Sylvia Plath’s Aspirations for the Beyond

Plath’s poetry is worldwide celebrated for their diversity in meaning. Though apparently they deal with common day to day issues their implications are different. It is the reader who can discover variations in multiple meaning. The very common themes are death, love, motherhood/womanhood, domestic issues etc. but through these common feminine themes Plath always seeks to go beyond the common material world. She wishes to achieve something impossible; she has the strong desire to achieve something. Now, let’s discover what she wants to achieve through the common themes.

In the poem “CUT” Plath deals with domestic issue with a cut in finger while cutting onion. Though the wound is very common and should give her pain this common pain reminds her of the pain within her heart. She remembers the disasters of World War and bloodshed. It is as if she is being castrated through the cutting of the finger, it reminds her of her existential crisis. From a simple cut in the finger she goes beyond the domestic world and tries to feel the pain in her heart which identifies with the wound in her dissatisfactory family life.

“Lady Lazarus” also deals with the death of a lady but the allusions are Christian in nature. The power of woman is shown here. Plath wishes to born again after her death only to eat men like air. It is magical like to die and born with a new flesh and blood. She says-

“Dying is an art and I do it exceptionally well.”

Plath implies here the making of poetry as if it is an idea which comes to her mind again it vanishes. But this can again comes to her mind and she can write it. It is because through poetry only Plath can express her distress against men. The reference to Medusa reminds us that. So, we can say that through the bodily death Plath says about the death and birth of art. She tries to achieve this impossible art.

“Metaphor” is another wonderful poem where Plath portrays a pregnant woman. The comparisons are sour but under the comparison the poet implies the process of making poetry within the mind of the poet. It is as if there is no getting rid of the pain of poetry but the pain of pregnancy ended with the birth of the baby after nine month. She says-

“I have eaten a bag of green apples

Boarded the train and there is no getting off”.

The poems “Colossus” and “Full Fathom Five” her love towards her father reflects her love towards the God of poetry.

Therefore it can be concluded that through the general issues Plath actually wants to go beyond. It is her strong desire to achieve the poetic genius. It is because she has a lifelong dissatisfaction of her poetic genius.