her inner world. Ariel was the result of her thoughts just before she died. Her death could have been prevented if she’d known her writings sooner. However, we won’t know if the words would have been as popular if she was alive. Ironically, her death made her famous for her writing. Her greatest inspiration was, I believe, death. Plath is often depressed, but I believe she was happier when she was writing. Plath’s death imagery is a reflection of her life and style.
I have demonstrated how her father’s death and her separation from her husband led to depression and feelings of inadequacy that ultimately led to her desire for death. I have given you specific examples of her poetry which highlight her use for death imagery. I also explained why I think she did so in that context. I also showed how death is used in her writings to help readers understand her psyche, the self-loathing that led to her suicide. Although Plath’s work may seem depressing and grisly at times, each one tells a story about a woman: her life, struggles, successes, failures and how they got there. Each one allows us to see the broken heart and mind Sylvia Plat.