A Developmental Study of the Art of Sylvia Plath

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A Developmental Study of the Art of Sylvia PlathCheralea Ann Waite

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A DEVEIOPMEN'IAL STUDY OF THE ART OF SYLVIA PIATH

ii



itA DEVELOPMENTAL. STUDY OF THE ART OF

SYLVIA PLATH"

by

CHERALEA A. WAITE, B.A.

A Thesis

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies

in P a r t i a l Fu l f i lmen t of the Requirements

fo r the Degree

Master of Ar ts

McMaster Univers i ty

September 1974



MASlliR OF ARI'S (1974)

(English)

McMASTER UNIVERSITY

Hamilton, Ontario

TITLE: A Developrrental Study of the Art of Sylvia Plath

AUTHOR: Cheralea Ann Waite, B.A. (Dniversi y of Guelph)

SUPERVISOR: Dr. A.We Brink

NUMBER OF PAGES: v, 171

iii



ABSTRAcr

This thesis examines the writ ings of Sylvia Plath fran the p.Jint

of view of a "schizoid diagnosis". '!he theories of three Bri t ish

ego-psychologists, W.R.D. Fairbairn, D.W. Winnicott, and H. Gunstrip,

provide the psychoanalytic frarrework. Working with in the theory of

object relat ions and by focusing at tent ion on ear ly childhood ego

development, they have contributed rrany rerrarkable insights into the

'not ives ' behind hurran act ivi ty .

'!he only col lect ion published during the poet s l ifet.irre, '!he

Colossus; the three posturrous volurres, Crossing the Water, Winter

Trees and Ariel; and the autobiographical novel, '!he Bell Jar , are

examined chronologically to reveal the clear development of a schizoid

perspective in Sylvia Plath 's a r t . Her wri t ings are shot t.hrough with

an intense l ibidinal attacl1m2nt to self -destruction, and point to the

desperate attempts of a weak ego struggling to be born. In the end

the violence of tile false, d e s t r ~ c t i v e st ra tegies o f survival she

chose becarre self -directed, and suicide resul ted.

Sylvia Plath became mythologized with her death. A l i terary

romanticization of suicide characterizes nost cr i t i ca l studies on the

p.Jet. '!his thesis takes issue a t some length with the influent ial

Bri ish author, A • Alvarez, in part icular, whose wri t ings on the

"extremist poets" have shaped in "a nost damaging way any cr i t i ca l

perspective on Sylvia Plath in the decade following her death.

iv



To Dr. Brink, for his invaluable assistanc:::e, encouragerrent

and fr iendship in the preparat ion of this thesis , Il1Y warrrest

appreciat ion. Thanks are also due to the readers of th is study,

Dr. N.N. Spinner and Dr. A.G. Bishop.

'I b E.M.W., whose love I value highly, many thanks.

v



. TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT iv

. AC£<NCMLEDGEMENT v

I INTRODOCTION 1

II THE AVANl'-GARDE 34

III THE COlOSSUS 50

IV CROSSING THE WA'IER: THE TRANSITIONAL PHASE 80

v w:mr.ER TREES 99

VI ARIEL 121

VII THE BELL JAR 141

VII I CONCLUSIONS 165

IX BIBLIOGRAPHY 169

vi



CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

One of th e most s ign i f i can t events in Sylvia P l a t h ' s

l i f e was her decis ion to take t h a t l i f e in the ea r ly morning

hours of February 11, 1963. Her c r i t i c a l recogni t ion as a wr i t e r

v i r tua l ly dates from and has increased s t ead i ly s ince t ha t t r ag ic

ac t . During her l i f e t i m e the one publ ished co l l ec t ion of poe t ry ,

The Colossus , rece ived only f a i r reviews as did The Bel l Ja r ,

f i r s t publ ished under the pseudonym of Vic tor ia Lucas. Pla th ' s

a r t i s t i c repu ta t ion r e s t s l a rge ly on the poems wri t t en in the

l a s t eighteen months of her l i f e , although A r i e l was no t publ ished

u n t i l two years a f t e r her dea th , in 1965. On the ba s i s of the

pra i se and exci tement t h i s volume generated, The Colossus , now

out o f p r in t in the or ig ina l Heinemann ed i t ion , was r e i s sued by

Faber and Faber in 1967. The Bel l J a r , having exper ienced a

s imi la r f a t e , was a l so re i s sued by Faber under her own name. By

1971, with the publ ica t ion of the co l l ec t ions , Cross ing the Water

and Winter T r e e s , P la th ' s s t a tu re as a poe tess was assured .

While ce r t a in poems and var ious s ho r t s to r i e s have ye t t o be c o l -

lec ted and publ ished , a developmental s tudy of her a r t from l a t e

1958 to ea r ly 1963 may now be at tempted .

The work we possess to date i s remarkably un i f i e d . Ted

Hughes, her husband, has wri t t en :

1



. Surveyed as a whole, with attention to the order ofcorrposit ion, I think the unity of her opus i s clear .Once the unity shows i t s e l f , the logic and inevi ab i l i y

of the language, which controls and contains such con

flagrations and coll is ions wi thLn i t se l f , becomes rrore

lobviously whatit

i s - -di rec t , and even plain, speech.l

From the quiet lyricism of The Colossus and the t radit ional probing of

new material in Crossing the Water, to the f inal anguished statements

in Winter Trees and Ariel, microcosm reflects macrocosm throughout as

the suffering psyche constricted in an ever t ighter death-grip on the

poet ' s l i f e .

Sylvia Plath grappled throughout her l i f e with the experience

of a hollowness of being, a fundamental weakness a t the core of her

identi ty . The poetry and The Bell Jar explore the lack of what D.W.

Winnicott ca l ls the primary I AM feeling, an unquestioned sense of

acceptance into the hurran world. In an atterrpt to overccme the early

fai lure in psychic developnent, Sylvia Plath 's l i f e and a r t becarre

a :rreans to express an overwhelming need to have a weak identi ty

confi:rmed--even a t the expense of involving others dear to her in

2

her own death-circui t reasoning. R.D. Iaing has described th is condition

as one of the character is t ics of 'ontological insecuri ty ' .

The Bell Jar relates the fr ightening, autobiographical deta i l s

of Plath 's own mental breakdown a t the age of nineteen, through the

figure of Esther Greenwood:

Poems" ,London:

I fe l t very s t i l l and very empty, the way the eye of atornado must feel , rroving dully along in the middle ofthe surrounding hullabaloo . . • 2

lTed Hughes, "Notes on the Chronological Order of Sylvia Pla th ' s

in 'Ihe Art of Sylvia Plath, edited by Charles Newrnan,(Bloomington &

Indiana University Press, 1971), p.195.

2Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (London: Faber & Faber, 1963), p.3.



3

Esther i s subjec ted to what Laing terms the ' d eg rada t ion ' of

convent iona l ps ych i a t r y - - i n s u l i n shock therapy and ECT--and the

f a l se soc i a l i s a t i on t h a t in th e end forces her r e tu rn to ' s a n i t y ' ,

"pa tched , re t readed and approved fo r the world" (p .257) .

Ye t th e es s e n t i a l , hollow condition w i t h i n remains unchanged.

Like th e vic t im of a mad experiment , the hero ine f e e l s he r s e l f

i r revocably separa ted from the r e a l world by the glass wal l o f

an imagina t ive b e l l j a r :

To th e person in th e b e l l j a r , blank and s topped as a

dead baby , th e world i t s e l f i s th e bad dream ••• (p .250) .

But th e ' r e a l "world ' i t s e l f had f a i l e d to confirm idenLi ty .

This profound l oss i s emphasized in t h a t magni f i cen t scene in

which P l a t h ' s hero ine drops h er c lo thes , one by one, over th e

penthouse balcony, to f l o a t , i de n t i t y l e s s , i n to th e darkness o f

the New York nigh t . We r e a l i z e suddenly E s the r ' s own psycholo-

g i c a l nightmare : ne i t he r i n th e f renz ied dayt ime ac t iv i ty nor

in t h i s night- t ime ges ture can she f ind meaning in ex i s tence .

Only the medium o f t h i s ques t fo r i den t i ty has been s h i f t e d

in th e poe t ry , fo r Sylv ia P l a t h ' s need remains the same though

now more focused and eve r more despera te . There a re glanc ing

admiss ions in The Colossus , " l ines which express the f ea r o f de-

persona l i za t ion , the 'pa tched-up ' f ee l ing a t t endant upon an

exhaus t ing e f f o r t to prese rve a weakened s e l f :

A b r i e f r e sp i t e from f ea rOf t o t a l ne u t r a l i t y . With l uck ,

Trekking s tubborn through t h i s seasonOf f a t i gue , I s h a l l

Patch toge the r a con ten t .

Of s o r t s ."Black Rook in Rainy Weather"



4

By the t ime of Ar i e l , poems wri t t en a few months before

her own su ic ide , Sylv ia Pla th i s cata loguing l i ke some knol l ing

b e l l her diminishing sense of a f f ec t , as re l a t ionsh ip with the

oute r world becomes ever more horr i fy ing ly impossible . Only the

bru ta l i ty of se l f - immola t ion seems to promise any sense of

persona l r e a l i t y :

DyingI s an a r t , l ike every th ing e l se .

I do it excep t iona l ly we l l .

I do it so it f e e l s l ike h e l l .I do it so it f e e l s r e a l .

"Lady Lazarus"

p l a t h ' s sense of a hol low, i den t i t y l e s s core o f be ing , the

pla te -g la ss fee l ing , th e hor ror of depersona l i za t ion , the ~ p a t c h e d -

up'fee l ing , the d i s i n t e g ra t i ng r e l a ti onsh i p

withthe wor ld-- these

are c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , as R. D. Laing ' s i l l umina t ing s tudy in ~Divided Se l f makes c l e a r , of the schizoid persona l i ty .

I sugges t t h a t the re i s little ques t ion t h a t Sylv ia pla th

exhibi ted ' t r a n s i e n t sChizoid ep isodes ' , to use W. R.D. Fa i rba i rn ' s

term, throughout her b r i e f l i f e , and t ha t a r e f l ec t ion of t h i s

s t a t e can be read i ly discerned in her work. The de s c r ip t i on ,

' t r a n s i e n t sch izo id ep isode ' i s appropr ia te to Pla th , denot ing

the almost casua l qua l i ty of her i l l n e s s . She obviously appeared

to l ive wel l in the world with her b r i l l i a n t academic successes ;

marriage to another poe t , Ted Hughes; ch i ld ren ; and her a t t r a c t i v e ,

energe t i c persona l i ty . Yet the re were also those p e r s i s t e n t

su ic ide a t tempts , and her wri t ings which spoke more and more of a



5

des i re to jo in he r fa the r in dea th . In the end t h i s awful des i re

was f ina l ly ac ted upon. f

The t heor i es of ce r t a in ego psycholog is ts can engender

gre a t e r unders tanding of such a wr i t e r as Sylv ia Pla th . Freud

himself wrote caut ious ly of psychoana ly t ic s t ud i e s o f a r t i s t s ,

arguing t ha t they "are no t meant to exp la in the genius o f a poe t ,

b u t to show the [motives] which have s t i r r e d it up, and the topics

' imposed on it by fa t e . ,,3 Pos t -Freudian ego psycholog is ts 1 how-

ever , working with in the theory of ob je c t r e l a t i o n s , have focused

a t t e n t ion on ea r ly chi ldhood ego development , an area t ha t r e -

mained i n d i s t i n c t to Freud , and have cont r ibuted many remarkable

ins igh ts in to th e 'mot ives ' behind human a c t i v i t y , both c re a t ive

and mundane. In express ing f ee l ings of depersonal iza t ion before

the threa tening force of a dehumanized, m a t e r i a l i s t i c s oc i e t y ,

Sylv ia Pla th i s evoking emotions we a l l have. Indeed , the sch izo id

i nd iv idua l , being sens i t ive to those fac to rs which shape our l i ves ,

and of t en possess ing uncanny i n s igh t s i n to the human condi t ion ,

seems t he re fore to be speaking ' f o r t a l l of us.

