Sylvia Plath - Child
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
| English Poem | |
| |
| Sylvia Plath - Child | |
|---|---|
| Subject | English |
| Section | Poetry |
| Paper | 2 |
| Poet | Sylvia Plath |
| On syllabus | 2007, 2008 |
| Note | |
The Poem
- Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing.
- I want to fill it with color and ducks,
- The zoo of the new
- Whose names you meditate ---
- April snowdrop, Indian pipe,
- Little
- Stalk without wrinkle,
- Pool in which images
- Should be grand and classical
- Not this troublous
- Wringing of hands, this dark
- Ceiling without a star.
Analysis
As with any poem, different readers will have different impressions and critisms of the poem. This obviously leads to various analysis. It is encouraged that you read and think about the poem and build a supported arguement on your critisms. This will lead to you knowing the poem better and will help you in your reading of poetry and essay.
The following are some various ways that the poem could be analysied
Analysis One
# This poem by Sylvia Plath is a short yet very effective poem. It demonstrates not only a change in mood but a change in mind. It reads as a child's lullaby and then finishes in a tone of despair.
The opening stanza is full of colour and joy. She presents her hopes for her child. She wishes to fill the childs eye "with color and ducks". She lists delicate and unharmful things such as an "April snowdrop". She thinks that everything "Should be grand and classical".
The mood changes abruptly in the last stanza. These last three lines dominate the poem and cover it in a darker mood. The "Wringing of hands" suggests worry and anxiety. It is the action of a person in despair. Plath's lack of hope for the future of her child is compared to a "dark Ceiling without a star.". These are very effective lines.
I think this lack of hope stems from society rather than from her child. Plath has witnessed the cruel world and some critics might say she had an obscured view on it. She struggled with her identity and purpose throughout her life and eventually it tore her apart. I think the abrupt change of mood in this poem reflects the harsh reality which she realised. She realises the world has nothing to offer except pain and misery. She realises that she cannot protect her child from all the bad things in life - no matter how hard she tries. Maybe this was seen as a personal failure by Plath? Her lack of hope is evident as she sadly took her own life shortly after she wrote this poem. Even though she is gone, I feel she remains alive and effective in her inspiratioal poetry.
