Sylvia Plath was an American novelist and poet. Plath met and married British poet Ted Hughes, although the two later splits. The depressive Plath committed suicide in 1963, garnering accolades after her death for the novel The Bell Jar, and the poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel. In 1982, Plath became the first person to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize.
Witch burning is Medieval law codes stipulated that
malevolent witchcraft should be punished by fire, leading to witch burnings
across parts of Europe. Witches were accused for their wicked behavior, hunted
them and were executed by burning at the stake or hanged.
The poem begins with a scene of preparation for an execution
of a witch by burning evoking the sense of foreboding and danger. The central
themes of the poem are persecution, isolation and the quest for identity.
Deep-end analysis
In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll's body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.
Metaphor: thicket of shadows (cover, security)
thicket of shadows poor shows the vulnerability of the speaker. Wax image (weak)
wax melts before the fire quickly. Doll’s body (body which is controlled
by somebody else; lack of self. Dartboard
for witches (play target) The speaker is selected as a wicked one and
played by others. Only devil can eat
the devil out (burning a witch to destroy the evil is itself a devilish
act) in the month of red leaves (autumn)
Euphemism: I climb a bed of fire (burning at a
stake)
Visual imagery: wax image, doll’s body, dartboard
Kinesthetic imagery: I climb a bed of fire, they
are piling sticks
The stanza totally elaborates the passive, powerless nature
of the speaker in the hand of the oppressors. However, it seems that the
speaker also believes that she is evil and she sees that it needs to be
cleansed through fire. Last line shows that she willingly climbs to the bed of
fire.
It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar's belly. They've blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.
Visual imagery: black-sharded lady, parrot cage
Kinesthetic imagery: smoke wheels from the empty
jar
Metaphor: they’ve blown my sparkler out (destroying
the potentiality, the ability to rise and shine) What large eyes the dead
have! (death is frightening!) a hairy spirit (a human? possibly the
black sharded lady herself?) this empty jar (the speaker) smoke
wheels suggests the warmth inside her, the intimacy towards others.
The ironical statement in first two lines saying that the oppressors blame the evil of her by cutting off her ability to show any goodness is a criticism about the prevailing society and its way of transforming things and their way of thinking. The speaker urges to show that she possesses virtues and is ready to have intimate contact with fellow human beings around her although they restricted her movement and potentiality.
If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don't move about, I'll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.
Metaphor: red tongues (flames)
Anaphora: If (emphasizes and assures her
powerlessness.)
Smilie: inert as a rice grain (again shows her
limitations and powerlessness)
Kinesthetic imagery: They are turning the burners
up, ring after ring
The speaker shows her smallness vs the powerful oppressors
using the modifiers like ‘little’, ‘tiny and inert as a rice grain.’ Still, the
oppressors do not stop the pressure. She, however is optimistic about the
temper and the experience given by social pressures just like rice popcorn is
made under immense heat.
Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I'll fly through the candle's mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.
Coin word: singeless moth (singe less moth) a
moth who has the ability to fly through fire without burning.
Smilie: like a singles moth
Metaphor: I am ready to construe the days I coupled
with dust in the shadow of a stone (implies that her desire to rise and
shine after being so insignificant and powerless like dust under a stone.)
Kinesthetic imagery: My ankles brighten.
Brightness ascends my thighs.
She claims to regain her lost identity and elaborates her
potentiality to bounce back as a powerful being if given the chance. Despite all
the requests she sees that she is being burnt like a witch burns at a stake. She
finds it difficult to find herself amid of such painful oppressions that surround
her like fire.
The poem Witch Burning by Sylvia Plath seemingly
autobiographical poem that explores the persecution, isolation and her quest
for identity which captures the complexity of human experience and the struggle
for liberation from social oppressions.
The reader feels the psychological pain that underwent by
the poet. The poem may be Sylvia Plath’s quest of identity. She considering
herself as a witch shows her puzzlement of her being. What do you think about
the poem Witch Burning by Sylvia Plath. Add your own comment about the poem in
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