This i s espec ia l ly t rue when the modern avant -garde i t s e l f

seems obsessed with some of the most format ive ideas of psycho-

ana lys i s . Enthusiasm fo r the Freudian p leasu re pr inc ip le has

prec ip i t a t ed an easy acquiescence to the ' g r a t i f i c a t i o n ' of

i r i s t inc tua l energy re lease and a l l th e permiss iveness and vio lence

of de a t h -c i r c u i t modes of th ink ing . Susan Sontag expresses t h i s

fash ionable mala i se , barren of the r e pa ra t i ve , redemptive ' t r u th s '

3Sigmund Freud, II Foreword" to Marie Boneparte , The Life and

Works of Edgar Allen Poe (London: Imago, 1949) .

i.



'6

of human ex i s t ence . It i s a re j ec t ion of s an i t y :

There a re c e r t a in eras which are too complex, toodeafened by cont rad ic to ry h i s t o r i c a l and i n t e l l e c t u a lexper iences to hear the voice of s a n i ty . Sani ty

becomes compromise, evas ion , a l i e . Ours i s an agewhich consciously pursues hea l t h , and y e t onlybe l ieves in th e r e a l i t y of s ickness . The t r u t h s wer e s pec t a re those born of a f f l i c t i o n . We measuret ru th in terms of the c os t to th e w r i t e r in s u f f e r i ng

r a the r than by the s tandard of an objec t ive t ru th

to which a w r i t e r ' s words ~ o r r e s p o n d . Each o f ourt ru ths must have a martyr .

But Sylv ia Pla th was no 'ma r ty r ' to soc ie ty . Moreover , it

i s qui t e wrong to see her as one, as the avant -garde has done.

Such a s oc i a l t heo r i s t as R.D. Laing would have us vind ica te

endless h o s t i l i t y by blaming ' s oc i e t y ' fo r our ' d e va s t a t i on ' .

Rather , Sylv ia Pla th needed the exper ience o f what Harry Guntr ip

5c a l l s lithe deepes t th ing about human na ture • . • i t s toge therness ll

,

though she seems never to have enjoyed t h i s in l i f e . Her a r t

t e s t i f i e s t h a t she reached a po i n t where she could no longer ex-

per ience a 'w i l l - to -meaning ' , by what Vik to r E. Frank l , a surv ivor

of the concentra t ion camps ,descr ibes as "by c re a t ive a c t s and by

the exper ience o f na ture and cu l tu re or through the exper ience of

l o v e l \ . ~ A sense of i r re spons ib le despa i r and fa ta l i sm charac-

t e r i z e s t he f i na l poems as Pla th fe e l s t h a t , a t th e core , the

i r revocab le na tu re o f one ' s e a r ly environment and ' i nhe r i t e d

po ten t i a l ' determine a l l fu ture ex i s tence :

From: the bottom of the pool , f ixed s t a r s, , Govern a l i f e • . •

'4Susan Sontag , Agai ns t In te rp re ta t ion (New York:Dell , 1961) ,

p. 58.

5Quoted by David Holbrook, "R.D. Laing and the Death circui t" , '}

, 'Ene'ounter 31, 2 August 1968, p . 4 l .

6V. E. Frank l , F'rom Death-Camp to Exi s t en t i a l i sm (New York:

Beacon, 1959) p. 105.



7

Even poet ry i s nothing b u t words

jEchoes t r a ve l l i ng

Off from th e cen t re l i ke horses ."'Nords l l

In t ime, a r t mat te red little one way or the o the r , excep t

as an a t t empt to exorc i se the anguish with in , and to seek o u t

what the sch izo id ind iv idua l craves- -conf i rmat ion of i de n t i t y

in the eyes of o t he r s . So urgent was Sylv ia P l a t h ' s need to be

born aga in , o r perhaps ' born fo r the f i r s t t ime ' i n to h er ' t r u e

s e l f ' , t h a t she wanted to d ie to win t h i s end. The preoccupat ion

wi th o r a l imagery in the poe t ry , the c e l l a r of the first su ic ide

a t tempt , the need to become the neonate , a l l symbolize u l t ima te

sch izo id withdrawal , ' be ing drawn back i n s ide ' in orde r to be-

g in again . This chapte r w i l l explore th e na tu re o f Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

in tense l i b i d i n a l a t t achment to s e l f -de s t ruc t ion which was no t

so much a mani fe s ta t ion of the Freudian ' d e a th - i n s t i n c t ' , as an

express ion of d e a t h - c i r c u i t ecs tasy . Grea t joy i s t aken in ha t ing

and in the contempla t ion o f s u i c i de , because s a t i s f a c t i o n through

the joys of loving seems hopeless ly b a r r e d ~ Herein l i e s one of

th e gre a t ' t r a ge d ie s ' of t he sch izo id ind iv idua l . Fai l ing to f ind

aO way in which the embryonic t rue s e l f might be boorn, he comes to

7de l i ve r himsel f over to th e Devi l and says , ' E v i l be thou my good ' .

The moral and s oc i a l impl ica t ions of such a pos i t i on a re grave ,

and demand examinat ion .

It i s s i gn i f i c a n t fo r us as r eade r s t h a t Sylv ia Pla th wants\

7 W R.D. Fa i rba i rn 0 "Psychoanaolyotic Studieoso °ooftheo Persona l i ty(London: Tavis tock , 1952) , p . 27.



8

our confi rmat ion of her s e l f , much as a pe r s i s t e n t ch i ld demands

h is paren ts r e f l e c t him in t h e i r mir ro r image. Hence, we a re

prompted to cons ider the qua l i ty of her a r t i s t i c ut t e rance .

Possess ing sch izo id tendenc ies , she looked to the cu l tu re around

he r and saw few oppor tun i t i e s fo r c re a t ive r e l a t i ons h ip . Wri ters

of the avant -garde , such as Susan Sontag, Ted Hughes and Al

Al,varez, he r f r i end and l i t e r a r y c r i t i c , profess the same fa l se

so lu t ions to th e problems of i den t i ty which led Pla th to su ic ide .

Alvarez , fo r i ns t ance , f inds the " in t e rna l fascism" of th e a r t i s t ,

"hea l thy" , "necessary" ,"marvel lous" in fac ta the d i r e c t i on

" a l l the b e s t contemporary poet ry i s tak ing ."9 Of Pla th he r s e l f

he remains convinced t h a t " the achievement of her f i n a l s t y l e

i s to make poe try and dea th inseparab le ." lO When R. D. Laing

e leva tes t h i s modus v ivend i to th e s t a tu s of a psychot ic s oc i a l

t heo ry , a r t becomes b u t "ac t s of i n s u r r e c t i on" , love b u t subjec-

t ion to th e " fo rce s o f ~ i o l e n c e " and humanity "v ic t ims burning

a t the s t ake , s igna l l ing through the f lames. n I l

In shor t , Sy lv ia 'P la th would have found among these forms

of modern express ion a l l too little to al low h er ' t r u e s e l f t

to be born , b u t much to lend suppor t to the de a th -c i r c u i t s of the

sch izo id i nd iv idua l ' s way of l i f e . As the a e s the t i c philosophy of

8Alvarez, U Epilogue: America and Extremis t A rt ,I in : Under

Preasure (Penguin, 1965) I p . 188.

9- - - - - , l tSylvia Pla th t' , in The A rt of Sylv ia P l a t h , p.62.(

10 b 'd 67~ . , p• •

l lR.D. Laing, The P o l i t i c s of Exper ience (Penguin, 1967) ,pp . 3 7, 5 0, 55 .



9

the avant-garde vind ica tes ha tred and vio lence and dehumaniza-

t i on , so Plath was encouraged t o be l i eve in the pur i t y of an

i n t e l l e c t u a l ha te and her own se l f -des t ruc t ion as a r t i s t i c v i r t ue s .

Thus in the end she a l so consc ious ly seeks from us our ' conf i rma

t i on ' of psychot ic a r t . Any examinat ion of her work must be

tempered with the r e a l i z a t i o n t h a t in her despera te b id to f e e l

. r e a l , normal human values may wel l be i nver t ed , and a most i n t e l l i

gen tmind

mayadvocate f a l s e modes of

surv iva l .The world

of

fash ionable c r i t i c i sm , in many ways sch izo id i t s e l f , both r e f l e c t s

and adopts P l a t h ' s de a t h -c i r c u i t reasoning . It pra i s e s her most

ha te fu l work and i m p l i c i t l y condones her s u i c i de . Others then

must look beyond a l l t h a t i s ' co ld and p l ane t a r y ' and de s t ruc t ive

in her a r t , and come t o apprec ia t e h e r own gre a t need to under-

s tand , her a t tempts to explore the fu l lness of exper ience in

human, emotional terms, and h er profound s t ruggle with the problems

of ex i s t ence , in which we a re a l l involved.

To r e c a p i t u l a t e , I propose t h a t Sylv ia P l a t h ' s cond i t ion

may be examined f ru i t f u i l y from the po i n t of view of a ' s ch izo id

diagnos i s ' exper ienced in ' t r a n s i e n t episodes ' th roughout h er l i f e .

I s h a l l discuss the t he o r i e s of ce r t a in pos t -Freudian ego psycho-

l og i s t s such as W.R.D. F a i rba i rn , D.W. Winnicot t and Harry Gunt r ip ,

whose s tud ies of sch izo id i nd iv idua l s y ie ld i n s igh t s i n to the

' s t r a t e g i e s of surv iva l t employed by those of weakened i de n t i t y .

The t ragedy i s t h a t , having a ' s pe c i a l need to confron t the

problem of e x i s t e nc e ' , the sch izo id ' s a l ready weakened s e l f

e n c o u r ~ g e s suscep t ib i l i t y to f a l s e , de s t ruc t ive s o l u t i ons in l i f e .



10

Fina l ly , I s ha l l a lso ques t ion the as se r t ions and c u l tu ra l im-

p l i ca t i ons of those avant -ga rde wri te r s who recommend t h a t "only

a mal ad j us t ed , psycho t i c pe rsona l i ty can f a i t h fu l l y i n t e rp re t

the malad jus ted ,psychot i c persona l i ty of the age in which we

I, ,,12~ v e . Such wri t e r s see in Sylvia Pla th only a ' v i c t im ' of

' s oc i e ty ' and so over look the profound i ns igh t s she does express .

THE SCHIZOID DIAGNOSIS

In h is b r i l l i a n t s tudy of sch izophrenia in The Divided

S e l f , R. D. Laing makes a c l ea r d i s t i nc t i on between ' s a n i ty t and

the sch izo id condi t ion . In th e f i r s t i n s t ance :

The ind iv idua l ... may exper ience h is own being as r e a l ,

a l ive , wholej as d i f f e re n t i a t e d from th e r e s t of th e

world in ord inary ci rcumstances so c l e a r ly t h a t h is

i de n t i t y and autonomy a re never in ques t ion ; . . • as havingan inner cons is tency , s u b s t a n t i a l i t y , genuineness , and 13

worth • •• He thus has a firm core of on to log ica l secur i ty .

By con t r a s t , t he re are o the r s who f ee l only a sense of

' on to log ica l i n se c u r i t y ' :

The i nd iv idua l in the ord inary c i rcums tances o f l i v ing

may f ee l more unrea l than r e a l j in a l i t e r a l sense , moredead than a l ive j precar ious ly d i f f e re n t i a t e d from th e

r e s t of the world, so t h a t h is ident . i ty and autonomya re always in ques t ion • . . He may f ee l more i n s ubs t an t i a l

than s ubs t a n t i a l , and unable to assume t ha t th e s t u f f he

i s made of i s genuine, good, valuable . 14

This we recognize as th e ' s ch izo id d i agnos i s ' . However, it must

be emphasized t h a t everyone , without except ion , ex]?eriences

sch izo id fee l ings a t one t ime or another , as the s tud ie s of

12C. B. Cox and A.R. Jones, ' tAfter t he T ranqu i l l i zed

F i f t i e s tt, C r i t i c a l Quar te r ly , 6, 1964, p . 108.

l3 R•D• Laing , The Divided Se l f (Penguin, 1965) ,pp. 41-42.

l4 Ib id ., p. 42.



11

W.R.D. Fai rba i rn make c lea r .

