The birth of post-Modernism era, notably, after the Second World War, set the stage for emergence

of several poets, most notably Robert Lowell and Theodore Roethke. These brand-new poets
rebelled against the set notions of poetry which had been established and was more intellectual in
nature. They used T.S. Eliot’s theory of impersonality as a mere theory, not as a requisite meant to
be followed. They departed from Eliot’s complex symbolism and formal style and chose to use inner
self as a medium of expression, rather than looking outward. Their poetry become more emotional
and personal, which till that stage were regarded as borderline taboo. Sylvia Plath, mentored in
Lowell’s school of post-modernism, takes the independent form of poetry to another level, wherein
she uses it as a medium to talk about the issues that plagued her soul – death, patriarchy and
depression. Her brand of poetry which talks about the innermost self-desire, self-pain and self-
reflections was critically branded as ‘Confessional Poetry’.

Sylvia Plath’s poetry is completely reflective of her life, which was filled with despair, anguish and
her inability to deal with these tumultuous feelings, causing her to end her own life at only 30,
thereby depriving the world of her brilliance too soon. Her short life history is marked by three
major incidents which have been a recurring theme in most of her poems – death of her father who
had an overbearing influence on her, her separation with her husband Ted Hughes, and her own
attempt at taking her life when she was twenty. Her life’s crisis coupled with the horrors bestowed
upon humanity by the World War II form the cornerstone of her works and provide a window to
the readers to see the raging storm of anxieties and sadness in her mind.

Plath had always been obsessed with Death, and Death’s imagery is present in all her works. The
evolution on how she represents Death is striking as she aged. Her poems took a turn from a
symbolic gesture to semi-confessional allegory, and then burst forth with outright declaration. In
her first publication, ‘The Colossus and other poems’, Plath borrows the concept of using imageries
of nature to put the concept of Death. This is not common with Post-modernist or Confessional
poetry, genres associated with her, but is from the Eliot school of thought. Although exceptional in
its narrative, ‘The Manor Garden’ and ‘Moonrise’ fall under Plath’s banner about the concept of
Death. In ‘The Manor Garden’, she starts off with the image of death and decay, using metaphors
from a flower garden to highlight her stance.

‘The fountains are dry and the roses over

Incense of Death. Your day approaches.’

In the poem she talks about the passage of time and the evident morality which needs to be
embraced. She doesn’t directly reference decay and death in a confessional style, but uses
symbolism of a crow, the messenger of death to denote that with time, end will come, and tokens of
inheritance would be left behind, to be carried forward and onward. The ‘bee’s wing’ she refers to
would be a direct reference to her real-life father Otto Plath who was indeed a beekeeper.

‘And the crow settles her garments.

You inherit white heather, a bee's wing’.

In ‘Moonrise’, Sylvia uses the color white extensively to denote the elements of Death. She didn’t
view dying as something dark, dangerous and scary. She painted it as a joyous event – the next step
in the cycle of life which needs to be embraced with a smile. This ubiquity of white signifies the
willingness on Sylvia’s part to accept Death gladly, and even making the extra effort to bring nearer.
She creates a juxtaposition of life and death by merging ‘white’ with ‘eggs’ which are symbolic of
birth, i.e., life.

‘Death may whiten in sun or out of it.

Death whitens in the egg and out of it.

I can see no color for this whiteness.

White: it is a complexion of the mind’.

Like in ‘The Manor House’, Sylvia remains an observer of Nature, and sees the boundaries of Death
and Life overlap and fade away, creating a wholeness. She dramatizes the concept of death and
converts her observations into a cycle of death and rebirth. Using the imagery of bleeding berries,
Plath colors life and talks of a possible rebirth which would spark the continuity of life.

‘The berries purple

And bleed. The white stomach may ripen yet.’

The death of her father, Otto Plath, had a telling effect on the mind of the poet. Several critics argue
that she suffered from an Electra complex, and due to the fact that she was overburden with her
father’s stern presence, and that she didn’t attend the funeral, Plath never got the closure she
deserved. As a result, her emotions were in a constant state of flux, likening her father to a God and
at times comparing his ruthlessness to that of a Nazi soldier.

