Sylvia Plath - Pheasant
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
| English Poem | |
| |
| Sylvia Plath - Pheasant | |
|---|---|
| Subject | English |
| Section | Poetry |
| Paper | 2 |
| Poet | Sylvia Plath |
| On syllabus | 2007, 2008 |
| Note | |
Contents |
The Poem
You said you would kill it this morning.
Do not kill it. It startles me still,
The jut of that odd, dark head, pacing
Through the uncut grass on the elm's hill.
It is something to own a pheasant,
Or just to be visited at all.
I am not mystical: it isn't
As if I thought it had a spirit.
It is simply in its element.
That gives it a kingliness, a right.
The print of its big foot last winter,
The trail-track, on the snow in our court
The wonder of it, in that pallor,
Through crosshatch of sparrow and starling.
Is it its rareness, then? It is rare.
But a dozen would be worth having,
A hundred, on that hill-green and red,
Crossing and recrossing: a fine thing!
It is such a good shape, so vivid.
It's a little cornucopia.
It unclaps, brown as a leaf, and loud,
Settles in the elm, and is easy.
It was sunning in the narcissi.
I trespass stupidly. Let be, let be.
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 an argument on your critisms. This will lead to you knowing the poem better and will help your reading of the poem
Analysis one
Many read the poem "Pheasant" to be about Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes' marriage. I agree with this reading as it offers an intersting argument.
She pleads with him not to kill the pheasant. "You said you would kill it this morning, do not kill it". This is not an order as she supplies reasons for it. She claims "it is something to own a pheasant, or just to be visited at all". She claims the pheasant is in 'its "element". She watches it fly up and settle in an elm tree with ease. She suddenly is not at ease. She remarks "I trespass stupidly" and makes a final dramatic plea: "let be, let be".
In my reading this is about her marriage; it shows an uneven balance of power inthat marriage. The male is a silent, powerful presence in the poem. He is threatening to kill the pheasant i.e their marriage. There is no reaction or response to the plea. Sylvia Plath, the woman, makes all the effort to keep the marraige alive. This can be seen as an actual conversation between the two or it might just represent Plath's fear and pessimistic outlook on life.