Fai rba i rn was a psychoanalys t of gre a t or ig ina l i t y who

prac t i sed in Edinburgh from 1926 u n t i l h is death in 1962. In h is

impor tant t he o re t i c a l work, Psychoanalyt ic Studies of the Persona l i ty

(1952), he pos t u l a t e s a s ca l e , with per fec t in tegra t ion and absence

of ego sp l i t t i n g a t one end (only a hypo the t i ca l p o s s i b i l i t y ) , and

complete d i s in t e g ra t i on a t the other . The l sch izo id s t a t e or

t r a ns c i e n t sch izo id ep isode

l , commonto many adolescent lnervous

.breakdownsi

and c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of Sylv ia Plath i s c l o se s t to the

former , whi le sch izophren ia proper di s t ingu i shes the l a t t e r . The

term ' s ch izo id ' de r ives i t s s ign i f i cance from the concept ion of

sp l i t t i n g of the ego, an occurrence in vary ing degrees common

to us a l l . But it i s the e a r l i ne s s and sever i ty of t h i s s p l i t t i n g

t h a t determines i t s psychopathologica l impor tance.

Summary Review o f Objec t Rela t ions Theory

Fai rba i rn i s impor tan t fo r having extended the t heor i es of

Freud and Melanie Klein regard ing the or ig in of t h i s s p l i t in

the ego and l a t e r psych ic d i f f i c u l t i e s , though a l l t h ree placed

emphasis on th e i n f a n t ' s pr imary r e l a t i ons h ip with th e mother .

Freud and Klein pos tu la t ed t h a t the ' c e n t r a l pos i t ion t o r ~ 9 i n a t e d~ t th e l a t e ora l , b i t ing s tage , when th e ch i ld i s conscious of

h is mother as a whole, inc lud ing her bre a s t . The a f f e c t of

depress ion or melancholy cha r ac t e r i z e s t h i s ambivalent s t age , the ~

ch i ld be l iev ing t h a t it i s h is ha te (and no t h is love which can

still remain good in h is mind) t h a t has des t royed h is mother1s



12

a f fec t ion . Fa i rba i rn , on the other hand; emphasized an even

e a r l i e r s tage of development, descr ibed as ea r ly o r a l , sucking

and pre-ambiva len t , when the c h i ld , in abso lu te i n f a n t i l e de-

pendence, i s conscious only of h is mother ' s bre a s t as a p a r t

objec t . This Fai rba i rn terms the c e n t r a l ' s ch izo id p o s i t i o n ' ,

from which may develop l a t e r f ee l ings of f u t i l i t y . As we s h a l l

see , these f ee l ings or ig ina t e because the young i n f a n t has come

to be l i eve t ha t he has des t royed h is mother ' s a f fec t ion , n o t be-

cause of ha te , an emotion he does no t y e t f e e l in h is pre-ambiva len t

s t age , but because of h is own l i b i d i n a l need: t h a t i s , he has

come to regard h is love as de s t ruc t ive and bad. The impor tan t

d i s t i nc t i on t he re fore i s t h a t the. ' depress ive pos i t i on ' always

remains ob j e c t - r e l a t i ona l , while th e s pe c i a l t ragedy of the

' s ch izo id pos i t i on ' i s t h a t ob j ec t r e l a t ions necessary fo r success -

fu l l iv ing i n the ou te r world have been broken o f f , al though

they are still needed.

In focusing on t h i s ea r ly s t age in the c h i l d ' s psychic

development , Fa i rba i rn pos tu la tes h i s famous theory of objec t

r e l a t ions , concluding t h a t "man's need of a love re l a t ionsh ip i s

th f d t 1 th ' ;n h';s 1'; fe" • 15un amen a ~ n g Although Freud had wri t t en

in 1929 t h a t "Love seeks fo r objects l l ; h is e a r l i e r asse r t ion

(1920) t h a t lithe course of mental processes , i s au toma t ica l ly

regula ted by the pleasure p r i n c i p l e U ~ c o n t i n u e d · to be the accepted

16psychoana ly t ic theory . Indeed, it i s still very much in evidence

l5Quoted by Harry Guntr ip , Schizoid Phenomena, Object

Rela t ions and the Sel f (London: Hogar th , 1968) , p. 45.

l6Quoted by F a i rba i rn , Psychoana ly t ic Studies , p. 83.



13

among the avant-garde which advocates the re lease of i n s t i nc -

t ua l energy as ' h e a l t h y ' , and sees in th e acce le ra t ing vio lence

of our cu l tu re an express ion o f ' f r eedom' . By 1941, however,

Fai rba i rn had formulated two impor tan t conclus ions which are in

s t r i c t oppos i t ion to the f ac i l e i r r e spons i b i l i t y inhe ren t in the

c l a s s i c l ib ido theory of pleasure seeking .

The f i r s t conc lus ion i s t ha t the i n fan t1s pr imary r e l a t i o n -

sh ip with h is mother i s based on a search fo r l ove , no t p lea su re .

That i s , " the ul t imate goa l of l ib ido i s the object . , ,17 Harry

Guntr ip w r i t e s :

From th e s t a r t i n g po i n t the psyche passes through the

sepa ra t ion o f b i r t h in to II aloneness" which would be in",:"

suppor tab le un l e s s , beneath it, as i t s foundat ion, t he re

still pe r s i s t e d t h a t oneness of th e ch i ld with i t s mother ,and th rough her with "mother-nature" in the sense in whichBuber quotes , " In the mothe r ' s body man knows the universe ,

i n b i r t h he fo rge t s i t " . • • b u t he never fo rge t sit. 18

Guntr ip aff i rms Fa i rba i rn ' s conc lus ion , and a sse r t s t h a t th e core

of each man's i den t i t y i s formed in t h i s fundamental love r e l a t i o n -

sh ip :

It i s th e s t a r t i n g po i n t and p e ~ m a n e n t foundat ion o f egoi den t i ty and ego· s t r eng t h , a quie tness a t the c e n t r e , acore of persona l i ty which must be preserved i nv io l a b l e ,

beyond the reach of ex te rna l world pressures . 19

Of the Ego i t s e l f , Gunt r ip wri t es t h a t it i s

th e psyche growing to se l f - r e a l i s a t i o n and i d e n t i t y , in

th e i n i t i a l exper ience of i de n t i f i c a t i on with the mother . 20

17 . b ' 't 31F a ~ r a ~ r n , Ope c ~ ., p• •

18Quoted by Holbrook, "R.D. Laing and the Dea th -Ci rcu i t " , p.41 .

19 Ib id ., p . 41.

20 Ib id ., p. 38.



14

E xp l i c i t t ha t th e i n f a n t i s a whole, if pr i mi t i ve , dynamic ego

from th e beginning , Fai rba i rn descr ibes it be s t as a lmouth-

Iego ' . As the mouth,organ of des i re and a c t i v i t y , searches ou t

the mother ' s breast ," the i n f a n t begins to discover and c rea te

h is world. The c h i l d ' s ear ly ora l , suckl ing r e l a t i ons h ip with

h is mother as f i r s t objec t t he re fore i s profoundly impor tan t ,

because it i s h is f i r s t experience of a love r e l a t i ons h ip and

upon t h i s r e s t s a l l h is subsequent r e l a t i ons h ips and fu ture s oc i a l

a t t i t udes . From t h i s po i n t of view, Guntr ip c la ims

good persona l re la t ionsh ip i s not des i red merely fo r th e

sake of pleasure bu t i s in i t s e l f the bas ic need and aimof men, whose na ture cannot be fu l f i l l e d without it,

while aggress ion and pleasure-seek ing only r e su l t fromth e f ru s t r a t i on o f t h i s primary aim. 21

Fa i rba i rn ' s second major conc lus ion , fol lowing from h is

f i r s t , cla ims t h a t the u l t ima te or ig in of a l l psychopathological

condi t ions can be found in d i f f i c u l t i e s a r i s ing in the format ion

o f ob j ec t r e l a t i ons h ips by the developing ego. When an uns a t i s -

fac tory emotional r e l a t i ons h ip , espec ia l ly with the mother , i s

experienced by th e ch i lq , the subsequent r egress ive phenomenon

occurs fo r two reasons . The ch i ld comes to f e e l : (a) t h a t h is

mother does no t r e a l l y love him fo r h is own sake and (b ) t h a t

she does not r ea l ly value and accept h is own love fo r her . In

t h i s highly t raumat ic s i t ua t i on in which the ch i ld fee l s r e j e c t e d

by h is mother fo r the normal express ion of h is l i b i d i n a l need,

r a the r than s u f f e r th e des t ruc t ion of h is lov"e obj e c t and h is

own ego s t ruc t u r e , he f e e l s compel led to break o f f ob je c t r e l a t i ons

21 Ibid ., p. 38.



15

a l toge the r , al though he still needs them. Thus, to preserve h is

s e l f , the ch i ld may engage in a rad ica l withdrawal of l i b ido ,

coming to regard h is mother as a bad objec t because she appears

no t to love him, and to f e e l no t only t ha t any outward express ion

of h is love i s bad, bu t t ha t a l l love re la t ionsh ips in the world

are also bad, or a t l e a s t most untrus twor thy . It i s t h i s pos i t ion

which gives r i s e to the sch izo id s t a t e , and in i t s extreme form it

i s cha rac t e r i s t i ca l ly ho t ob j ec t r e l a t iona l .

As Fai rba i rn i nd i c a t e s , ' l ove made hungry ' i s the spec ia l

agony of the i nd iv idua l with a schizoid tendency. The ch i ld

i s possessed by th e t e r r i b l e fea r t ha t , because h is l i b i d i n a l

need has become so devouring, love i t s e l f i s de s t ruc t ive . As

we have seen, in an a t tempt to dea l with and s impl i fy t h i s in -

to l e ra b l e s i tua t ion , the young ch i ld tends to t r a ns f e r h i s r e l a -

t i onsh ips with ex te rna l ob jec t s to h is inne r world . While t h i s

accounts fo r the s c h i z o id ' s ' i n t e ns e preoccupat ion with inner

r e a l i t y ' , it a l so involves a regress ive re in s ta temen t o f the ea r ly

ora l a t t i t ude by the c h ~ l d , as r e l a t i ons h ip with the mother as

a whole i s shrunk to her bre a s t as p a r t objec t . The ex t en t and

e f f e c t s of the s p l i t t i n g process with in a re now i n t e ns i f i e d , fo r

the ch i ld has been forced to lock himse l f in to a s t a t e of i n fan-

t i l e dependence in a very enduring way. By withdrawing h is li-

bido from r e l a t i ons h ip with the world , he has a l so withdrawn the

very energy h is ego r equ i res fo r normal development and the

necessary sa t i s f ac t ion of h is emotional needs . Hence, as the

ch i ld matures an una l l ev ia t ed need fo r mother subs t i t u t e s i s



16

s e t up, making it very d i f f i c u l t to form a d u l t love r e l a t ion -

sh ips . · The s e ve r i t y of th e ' s epa ra t ion anxie ty ' experienced by

such an i nd iv idua l when a r e l a t i ons h ip i s fo r any reason th rea tened ,

confirms t h i s .

D. W. Winnicot t a l so has some impor tant observa t ions to

make regard ing the ea r ly development of the c h i ld . With exper ience

of some 20,000 case h i s t o r i e s as a pe d i a t r i c i a n , Winnicot t con-

' c ludes t ha t the "ord inary good home" i s th e bas i s of i nd iv idua l

s a n i ty , bu t "wi thou t good enough mother ing th e ea r ly s tages of

22development cannot t ake place . " By ac t ing as a " f a c i l i t a t i n g

environment" fo r he r ch i ld , the mother in h er capac i ty ' t o bet

al lows the II i nhe r i ted )?otent ia l i to become i t s e l f a "cont inu i ty

of being" .23 This i s the bas i s of ego s t reng th and the or ig in

of what Winnicot t terms th e c e n t r a l or True Se l f . Essen t ia l to

t h i s theory i s t hd t the ' t r u e s e l f ' cannot become a v ia b l e , l i v ing

r e a l i t y unless the i n f a n t ' s spontaneous ges tures are repea ted ly

and success fu l ly met by th e mother . Allowed a b r i e f exper ience

of omnipotence, th e ch i ld can l ea rn to abroga te it, and so achieve

a consciousness of ambivalence, the normal mixture of love and

ha te in human r e l a t i onsh i p s . I f , however, some f a i lu re of suppor

. t i ve mother ing charac te r izes the formation of t h i s f i r s t objec t

r e l a t i ons h ip , e i t h e r through the mother ' s i n a b i l i t y to meet the

i n f a n t ' s ' ges ture or through the impinging dominat ion of her

persona l i ty demanding compliance, then the development of a False

Sel f invar i ab ly occurs . This ' f a l s e s e l f ' i s born in an e f f o r t to. . . . . . .