In the poem, ‘Electra on Azalea Path’Plath uses mythology to depict her own reality, dignifying her
father as a myth and elevating the significance of his death by comparing it to a Greek tragedy. She
uses the image of the sea, which was a bonding factor with her father, where she had spent several
memorable childhood moments. If only this poem was read, readers would assume that Sylvia Plath
had a deep affectionate love towards her father, whom she had elevated to a God-like status. She
was dealt with a severe blow when she went and saw the grave on Churchyard Hill. She had dreamt
that her father’s death would be colored by heavenly white sheen. The disappointment after the
wake-up call that her father is a mere mortal and buried like any other, was something she couldn’t
come to grips with for a very long time.

‘In this charity ward, this poorhouse, where the dead

Crowd foot to foot, head to head, no flower

Breaks the soil. This is Azalea Path.

A field of burdock opens to the south.

Six feet of yellow gravel cover you.’

The end of this poem portrays a harrowing image, when she freely admits that she had tried to
commit suicide, and seeks redemption from her father, whom she believed to have done wrong. In
her guilt, she slashed her throat with a razor, and bears that pain even in the present moment. The
striking part is the way she addresses herself as a ‘hound-bitch’ seeking for forgiveness, blaming
that it was her love which caused the death of her father, and brought her so close to one. This
undue glorification of her father and the belittlement of her own self might have arose from guilt of
survival. She assumes a submissive role and is willing to be insulted in order to get forgiveness.

‘O pardon the one who knocks for pardon at

Your gate, father -- your hound-bitch, daughter, friend.

It was my love that did us both to death.’

This antithetical relationship expands into an oppressor-oppressed nature in Plath’s later poem,
‘Daddy’, in which the reader can grasp the true realization of her later years about her father whom
she once had idolized. She constantly talks about her inability to connect with her father, whom she
viewed as unrelenting, harsh and completely devoid of love. Her father’s affection towards her was
so obscure, that she basically couldn’t place him at an individual level and likened him with every
obscene German Nazi she encountered. In here too, she confesses that she tried to commit suicide
at twenty, just to get back at him.

‘At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.’

It is in ‘Lady Lazarus’ that we see Sylvia Plath bursting forth her inner anxieties, her unwillingness
to live in a charade any longer, and her previous trysts with suicide. She confides that her inner soul
has decayed completely and has a putrid air about it which signifies decay. If her outer skin was
peeled off, the dead inside would be visible and would terrify the viewer.

‘Peel off the napkin

O my enemy,

Do I terrify?’

Twice she had come close to death – at the age of 10, although accidentally, and at twenty
deliberately. She mockingly claims that every decade of her life would be marked with an attempt
to end her life, which in hindsight turned out to be true, as she did commit suicide at 30. She
expresses her disdain towards her saviors whom she calls ‘Herr Doktor, Herr Enemy’ (again a
reference to her German heritage from her father’s side) and draws parallels between them and the
patriarchal world which had viewed her only as a pretty object, but without life and feelings. Plath
says that her death should be of no value to them, but evoke the same emotion anyone would have
seeing a jewel burn.

‘That melts to a shriek,

I turn and burn,

Do not think I underestimate your great concern.’

When she had returned after recovery, she showed disdain towards the world, who would only
treat her as a source of entertainment and celebrate her return as a Miracle. Her sarcastic tones
which describe the world, and her body as an object would require a charge to touch or to see, is
evident of Plath’s apathy towards life and how disinterested was she to continue living in the
ordinary world.

It is the transformation of the theme of Death in Sylvia Plath’s work which is astounding and
reflective of her mental state. She had begun her career emulating Romanticism and veiling Death
in overtones. But as complex emotions began to creep into her soul, her words turned darker, and
suicide became a means to achieve her goal of dying. The biggest takeaway is the way Sylvia treated
Death – not as a fiendish creature which would be dark and dangerous, but as something white, and
beautiful, craving for an embrace. She took an exceptional pride in her desire, and no tercet reflects
her passion more than the following.

‘Dying

Is an art, like everything else,

I do it exceptionally well.’