22D•W. Winnico t t , The Matura t iona l Processes and the~ a c i l i t a t i n g Environment (New York: l n t e rna t i ona l Univers i t i e s

Press , 1965) , p . 74.

23 Ib id ., p . 54.



17

pro t e c t the ' t r u e s e l f ' , by conforming with impinging, envi ron-

menta l demands. Normal ego development becomes d i s to r t e d and

severe ly weakened as a fa l se s e t of re la t ionsh ips i s b u i l t up and

a conscious d isp lay of being r e a l po in t s to the lack of a genuine

sense of be ing . Soon, even th e c h i l d ' s c u l t u r a l awareness be-

comes para lysed , as the capac i ty fo r symbol usage and spontaneous

c re a t ive or ig ina l i t y wi the r s with in . Hence, as Winnicot t a f f i rms ,

"sch izophren ia o r i n f a n t i l e psychos i s o r a l i a b i l i t y to psychos i s

a t a l a t e r da te i s re l a t ed to a f a i l u r e of environmenta l pro-

. . 1,24V.lS . lon .

With th e development of a I f a l s e s e l f ' , a primary s p l i t in

the ego has occur red , as Fai17bairn poin ts out , between the ' c en t ra l

e g o ~ in touch with the oute r 'wor ld , and the withdrawn o r ~ r e -

gressed ego ' of the inner world . This ind iv idua l does no t f e e l he

possesses an assured co re , an unquest ioned sense of genuine

selfhood der ived from th e female element of h is mother. Forms of

' do i ng ' , inc lud ing fa l se soc i a l i s a t i on , a re t he re fore r esor t ed

to in an e f f o r t to patch an i de n t i t y t oge ther , while a l l the t ime

a neglec ted ' t r u e s e l f ' - - t h e ' r egressed egot- -yearns to be born .

But ou te r s e c u r i t y has been purchased a t the high cos t of inner

s e c u r i t y . The environmenta l pe rsecu to rs , now i n t e rna l i s e d , rage

with in . In an e f f o r t to e re c t ever gre a t e r defences to p r o t e c t

. the . se l f , .f .urther s p l i t t i n g t akes place . Simply pu t , the materna l

ob j ec t i s f i r s t s p l i t in to th e ' good ' ob j ec t of the ou te r world

24 Ib id ., p. 49.



18

and th e ' b ad ' ob j ec t o f the inne r . This i n t e r na l i z ed 'mother ' ,

in F a i r b a i r n ' s formula t ion , i s then s p l i t two ways: i n to an exc i ted ,

accept ing ( l i b id ina l ) ego t h a t cont inues to s t r i v e fo r s a t i s f a c to ry

good r e l a t i ons h i ps ; and a bad , persecutory ( a n t i l i b id ina l ) ego

which r e j e c t s them. Because these s p l i t egos a re v io l e n t ly repressed

through aggress ion they a re n o t r ead i ly ava i l ab le to consc iousness ,

which i s where r epa r a t i ve and c r ea t i ve recovery through regress ion

can t ake p lace . The i n t e ns i t y of th e t roub le wi th in depends t he re -

fore on th e e a r l i n e s s and s eve r i t y o f t h i s s p l i t t i n g process .

It was F a i rb a i rn who observed t h a t th e i n i t i a l regress ion

l a t e r gave r i s e to the t h r ee major c ha ra c t e r i s t i c s o f t he sch izo id

i n d iv id u a l . These a r e : ( l ) an a t t i t ude o f omnipotence (2) an

a t t i t ude o f i s o l a t i o n and detachment , and (3) a preoccupat ion wi th

i nne r r e a l i t y , th e l a s t o f which i s def ined as the most impor tan t .

In emphasizing t h i s , F a i r ba i r n po in t s to th e s t a r t l i n g inne r

v i s i o n o f t e n exper ienced by t he sch izo id pe r s ona l i t y :

sch izo id i n d iv id u a l s who have no t r eg re s sed to o f a r a re

capable o f gre a t e r psychologica l i n s i g h t than any o th e r

c l a s s of pe r son , normal o ~ abnormal - -a f a c t due , in p a r t

a t l e a s t , to t h e i r be ing so i n t r ove r t ed ( i e . preoccupied

with i nne r r e a l i t y ) and so f ami l i a r with t h e i r own deeperpsycho l og i ca l processes (processes which, a l though no t

absen t in i n d iv id u a l s who would ord ina r i l y be c l a s s i f i e d

as simply II psychoneuro t i c I , a re neve r the le s s excluded

from the consc iousness o f such ind iv idua l s bS th e mostobs t i na t e defences and s tubborn re s i s t anceJ2

25F

. b .a l r a l r n , Psychoana l y t i c Stud ie s , p . 3 .



19

Sylv ia P l a t h ' s work i s remarkable fo r the psycholog ica l

i n s igh t s she br ings to the sch izo id s t a t e of being . I sugges t

t ha t she lacked j u s t these ' ob s t i na t e defences and s tubborn

r e s i s t a nc e s ' of th e average person as she s t rove to de l i nea t e

the f u l l na ture o f her t roubled psyche. Her husband, Ted Hughes,

po in t s to t h i s when he descr ibes the language of her a r t as t h a t

"which cont ro l s and conta ins such conf lag ra t ions and c o l l i s i ons

with in i t s e l f " , and Pla th he r s e l f as possess ing "none of th e

usua l guards and remote cont ro l s to pro t e c t he r s e l f from h er own

r e a l i ty " .26 We do not know the prec i se d e t a i l s of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

e a r l i e s t chi ldhood and only l imi ted b iog raph ica l mat e r i a l i s

ava i l ab l e . However, her mature l i f e and f i n a l poems, as the

fo l lowing developmental s tudy wi l l show, a t t e s t fu l ly to th e f a c t

t h a t she a t l e a s t f e l l vic t im to the sch izo id a f f e c t of f u t i l i t y ,

when l i f e held ou t little meaning fo r cont inued ex i s t ence . Given

the t heor i es of the ego psycholog is t s d i scussed above, we may say

t h a t such an adu l t mani fe s ta t ion f inds i t s or i g i n s in the pr imary

ambience, and in th e i n f a n t ' s f i r s t r e l a t i ons h ip with h is mother .

27L et us examine the au tob iographica l essay , "Ocean l2l2-W", in

which Sylv ia Pla th r e f l e c t s on the roo t s of her i de n t i t y . Isugges t t h a t th e t h ree major sch izo id c ha ra c t e r i s t i c s descr ibed

by Fai rba i rn may be c lea r ly discerned in t h i s essay , and t h a t

unconsciously Pla th he r se l f poin ts ~ o the ' e a r ly f a i l u r e of

environmental prov i s ion ' , of which Winnico t t speaks .

The title of I t Ocean l2l2-WtI r e f e r s to the materna l grand-

26Hughes, "Notes on . • . Pla th t s Poems", pp. 195-197.

27rncluded in The A rt of Sylv ia Pla th , pp. 266-272.



20

mother ' s te lephone number. The essay i t s e l f can be read simply

as th e express ion of young Sylv ia ' s in tense preoccupat ion with

Ithe sea along the coas t o f Winthrop, Massachuset t s , as th e dominant

na tu ra l in f luence in her childhood years . But it also revea l s a

number of s t a r t l i n g ins igh ts i n to t h i s ear ly universe .

Sylv ia Pla th has focused on the per iod immediately sur roun

ding two highly s i gn i f i c a n t events in her pr imary years , the b i r t h

of h er bro the r when she was two and a h a l f , and the dea th of her

f a the r when she was nine . Yet these f i gu r e s , and espec ia l ly th e

f a the r whose image comes to dominate many of the f i n a l poems, are

negl ig ib le in the ear ly memories except to mark a s ing l e , ab rup t

and i r r evocab le change in th e everyday world. Rather , it was

the feminine element which was s t ronges t in shaping the ea r ly years .

Appropr ia te ly , th e sea as P l a t h ' s image of the abiding materna l

pr inc ip l e l i nks her mother l iv ing on th e bay to th e grandmother

on th e exposed ocean s i de .

As an a d u l t remembering her youth Pla th regards he r se l f

as an "ex i le" in England, unt imely forced to abandon t h i s c h i ld -

hood ambience. This " be a u t i fu l , i naccess ib le . • . white f ly ing myth"

was no t so much the ' r e a l wor ld ' of P l a t h ' s exper ience as an

in tense imagina t ive cons t ruc t . This (preoccupat ion with inne r

r e a l i t y ' , the most def in ing sch izo id cha rac t e r i s t i c , i s focused

in he r vi s ion of the ever-changing sea . pa radox ica l ly , it has

engendered her gre a t e s t sense o f s e c u r i t y , it being th e " c l e a r e s t

th ing" she owns. The sea i s c lea r ly seen as a su r roga te mother

and, by impl ica t ion , Sylv ia Pla th ' s own mother appears no t to have

been 'good enough ' . This ac t ua l mother , descr ibed as a " sea -g i r l " ,



21

pa r t akes of r a the r than i s the l a r ge r maternal element he r se l f ,

in the c h i l d ' s eyes . Hence, it i s the sea , no t the mother , which

young Sylv ia imagines brea thes the brea th of l i f e . It i s also

the sea which t eaches the growing ch i ld of ambivalence, a

na tu ra l acceptance of love and hate in human r e l a t i ons h ips :

"Like a deep woman, it hid' a good dea l ; it had many f aces , many

de l i c a t e , t e r r i b l e v e i l s . It spoke of mirac les and di s t ances ;

i f it could cour t , it could also k i l l " (p. 266) . It appears t h a t

if Sylv ia Pla th i n t e rna l i z e d her r e a l mother as ' bad ' ob j ec t ,

the sea came to f u l f i l l the abso lu te ly necessary func t ion of

in te rna l ized ' good ' ob j ec t with in th e e go - s p l i t t i ng system descr ibed

prev ious ly . There i s no fea r in the young c h i l d ' s r e l a t i ons h ip

with the sea , and poetry i nsp i red by it makes he r happy in a

unique and enduring way, as The Colossus l a t e r af f i rms . Otherwise ,

the sea seems to possess " l i g h t s " , i s l i ke some "huge r a d i a n t

animal" or "watery c ra d l e " - -o r even l i ke a womb as Pla th t e l l s

of crawl ing s t r a i g h t towards the coming wave, only to be rescued

j u s t in t ime.

What i s of spec ia l s ign i f i cance , and our f i r s t example of

her in tensepreoccupat ion with

t h i s image in her a r t ,i s

P l a t h ' s

repea ted descr ip t ion of the sea as a "mirror" or " looking glass" .

D. W. Winnico t t has wri t t en of the use of such images, and poin t s

ou t how the c h i l d ' s i de n t i t y i s confirmed

from being able to see himsel f o r he r se l f in the a t t i t ude s

of the ind iv idua l members or in the a t t i t ude s of the familyas a whole. We can inc lude in a l l t h i s the ac t ua l mir ro rs

t h a t e x i s t in the house and the oppor tun i t i e s t h a t the

.child .gets fo r see ing the paren ts look a t themse lves . 28

28Quoted by D. Holbrook, "The 200-inch Dis tor t ing Mirror" ,

New Soc ie ty , 11 Ju ly , 1968, p . 57.



22

Clea r ly , young Sylv ia looked to the sea fo r a confi rmat ion of

an i den t i ty t h a t her re la t ionsh ip with her mother and fami ly

f a i l e d to give . In t u rn , the mother es pec i a l l y i s r e j e c t e d , as

many examples in The Bel l Ja r and the poet ry serve to e m p h a s i z ~ .I propose t h a t a t l e a s t one major reason fo r t h i s ear ly

r e j e c t i on of th e mother i s given in ItOcean l212-W". We l ea rn

t h a t she has been in hosp i ta l fo r a per iod of t h ree weeks during

c h i l db i r t h , a long t ime fo r a ch i ld of two and a ha l f yea rs , who

in t u rn exper iences only a profound sense of despa i r and abandon-

ment: "Her deser t ion punched a smoulder ing hole in my sky. How

could she, so loving and f a i t h f u l , so e a s i l y l eave me?" (p. 268)

Even th e grandmother appears obl iv ious to young S y lv i a ' s despa i r ,

expla in ing nothing fo r days . J u s t as th e mother i s to a r r ive

home, th e ch i ld i s no t p r e p a ~ e d fo r b u t i s informed of th e reason .

Her r eac t ion i s immediate and v io l e n t :

I hated babies . I who fo r two and a ha l f years hadbeen the cen t re of a t ender un iverse f e l t the ax i s

wrench and a po la r c h i l l immobil ize my bones , (pp. 268-269)

As Pla th descr ibes he r se l f dea l ing wi th t h i s highly f ru s -

t r a t i ng s i t ua t i on , we may observe the man i fe s ta tion o f the im-

por t an t two remaining sch izo id c ha ra c t e r i s t i c s descr ibed by

F a i r ba i r n . One i s the c h i l d ' s repea ted awareness of a sense

of ' i s o l a t ion and detachment ' :

As from a s t a r I saw, cold ly and sober ly , th e separa te

ness o f every th ing . I f e l t the wal l o f my sk in : I amI •• M y be a u t i fu l fus ion with th e th ings of t h i s worldwas over . (p. 269 )



23

The other i s the sch izo id ' a t t i t u d e of omnipotence ' . Again, it

i s the sea which, perce iv ing the c h i l d ' s need, confers i de n t i t y :

"a s ign of e l e c t i on and spec ia lness" (p .270) . This i s achieved

th rough a " to tem", a wooden monkey bequeathed by the sea to serve

as the t ang ib le , and magica l , ' t r a n s i t i o n a l ob je c t ' the sea could

never be. It al lows Sylv ia to accept the presence of her baby

bro ther in the house t h a t day. In t e r e s t i ng l y , t h i s "totem" i s

descr ibed as having the "noble pose . of a simian t h i nke r " , and one

can perhaps see in t h i s the or ig in of the sch izo id overva lua t ion

of thought processes a t the expense of emot ional ones, ce r t a in ly

a cha rac t e r i s t i c of the mature P la th .

Only a most summary de s c r ip t i on i s ~ i v e n of the fol lowing

years from age two and a ha l f u n t i l the age of n ine , when t h i s

chi ldhood world ends abrupt ly in vio lence . In two t e r se sentences

Pla th poin t s to , e s s e n t i a l l y , the loss of both paren t s : one i s

her f i n a l memory of the sea , t he pervas ive materna l e lement ,

associa ted with gre a t v io lence as the e a r l i e r "huge rad ia r i t

animal" i s now "heaving a t i t s l eash" ; the other du l ly mentions

the h igh ly important move in land from the sea , fol lowing the death

of her fa the r . The essay c loses on t h a t ' p l a t e -g l a s s f e e l i ng '

so much in evidence in The Bel l Ja r and elsewhere throughout

Sylv ia Pla th ' s a r t . So, she descr ibes he r vis ion of these ch i ld

hood years as " s t i f f e n i n g " , " sea led . • • o ff l i ke a sh ip in a bot t l e "

(;p. 2721.

I have examined It Ocean 1212-W" in d e t a i l because I f e e l

t h a t d i s t i n c tsch izo id tendenc ies a re

evidenced inthe

youngPlath I S



\

24

r e a c t i on t o h e r wor ld ; and t h a t she h e r s e l f poin t s to d i f f i c u l -

t i e s in th e e a r l y environment , and more p r e c i s e l y , a pos s i b l e

f a i l u r e in suppor t ive mother ing . This may have caused th e d i s -

f igurement of the a d u l t l i f e . However, as a developmenta l s tudy

w i l l show, Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a r t in t o to e l a bo r a t e s and i n t e n s i f i e s

th e kind of p a t t e rn adumbrated in t h i s essay .

It may appear to th e r eade r t h a t we have come p e r i l o u s l y

c lose to IMomism': t h a t i s , pe r sona l ly ' b laming ' Sy lv ia P l a t h ' s

mother fo r he r da ugh t e r ' s l a t e r psychoses . Most c e r t a i n l y , t h a t

i s n o t th e i n t e n t i o n . I f a f a i l u r e in ' s u p p o r t i v e ' mother ing

occur red- -and g iven th e views o f those o b j e c t - r e l a t i o n s t h e o r i s t s

discussed above , I sugges t it d id - - such a ' f a i l u r e ' was in a l l

l i ke l i hood qu i t e u n i n t e n t i o n a l . As John Bowlby has poin ted ou t ,

" ma te r na l dep r iva t i on" can run th e gamut from a comple te seve r ing

o f any m othe r / ch i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p , to over - indu lgence o r ' impinge-

29ment ' on the p a r t of the mothe r . Mrs. Pl a t h was q u i t e probably

among th e l a t t e r . N eve r the l e s s , Bowlby conc ludes , l i k e Winn ico t t ,

30t h a t "nu r tu r e r a t h e r thaI'} na tu re i s th e pa thogenic agen t " .

A t any r a t e , Sylv ia Pl a t h c l e a r l y t e s t i f i e s in h e r a r t

t h a t a t some (ea r ly ) p o i n t in life she carne to regard t h i s mother

as a tbad o b j e c t ' . In l i g h t of the above t h e o r i e s a s p l i t t i n g

of the ego and r e g r e s s i ve r e a c t i o n would · t hen have t aken p lace .

Moreover , as an examina t ion o f the pe rvas ive o r a l imagery r e v e a l s ,

Pl a t h remained f i xa t ed on h e r mother as ' p a r t - o b j e c t ' . In t u r n ,

f a l s e modes of dea l ing w i th the world would have been necessary ..

29 John Bowlby, Maternal ' Care and Menta l H ea l th (Geneva: World

Heal th O rgan iza t ion , 1952) , p . 11.

3.0 Ib id ., p . 34.



25

I sugges t t h a t th e poe t ' s ' f a l s e s e l f ' i s read i ly d i sce rn ib le

in her f ran t i c preoccupat ion with ' do ing ' and the pa tch ing to

ge ther of an i de n t i t y of so r t s - - -bes t imaged in the broken,

f ragmentary colossus of her dead f a t he r . The ' t r ue s e l f ' on the

o the r hand, i s the "baby" descr ibed so of t en , crying to be born ,

perhaps fo r the f i r s t t ime .

It appears t h a t when the mother fa i l ed to sa t i s fy th e

c h i l d ' s love requirements and hence became a ' bad o b je c t ' ,

young Sylvia turned to her f a t he r in an emot iona l way, as a

s a t i s fy ing love objec t . For a t ime she was probably very much a

' daddy ' s girl'. Fai rba i rn po in t s ou t , however, t h a t th e c h i ld

c ons t i t u t e s the Oedipus s i t ua t i on fo r himse l f by coming to equate

one pa ren t with an exc i t ing or good ob j ec t and th e o the r with a

re j ec t ing or bad ob je c t , and t h a t a t bottom both a re f igures of

"the" mother . P l a t h ' s s i t ua t i on was t he re fore complicated when

t h i s beloved f a the r died j u s t as she turned n ine . Having, in e f f e c t ,

a l ready l o s t a mother , she never recovered from th e profound emo-

t i ona l l oss su f fe red w i t ~ h is death. There a l so appears no t

to have been anyone e l se in the chi ldhood wor ld who might have

fu l f i l l e d her need ofa 'good ob jec t ' . Sylv ia Pla th ' s vu lne r

a b i l i t y to ' s epa ra t ion anxie ty ' t he re a f t e r may wel l have accounted

in some p a r t fo r her despera te s u i c ida l ac t ion soon a f t e r sepa ra t ing

from her husband.

I sugges t t ha t a f t e r th e death of her f a the r , P l a t h ' s l i f e

took on th e qua l i t y of mere surv iva l . Al Alvarez fo r one wri t es

of her convic t ion " to be an adu l t meant to be a s u rv ivo r" . 3 l

3lAlvarez , The Savage God (New York, Random, 1970) , p .19 .



26

Like the imperat ive of th e magica l chess game with death in

Bergman's The Seventh Sea l , Pla th f e l t she had to meet death each

decadeif

she was to cont inue l i v ing . This i s th e theme of "Lady

Lazarus": "Dying/ Is an a r t , l i ke everything e l s e . / I do it excep-

t i ona l l y wel l . II We have seen t ha t it i s the sch izo id ind iv idua l

who has been forced to r e s o r t to ' s t r a t e g i e s of surv iva l ' a t some

ea r ly po in t in l i f e , in order to preserve an ego th rea tened with

des t ruc t ion . He t he re fore tends to break off re la t ionsh ips in

the oute r world a l t oge t he r because he fee l s he must , though they

a re and wi l l fo reve r be needed. Never having experienced ' l ove '

and ' t oge the rne s s ' with th e one person who alone can convince him,

such an i nd iv idua l as an a d u l t exper iences th e t e r r i b l e agony

of being unable to ' f e e l ' in a normal sense i he simply cannot

r e l a t e in a loving way with other s . Nor can he f ind t h a t ' con-

f i rma t ion ' of h is i den t i ty he longs fo r , fo r it i s r e l a t i ons h ip

with o the rs in th e world which i s th e source of t h i s mirror - image .

The a r t of Sylv ia Plath c lea r ly revea l s t h a t she came to s u f f e r

such an i n a b i l i t y to pa r t i c i pa t e in the exper ience of l ove .

We have a l so seen t h a t such a response or ig ina tes in some f a i l u r e

in the ' f a c i l i t a t i n g environment ' and more pre c i s e ly , in some

breakdown in th e pr imary love r e l a t i ons h ip with the mother .

An examination of "Even t ,,32, one of P l a t h ' s l a s t poems, w i l l

serve to emphasize the f u l l ex ten t of her f ee l ings o f u t t e r , deso-

l a t e i so l a t i on . The hor ro r vacui i s too re 'a l no t to have been

exper ienced . As she desc r ibes her f ee l ings about he r se l f , other s

32Included in Crossing the Water (London: Faber and Faber ,1971) , p. 43.



27

and the inanimate universe around her , the re i s the awful r e a l i

za t ion t h a t the whole world i s dead to her and she to it. Hence

the na tu ra l , sus t a in ing commitment of r e l a t i ons h ip , as i s marriage

and motherhood, i s d e e m e d h o r r i f y i ~ g l y imposs ib le . Lying in bed

IIback to back" a t n i gh t , she imagines he r s e l f shut ou t from the

na tu ra l world: "e lements sOlidifyl l , the cry of th e owl en te r s he r

he a r t l i ke " in to l e ra b l e vowels" while s t a r s burn " ine rad icab le ,

hard" . An image drawn no t from Raphael b u t from Grunewald dominates

he r percep t ion of the s leep ing chi ld nearby, as it opens its mouth,

"demanding . • • carved in pained , red wood ll • In f a c t , re la t ionsh ip

with anyone becomes unbearable : "One touch: it burns and s ickens / I

cannot see your eyes" . When lovers "touch l i ke c r i pp l e s . . /Love

cannot come". Thrown back on he r s e l f shebecomes a pr i soner of

her own racked psyche, walking lIin a r ing/A groove of o ld f a u l t s ,

deep and b i t t e r " . Only dea th , t ha t "black g a p ~ of fe r s r e l ea s e .

Even hope in r eb i r th quick ly d is so lves as the new l i f e i s conceived

as a "smal l whi te maggot". This n ightmare vi s ion fades as dark

ness mel ts in to s un r i s e , ' leaving the poe t pros t r a t e , dismembered

of a sense o f ' b e ing ' , e sse n t i a l l y c r ipp led in her a b i l i t y to seek

suppor t ive r e l a t i ons h ip in th e world.

In "Event" and other poems l i ke it, as a profoundly s u f

f e r ing human being Sylv ia Pla th i s a t tempt ing to explore the roo t s

of her t roubled psyche. But t he re are other poems much admired

by the avant -garde , such as "Lady Lazarus u and "Daddy", which a re

obsessed no t \'1ith the des i re to understand b u t with a pur i ty of

ha t red . S ign i f i c a n t ly , t h i s ha tred i s di rec ted no t aga i ns t the



28

image of the mother, bu t aga i ns t t h a t of t h i s once beloved fa the r .

As Alvarez has c o r re c t l y observed, "Daddy" i s also very much a

33love poem. • We may see in these ha te poems a dangerous mani-

fe s t a t ion of the " th ree gre a t t raged ies" descr ibed by Fai rba i rn34

,

of the sch izo id i nd iv idua l who has been forced to f ind fa l se modes

of surv iva l a t a l l cos t s . Such a person be l i eves h is inner con-

t en t s to be bad, and al though he i s a f ra id of being emptied , never-

the les s wants in tense ly to t h ru s t h is bad inne r s tu f f onto others

t ha t he may be f reed of h is persecu tors from with in . The 'first

"g r ea t t ragedy ' thus involves the sch izo id ' s fundamental convic t ion

t h a t h is love i s des t ruc t ive t o o the r s . The second a r i se s when,

overcome by a compulsion to ha te and be h a t e d ~ a l l the while "he

l o ~ g s deep down to love and be loved". The ' t h i rd gre a t t ragedy '

i s the "amazing r e ve r s a l o f human va lues" , of spec ia l re levance

in our cu l tu re today. This l a t t e r ( t ragedy ' r e su l t s from the

di s to r t ed l og ic o f two motives: (a) s ince the joys of loving

appear u t t e r l y imposs ib le , the sch izo id may as wel l give himse l f

oyer to the joys of ha t ing ; (bl if love involves de s t ruc t ion , it

i s more moral t o ha t e , which a t l e a s t f r ees one from the harmful

po ten t i a l i t y of love . Hence, plagued by an unsa t i s f i ed hunger

to be, the s c h ~ z o i d i nd iv idua l i s adamant in h is den i a l of human

needs and human f a l l i b i l i t y . He cannot bear ambivalence, t h a t

normal admixture o f human responses . He t he re fore adheres fu l ly

to th e ' t aboo on weakness ' , t h a t ' t o be Big and Bad i s a t l e a s t to

be Someone'. Unpossessed of ru th , h is anguish i s t h a t he cannot

33Alvarez ," Sylv ia Pla th U

, p. 66.

34Fa i rba i rn ,Psychoan"a ly t ic S tud ie s , pp. 27-29.



29

f e e l e i t he r 'mora l t e e t h i ng ' o r the sense o f h is own humani ty .

In t u rn ing from th e world he tends to f e a r what Winnicot t te rms

I

' f emale element b e i n g ' , the I-Thou r e l a t i ons h i p , the realm o f shared

being and c r ea t i ve r e f l e c t i o n ; and to seek re fuge in ' f a l s e male

d o in g ' , th e ' b u s t l i n g ' s e l f a c t i v i t y o f one who overva lues i n t e l -

l e c t u a l processes . The l i f e o f the i n t e l l e c t holds o u t a s p e c i a l

appea l to the i n d i v i d u a l with a sch i zo i d tendency because , a l ready

preoccupied with i nne r r e a l i t y and i n t e r n a l o b je c t r e l a t i o n s , i deas

tend r ead i l y to become s ubs t i t u t ed fo r fee l ings and i n t e l l e c t u a l

va l ues fo r emotional re sponses in the e x t e rn a l world . Desca r t e s '

ph i lo soph ica l s ta tement , Cogi to e rgo sum, r a t h e r than 'I f e e l ,

the re fo re I am' , i s highly app l i cab le to th e sch izo id consc ious -

ness .

Sylv ia P la th he r s e l f seemed , t o be l i eve abso lu te ly in th e

e f f i c a c y o f h e r i n t e l l i ge nc e , "a way of ' hand l ing th e unhandleable" ,

as Alvarez desc r i bed h er pred icament . She w r i t e s :

I th ink my poems come immediate ly ou t o f th e sensuousand emot iona l exper iences I have , b u t I must say I can

n o t sympath ise with those c r i e s from th e hea r t t h a t a re

informed by noth ing except a needle o r a kn i f e o r whate ve r it i s . I be l i eve t h a t one should be able to c o n t ro l

and manipula te expe r i ences , even th e most t e r r i f y i n g -

l i ke madness , being t o r t u r ed , t h i s kind o f expe r i ence -

and one should be able to manipUlate t he se exper iences

with an informed and i n t e l l i g e n t mind. 36

But of course the mind can never lmanipula te l madness , as

~ l a t h he r s e l f must have r ea l i z ed a t l a s t , befo re he r own s u i c id e .

Because t hese mani fe s t a t ions by th e sch izo id ind iv idua l a re a

35Alvarez, "Sy l v i a P la th " , p . 66.

36Quoted by Alvarez , "Sy lv ia Pla th l l, p . 64.



30

matte r o f l i f e and dea th , on which h is weak i den t i ty abso lu te ly

depends, he wi l l seek to preserve h is inver ted re la t ionsh ips

with the world to the po i n t of ext remi ty . Hence h is t enac ious - -

and despera te - - adherence to fa l se values and se l f -de s t ruc t i ve

impulses which are bu t a s t ranglehold gr ip on l i f e . Indeed, the re

can be in tense joy taken in t h i s normal r eve r s a l of human va lues .

Ivy , a sch izo id pa t i e n t o f Dr. Fa i rba i rn ' s and determined to com-

m it su ic ide , expresses t h i s ' dea th impulse ' .

My aim i s to s a i l as near the wind as I can .to k i l l i ngmyself . • . I f e e l my l i f e i s i n t e r fe r ing with my neuros i s ,

i ns t ead of vice VeYsa. When I began to be a f ra id of gas

ovens, I knew it was me t h a t was wrong; b u t I d id no t

· want to be changed. Ins t ead I wanteBa: l1 gas-ovens re -

· moved .••• (to her ana lys t ) if I have a r e l a t i ons h ip withyou it i n t e r f e r e s with my d e a t h - c i r c u i t ••• you i n t e r f e r e

wi th my neuros is and my des i re to des·troy myself .... I c a n ' t· \ota·it· · t o g e t my hanBs 'on mysel f to des t roy myself • . . • The

gre a t e r the f ru s t r a t i on out s ide , the gr ea t e r the e c s t a s i e s

i n s i de . I want to have no i nh ib i t i ons i n br ing ing about·my own des t r uc t i on . 37

The tone of t h i s s ta tement c lea r ly para l l e l s th e tone

expressed in many of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s f i n a l poems. Yet t h i s tendency

of the sch izo id i nd iv idua l to 'main ta in the inner world as a

c losed sys tem' according to F a i r ba i r n , per ta ins no t to Freud ' s

concept ion of the death i n s t i n c t which would appear to be super

f luous if the l i b ido i s t r u l y ob jec t - s eek ing , bu t to th e i nd i v i

d u a l ' s masochis t ic r e l a t i ons h ip with h is i n t e rna l i z e d bad objec t s .

The s c h i z o id ' s l o n g i ~ g fo r death r epresen t s a need to withdraw

from a world he can no longer cope with . This s t a t e of the ' r e -

s ressed l i b i d i n a l ego ' i s no t in f a c t an impulse fo r s e l f ~des t r uc t i on , b u t r a the r a des i re to escape i n to a comfor t ing ,

3] F a i r ba i r n , I' On the Nature and Aims of Psychoana ly t ica l

Treatment" , In te rna . t iona l ·Journal ·of· Psycho- ·Analysis,Vol . 38, p.374.



31

pass ive condi t ion where hea l ing in f luences can come to bea r ,

t ha t th e psyche may be reborn and a r e a l ego begin to develop .

Guntr ip wri t es t h a t

Schizoid su ic ide i s no t rea l ly a wish fo r death as such,except in cases where the pa t i e n t ' ha s u t t e r l y l o s t a l lhope of being unders tood and helped . Even then t he re

i s a deep unconscious s e c re t wish t h a t dea th should prove'a' 'pa 'thwayt 'o ' r ebi r th . • . in some sense to re tu rn to the

womb and be reborn l a t e r with a second chance t o l i ve .38

Sylv ia ~ l a t h ' s a r t speaks again and again of a pass iona te , o f t en

unconscious, wish to be reborn . Side by s ide with he r ha te poems

are other s l i ke th e Bee se r i e s which are concerned with h er 'com-

pu ls ive need to unders tand ' and a cry ing des i re fo r l i f e which

in th e end became d i s t o r t e d i n to the idea of r eb i r th th rough

dea th :

And I , s tepping from t h i s skin

Of o ld bandages, boredoms, old faces

Step to you from th e black car of Lethe,Pure as a baby. "Get t ing There"

This ' dea th impulse ' can be seen as a wish to re tu rn to the

womb, to t h a t primary i de n t i f i c a t i on with the mother . It i s a l so

oi ten symbolised in the image of the gas oven. Harry Guntr ip ts

pa t i e n t s speak of a " l i f e - t i r e d n e s s " , a "needing to s top l i v ing

bu t no t wishing t o d i e" :

' I ' v e of t en f e l t it would be love ly to pu t my head in

the gas oven and go unconscious . But I c ou ldn ' t do it,

because I c ou ldn ' t be sure of being able t o tu rn th e gaso f i a t th e r i g h t t ime, before it k i l l ed me. '

38Quoted by Holbrook in "R.D. Laing and t he Dea th -Ci rcu i t» ,pp. 38-39.



32

Another pa t i e n t . • . on seve ra l occas ions went down-

s t a i r s . • • and la9

down bes ide the gas oven and turned

~ n the gas .... 3

The resemblance here to Sylv ia Pla th i s obvious . As Winnicot t

i nd i c a t e s , t he re are f a n t a s t i c r i sk s involved in persons fac ing

t h e i r own weakness, and aga i ns t t h i s pain though genuinely seeking

r e b i r t h , such ind iv idua l s a c t ou t t h e i r f a l s e so lu t ions to th e

problems of i den t i ty as a d e a t h - c i r c u i t s t r a t egy of surv iva l .

The end may br ing only s ta lemate , t o t a l withdrawal , or su ic ide .

For P la th t h i s meant no t only a l i f e - long f asc ina t ion with and

joy in su ic ide , b u t an unyie ld ing dec is ion to d ie - - a dec is ion

she a l so c lea r ly saw as a harb inger of a new l i f e .

We have seen t h a t a ' s ch izo id d iagnos i s ' may be appl ied to

Sylv ia Pla th and her a r t . I f Plath had had th e exper ience of

psychotherapy--or someone who would have 'mothered ' her as Leonard

Woolf did Virg in ia - - she might have exper ienced ' t oge t he r nes s '

and l i ved . As it was her l i f e of fe red a l l too few oppor tun i t i e s

e i t he r fo r r epara t ive elements to come to bear on a weakened s e l f ,

or fo r c rea t ive re l a t i ons h ip in th e world . The soc ie ty around

he r fa i l ed to confirm i de n t i t y because i t s more a r t i c u l a t e

speakers cannot see beyond mere surv iva l themselves . But in the

end we must hold both Sylv ia Pla th and th e modish avant -garde

accountable fo r t h e i r f a i l u r e to meet the cha l lenge of ex i s tence .

Thei rs i s a view t h a t reduces man to l e s s than vic t im as he

wil l ing ly par takes of the de a t h -c i r c u i t t ha t w i l l end a l i f e without

39Guntrip, Schizoid Phenomena, p. 217.



33

hope. Alvarez ' a e s the t i c phi losophy i s t ha t "when sUffer ing i s

the re whatever you do, by i n f l i c t i ng it upon yourse l f you achieve

40your i de n t i t y , you s e t yourse l f f r ee" . Compare t h i s mode of

l iv ing with th e wri t ings of one who survived the concentra t ion

camps. "We have no t only the poss i b i l i t y of making l i f e meaning-

fu l by crea t ing and lov ing" , Vik tor E. Frankl , au thor of From

De-ath-Cam:p to EXistent- ia l ism, wr i t e s , "bu t also by suf fe r ing : by

' the way and manner in which we face our f a t e , in which we take

41our suf fe r ing upon ourse lves" . _ Freedom i s won no t by ' i n f l i c -

t i ng ' suf fe r ing upon yourse l f , b u t by preserv ing the i n t e rna l

"wi l l - to -meaning" :

••• everything can be taken from a man bu t one th ing :

the l a s t of the human f reedoms-- to choose one ' s a t t i t udein any given s e t o f c i rcumstances , to choose one ' s ownway. 42

Nei ther Sylv ia Pla th nor many avant -gard i s t s have preserved

an ' i n t e r n a l wi11- to-meaning ' , and ' r e spons ib i l i t y ' has become

a meaningless concep t . Ins t ead , it seems e a s i e r t o de l i ve r one-

s e l f over to the joys of ' ha t ing than ' t o choose one ' s own wayt .

I s h a l l now tu rn to an examinat ion of views expressed by ce r t a in

avant -garde wr i t e r s who, in pra i s ing a l l t h a t i s des t ruc t ive and

l i f e -denying in Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a r t , imp l i c i t l y endorse the

s c h i z o id ' s way o f l i f e .

40Alvarez, /, Sylv ia Pla th I , p . 66.

41V. E. Frank l , From Death-Camp to Exis t en t i a l i sm, p . 105.

42 Ib id , p. 66.



CHAPTER I I

THE AVANT-GARDE

W.B. Yeats ' famous axiom i s sometimes appl ied to Sylv ia

Pla th : 'We make ou t of the quar re l with other s rhe t o r i c , b u t

out of the quar re l with ourse lves poe t ry ' . Pla th ce r t a in ly made

poe try out o f the qua r r e l with he r se l f . But it has not y e t been

admit ted the ex ten t to which she wrote some of her most admired

poems while quar re l l ing v i o l e n t l y with o t he r s - - and was ac tua l ly

encouraged to do so by the i n t e l l e c tu a l e thos of her day. It i s

necessary t he re fore to place Sylv ia Pla th in a l i t e r a ry per spec-

t i ve .

Unconsciously she does t h i s he r se l f as she speaks of the

c a t a l y s t which prompted t h a t f i na l bu r s t of c r e a t i v i t y ,a

mar-

ve l lous Keatsian year t h a t produced both Ar ie l and her dea th :

••• I ' ve been very exci ted by what I f e e l i s th e new

breakthrough t h a t came with , say, Rober t Lowel l ' s Life

S tud ie s , t h i s i n t ense breakthrough in to very seriou.-s;very persona l , emot ional exper ience which I f e e l has beenpar t ly taboo. Robert Lowel l ' s poems about h is exper iencein a menta l hosp i t a l , fo r example, i n t e r e s t me very much.These pecu l ia r p r iva te and taboo sub jec t s I f e e l have beenexplored in r ecen t American poe t ry - - - I th ink par t i cu l a r ly

of the poe tess Anne Sexton , who wri tes a l so about h erexper iences as a mother; as a mother who's had a nervousbreakdown, as an ext remely emotional and fee l ing young

woman. And h er poems a re wonderful ly cra f tsmanl ike poems,and y e t they have a kind of emot ional and psychologica l

depth which I th ink i s something perhaps qu i t e new andexc i t i ng . 1

lFrom an in te rv iew and read ing of poems made by her fo r

the Br i t i sh Counci l . Quoted by Alvarez , "Sylv ia P la th" , p. 62.

34



35

In l ink ing her own work with t h a t of Lowell and Anne Sexton, a l -

though Sylvia Pla th never prec i se ly i so l a t e s what the ' t aboo '

iwas in a r t i s t i c express ion , 'b reak through ' i s c lea r ly and casua l ly

assoc ia ted with ' b reakdown' . Moreover, she pr a i s e s t h a t dual ism

so c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of the sch izo id persona l i ty . As expressed

a e s t he t i c a l l y byTe S. E l i o t , l i the more pe r fe c t th e a r t i s t , the

more complete ly separa te in him w i l l be th e man who s u f f e r s and

the mind which c rea tes" .2

It was impor tant to Plath t h a t these

taboo s ub j ec t s , of ' emot iona l and psychologica l dep th ' be explored

in a 'wonderfu l ly cra f t sman- l ike ' fashion; t h a t th e mind always

manipu la te and cont ro l those t roubled c r i e s from th e he a r t .

According to A. Alvarez , one of the lead ing r ep r e s en t a t i ve s

of the l i t e r a r y avant -garde , Rober t Lowel l ' s Life Studies 'p roved '

" t h a t the v io lence of th e s e l f could be wri t t en about with con

t r o l , sub t l e ty anda pass iona te bu t undefended imaginat ion".3 It

provided Pla th with an example of "courage" and re leased her from

the imprisonment of the "old poe t ic habi t s ll explored in The

Colos·sus.4

Now, new fro:r:-tiers o f exper ience might be char ted as

th e New Cri t ic i sm of ' t he t r anqui l i zed f i f t i e s ' gave way to ' t he

psychot ic verse of th e s i x t i e s ' . The cen t re of a r t i s t i c i n t e r e s t

had a l so s h i f t e d from t h a t "cur ious ly i r r e l e va n t . . • f l i g h t in to

Georgianism,,5 of the Movement in England, to th e "genuinely advanced

2Quoted by A. R. Jones , "Necessi ty and Freedom: The Poet ry

of Rober t Lowell , Sylv ia Pla th and Anne Sexton", C r i t i c a lQuar te r ly ,7 , 1965, p. 16.

3

Alvarez ,The

SavageGod,

p . 25.

4Ib id . , pp. 23-24.

5Jones , IfNecessi ty and Freedom", p . 11.



36

sens ib i l i ty" in America, where "something new and r a t he r marvel -

lous i s happening".6

What i s th e importance of an a r t i s t l i ke Sylv ia Pla th in

t h i s 'new' and 'marve l lous ' American s e ns ib i l i t y? In the in f luen -

t i a l essay , "America and Ext remis t Art" , Alvarez has descr ibed

Pla th as an Ext remis t poet , a pos i t ion she shares with Rober t

Lowell , John Berryman, Ted Hughes and Anne Sexton. He de f ines t h i s

term:

Extremism in the a r t s - - t he cu l t i va t i on of breakdown anda l l th e d ive r se f ac t s of sch izophrenia- -ends not somuch in anarchy as in a kind of i n t e rna l fascism in

which th e a r t i s t , to r e l i eve h is own boredom,. becomesboth t o r t u r e r and t o r tu red . 7

From th e po in t of view of ob j ec t - r e l a t i ons theory such an aes the -

t i c pos i t i on - - o r any such out look on human ex i s t ence - - i s hor r ib ly

wrong. In the f i r s t ins tance , Alva rez ' s use of psychoanaly t i c

te rminology i s confused, and r evea l s little se ns i t i v i t y to the

human r e a l i t i e s of the d i s c ip l i ne . One who i s ill hard ly ' c u l t i -

va te s t breakdown; in s tead , t h i s i s the despera te pa th taken

by one who cannot f ind normal on to log ica l secur i ty through crea t ive

r e l a t ~ o n s h i p with in the persona l and c u l tu ra l sphere in h is l i f e .

Nor i s it 'boredom' t ha t has to be ' r e l i e ve d ' ; r a the r , a ' t r ue

se l f t c r i e s to be born . And t h i s ' i n t e rna l fa sc i sm ' , t h i s be

c o m i ~ g both ' t o r t u r e r and t o r tu re d ' , i s the agony of one possessed

by h is i n t e rna l bad ob j ec t s , who in h i s f i e r ce des i re to be r id

of them seeks to t h ru s t h is own ' badness ' onto o th e r s . As we

have seen , . the joys of ha t ing come eas i ly to the sch izo id ind iv idua l .

6Alvarez , "America and Ext remi s t Art"·, p. 184.

7 'Ib i d . , p. 188.



37

Because it i s the way he f e e l s he must l i ve , he w i l l seek to p re

serve h is inver t ed r e l a t i ons h ips with the world a t a l l cos t s .

This s c h i z o id ,de a th -c i r c u i t mode of th ink ing i s pr ec i s e l y

what Alvarez and a c e r t a i n segment o f ~ h e avant -garde admit to

and endorse . The wide-ranging in f luence of such b e l i e f s cannot

be underest imated. "America and Extremis t Art" a t t e s t s t h a t

Alvarez does no t see in the ges ture o f the a r t i s t " invent ing

himse l f , endowing himse l f with an i de n t i t y " , th e sch izo id i nd iv i

dua l ' s f i e r c e need to b e , nor in " the complete i n t e rna l i s a t i on

of a l l phenomena" th e s c h i z o id ' s in tense preoccupat ion with inner

r e a l i ty a t th e "expe"nse of ou te r r e a l i t y . This i s the t rue na ture

of t h a t " u t t e r i nd i f f e rence" experienced by a ' bored ' se l f which

"conta ins a g r e a t dea l o f des t ruc t iveness which it tu rns as equa l ly

aga ins t i t s e l f as aga i ns t the ou te r world". Alvarez, moreover ,

l auds t h i s "bored moral nih i l i sm" , t h i s " ru th l e s s , de s t ruc t ive ,

deeply s e l f - i nvo l ved , wild ly se l f -g ra t i fy ing" a t t i t ude towards l i f e .

He f inds the ' i n t e r n a l fasc i sm' of th e a r t i s t "hea l thy" and

"necessary" ; in f a c t , the a r t i s t has a "pos i t i ve ob l i ga t i on to

make th e wors t o f a good th ing" ( m y e m p h a s i ~ } . 8 Even the wording

here reminds us o f W.R.D. Fa i rba i rn ' s descr ip t ion of the inve r ted

e t h i c a l motiv"e of the s c h i z o id ' s despera te nih i l i sm: ' s i nce love

i s bar red to him, he may as wel l de l ive r himse l f over to th e joys

of ha t i ! lg t .

Alvarez condones th e dualism inhe ren t in the sch izo id

pe r s ona l i t y , th e severance of the i n t e l l e c t from the human, emo-

8Alvarez , 'America and Extremis t Art.", pp. 183-188



38

t i ona l r e a l i t i e s of l i f e . He only dimly r e a l i s e s the des t ruc -

t ive impl ica t ions of t h i s breach as he wri t es t h a t " in a cur ious

way i n t e l l e c t u a l energy becomes a means of promoting hopelessness" .9

Alvarez simply cannot see beyond ' hope lessness ' . As he wri t es

e l sewhere , psychos i s must be cu l t iva ted "because every more con

ven t iona l response has been dra ined dry of s igni f icance" . lO In

the end he f inds it a l l "charming" and "objec t ive" , t h i s hor r i fy ing

se l f - indu lgence in des t r uc t i ve powers beyond comprehension:

you acknowledge the sureness wi th which univ.ersal darknessbur ie s a l l , th e i n e v i t a b i l i t y o f the descent in to blankchaos , and then you wake a joke about it a l l - -wh ich i s in

i t s e l f the f i n a l nih i l i sm, s ince it des t roys even th e

force o f your unders t anding o f des t r uc t i on . ll

The fundamental problem here i s t h a t al though one makes a

v ic ious ' j oke ' about it a l l , man's need to f e e l r e a l i s th rea tened

by h is ha tred and subsequent g u i l t , revea l ing th e weakness of th e

regressed ego. To r e l i e ve t h i s i n t e rna l oppress ion , ' s oc i e t y '

i s blamed as th e ' opp re s s o r ' . This i s the hu is c los o f Alva rez ' s

sch izo id defence . As he admits in "America and Extremis t Art" ,

the reasons he gives a re two c l iches :

••• the a r t i s t i s thrown inc rea s ing ly Ifin on himsel f"by the sheer s ize and engul f ing blankness of " i n d u s t r i a l

soc ie ty" ; as l i f e becomes more mass-produced, mass

organised and s t a t i s t i c a l the a r t s become propor t iona te ly ,despa i r ing ly , more extreme and s o l i p s i s t i c . To t h i s i sadded th e second gre a t c l i che : the "c r i s i s " s i t ua t ion - th e i nher i t ance of the concentra t ion camps and the

t h r e a t of a nuc lea r ho1ocaus t - - i s re f l ec ted in the

persona l extremism of the a r t i s t s . • • the knowledge of

t o t a l d i sa s t e r .• • obtained by an endless se r i e s of

under.ground t e s t s on themselves . 12

.9·Ib id ., p. 187.

10Alvarez , Beyond A ll This Fidd le (London:Penguin,1968) ,p .17 .

11'- - - - , "America and Extremis t Art" , p. 188.

12 Ib id ., p . 186.



39

Alvarez appea l s not to man's weaknesses and fa i lu re s of matura t ion ,

bu t to our modern i n d u s t r i a l socie ty and to the example of the

I

concentra t ion camps, to exp la in and also to v ind ica te the rampant

violence of our age . "The nihi l i sm and des t ruc t iveness of the s e l f " ,

he w r i t e s , " tu rns out to be" an "accUra"te" r"ef lect ion of the nihi l i sm

of our own v i o l e n t soc i e t i e s " (my emphasis) .13 Yet man i s most

of ten a vic t im of h imse l f , no t o f ' s oc i e ty ' . Alvarez , however ,

can see the a r t i s t only as scapegoat , endless ly h o s t i l e to himse l f

and to ' them' who force t h i s ro l e upon him. Such an e thos i s

t r u l y a d e a t h -c i r c u i t .

They ( the a r t i s t s ) surv ive moral ly by becoming, in oneway or ano ther , an im i ta t ion of dea th in which t h e i raudience can share . To achieve t h i s the a r t i s t , in h is

ro le of scapegoat , f inds himsel f act ing o u t h is own

dea th and vu lne rab i l i ty fo r and on himse l f . 14

This i s sure ly " the dimension of absurd dea th" .15 ·From t he po in t

of view o f o b j e c t - r e l a t i o n s theory , t h i s cour t ing of dea th r evea l s

the sch izo id ' s despera te need to f e e l r e a l when, t r a g i c a l l y , s e l f -

immolation seems to promise r e b i r t h .

While D.W. Winnicot t speaks of ' t h e r i sk s invo lved ' by the

sch izo id i nd iv idua l in fac ing h is own ego weakness , Alvarez speaks

of another kind of ' r i s k ' . His i s one t h a t i s exper ienced and

accepted in the 'nerve e n d s ' , "no t the fac t s of l i f e bu t th e f ac t s

of death and vio lence : absurd, random, g r a t u i t o u s , u n j u s t i f i e d

and inescapah ly p a r t of the soc ie ty we have crea ted" .16

In the

.13Alvarez, The Savage God, p. 258.

l4 Ib id , p. 262.

l5 Ib id ., p. 258.

l6 Ib id ., p. 262.



40

a e s the t i c philosophy of the avant -garde , the Extremis t a r t i s t

"g ives himsel f over t o h i s s ickness fo r the sake of the range and

i n t e ns i t y of his a r t " .17 In t e l l e c t ua l cont ro l i s abso lu te ly im-

pera t ive fo r the r i sk i s t h a t , s ince a r t i s no t t he rapeu t i c , the

a r t i s t may f ind himse l f l iv ing out the se l f -des t ruc t ive impulses

of h is tormented psyche. In t h i s n i h i l i s t i c vi s ion of l i f e a l l

the r epa r a t i ve processes o f t r a d i t i on and cu l tu re are j e t t i soned

without compunction. Never the less , Alvarez speaks only with admira-

t ion of those a r t i s t s who work in th e ' t r a d i t i o n o f t r ad i t i on le s s -

ness ' ,

u n t i l mania , depress ion , paranoia and the ha l l uc i na

t i ons t h a t come in psychos is or a re induced by drugsbecome as urgen t and as commonplace as Beauty, Truth ,

Nature and th e Soul were to the Romantics . 18

Alvarez a l so misunders tands the na ture o f psychoanalys i s

i t s e l f as he def ines it as t h a t d i s c ip l i ne from which the layman

l ea rns " to recognize and accept the i r r a t i o n a l as the ba s i s of

h is being" .19 This view or ig ina tes in nine teen th century Freudian ,

b i o l og i ca l psychology, in which a Hobbesian v i s i on of man d i c t a t e s

the ' r e l e a s e ' of pr imi t ive ' i n s t i n c t s ' . Freud be l ieved neuros is

r e s u l t e d from the suppress ion of i n s t i n c t , and whi le recognizing

the need fo r soc i a l i s a t i on if man i s to l i ve in r e l a t i v e harmony

with o t he r s , came to champion th e r e l ea s e of r epress ion . How-

eve r , working from Fa i rba i rn ' s ana lys i s of the sch izo id pe r s ona l i t y ,

Guntr ip sees t h i s whole preoccupat ion wi th th e c o n f l i c t between

. . ns. t inc . t . andrepress ion as "one of man's o l d e s t se l f -decep t ions" . 20

17Alvarez , "America and Extremis t Art" ,p . 185.

18- - - - , Beyond A ll This "Fiddle , p. 13.

19 Ib id . , p . 11.

20Quoted by Holbrook, "R.D.Laing and the Dea th -Ci rcu i t " , p.37 .



41

The r e a l problem, he be l ieves , i s no t in t h i s war with one ' s in -

s t i n c t s , b u t th e fea r o f ego-weakness , th e fea r of empt iness a t

the core of being by those who a re on to log ica l ly insecure .

Socie ty should the re fo re serve the necessary func t ion as an avenue

fo r the express ion of normal human needs , whi le the family as the

' f a c i l i t a t i n g envi ronment ' nourishes i nd iv idua l p o t e n t i a l i t i e s .

But in the e thos of a ce r ta in sec t ion of the avant -garde , soc ie ty

and th e fami ly a re seen as agents of our ' d evas t i on ' . The appea l

i s made to S a r t r e ' s famous s ta tement :

Take a l i v i ng ch i l d , sew him up in a dead manrs sk in ,

and he w i l l s t i f l e in such sen i l e chi ldhood with nooccupat ion save to reproduce the avuncular ges tu re s ,

with no hope save to poison fu ture chi ldhoods a f t e rh is own death . 21 .

Guntr ip and Winnicot t f ind the or ig in of bas ic ego-weakness no t

with ' s oc i e ty ' in l eague with th e family as rep re s s ive fo rce s ,

b u t with a f a i l u r e of mothering a t th e e a r l i e s t s tages of a c h i l d ' s

development, in an environment unconducive to t h i s . Our cu l t u r e

i t s e l f of fe r s few oppor tun i t ies to those of weakened i de n t i t y to

'make good' t h i s ear ly f a i l u re in matura t ion , in terms of being

by love and human r e l a t i ons h i ps , by c re a t i v i t y and express ion of

the ' feminine e lement ' . Ins tead , th e problem of i de n t i t y in a

soc ie ty adher ing fu l ly to the ' t aboo of weakness · i s a t tached to

' do ing ' and ' becoming ' , to a show of s t reng th and mat e r i a l weal th ,

to ' f a l s e male doing ' .

Why a re c e r t a in members of th e a v a n t ~ g a r d e so fasc ina ted

by the pa r t i c u l a r sch izo id views we have been examining, and

which Sy lv ia P la th he r s e l f c lea r ly exhib i ted? A p a r a l l e l may be

21J • p . Sar t re , "Foreword" to The· T ra i to r by Andre Gorz

(London: Calder , 1960), p. 15.



42

drawn with th e s tudy done by th e American psychoanalys t Les l ie

H. Farbe r in h is Schizophrenia and the Mad Psychotherap is t .22

Farber wri t es of the gi f t ed t he ra p i s t who, in seeking to es tab l i sh

~ i n s h i p ' with hi s pa t i en t s , f inds himse l f caught in a sub t l e ' double

b i nd ' . Urgent ly needing to pa r t i c i pa t e in t h e i r despa i r , he

t ends to exaggera te exper iences of es trangement and th e burden

o f re spons ib i l i ty r e l a t i ons h ips demand. But in h is a t tempts to

deny the normal conf i rmat ions of h is own l i f e and to convince th e

schizophrenics t h a t he too , l i ke them, i s a v ic t im o f s oc i e t y ,

th e t he r a p i s t may 'come to regard the schizophrenic as a kind of

or ac l e , and to champion h is cause in the world. The e f f e c t s of

such an ' occupa t iona l r i s k ' can be seen in R.D. Laing who as

' p rophe t ' blames soc ie ty and accla ims a r t as ' i n su r rec t ion ' ;

and in someone l i ke Alvarez in th e f i e ld of l i t e r a r y c r i t i c i sm ,

who appears a l l too wil l ing to endorse Sylv ia Pla th as a vic t im

of oppress ion . Yet as David Holbrook wr i t e s , such counte r t r ans -

fe rence i s bu t a "recourse t o c a us a l i t y , 'I am t h i s way because '

which i s a way o f avoid ing t rue despa i r , and thus of avoid ing

r a t he r than conf ront ing one ' s own humanness" .23

Alvarez avoids complete ly Sylv ia Pla th ' s ' t r u e d e s p a i r ' .

Because he can conf ron t ne i the r h is own humanness nor he r s , he

can pra i se only t h a t which i s most inhuman about her a r t . He over-

looks her c ry ing need fo r confi rmat ion in l i f e , and those poems

which a t t empt to speak to us from th e f ruc t i fy ing and emotional

22See D. Holbrook, "The 200 inch Dis tor t ing Mir ro r " , New

Soc' iety, 11 Ju ly 1968, p. 58.23

Holbrook, Human.Hope and the Death I n s t i n c t , p. 276.



43

sources of her being. The Extremis t poe t s , he i s convinced,

' s a lvage ' t he i r verse "from the edge of some kind of personal

. 24abyss" , bu t in the f i n a l work of Sylv ia Pla th t he re i s not even

the sa lvag ing of p o s s i b i l i t i e s . Never the less , Alvarez impl ic i t ly

suppor ts the way Pla th l ived , and ended, her l i f e :

whether her involvement with su ic ide • .• was r e a l or

imaginary i s bes ide the po i n t so fa r as her a r t i sconcerned. A ll t h a t mat ters i s t h a t the poe t ry shouldmake a convincing imagina t ive r ea l i t y .2 5

Indeed, as David Holbrook has recorded,26 Alvarez even admit ted

in a publ ic l ec tu re to r ece iv ing su ic ida l warning notes from Sylvia

Pla th - -on ly to f i l e them away in the hopes t h a t they would be the

or ig ins of good poe t ry . Surely t h i s s t r iv in g a f t e r ' conv inc ing

imaginat ive r e a l i t y ' has become qui t e inhumanly divorced from the

p o e t ' s own l i f e . Pursuing t h i s aes the t i c phi losophy elsewhere

Alvarez wri tes t h a t ,

The very source o f her c rea t ive energy was, it tu rned

out , her s e l f -d e s t ru c t i v e n e s s . But it was, prec i se ly ,

a source o f l iv ing energy, of her imaginat ive , c rea t ive

power. So, though dea th i t s e l f may have been a s ide i s sue , it was a l so an unavoidable r i s k . • • • 7What i s t h i s absurd i ty about a ' source of l iv ing energy '

when it eventual ly k i l l ed the poe t her se l f ? When death can be seen

as nothing bu t a • s i d e - i s s u e ' , an ·unavoidable r i s k ' , we perceive

the ex ten t to which Alvarez adheres to the i nver t ed moral va lues

.o.f . he .s.chizo.id p e r s o n a l i t y . It i s aes the t i c i sm ca r r i ed to i t s

24Alvarez , The Savage God, p. 259.

25- - - - - - - - , Beyond A ll This Fidd le , p. 16.

26Holbrook, "O u t of the Ash", The Human World, N o . 5 ,Nov. 1971, p. 34.

27Alvarez, "Sy lv ia Pl a t h " , p. 68.



44

l og i c a l , inhuman conclusion as he pra i ses Sylv ia Pla th fo r the

detached in" te l lec tual con t r o l we have seen to be so c ha ra c t e r i s t i c

of the sch izo id i nd iv idua l :

It seems to me t h a t it was only by her de te rmina t ion

booth to face her most inward and t e r r i fy ing exper ien

ces and to use her i n t e l l i ge nc e i n doing so--so as no t

to be overwhelmed by t he m- - tha t s he managed to wri t e

these ext raordinary l a s t poems • • • • 28

But we know t h a t Sylv ia Pla th was 'overwhelmed' by her" exper iences .

The minda lone , the I - IT r e l a t i ons h ip

c lea r ly i sno t

enough:the

problem of i den t i t y r e s t s in being, in the I-THOU r e l a t i ons h ip .

It i s bu t a fa l se s t ra t egy of surv iva l to be l i eve t h a t i n t e l l i -

gence can conquer ' b e i n g ' , and serves only to prompt compliance

with de a t h -c i r c u i t m o d ~ s of behaviour .

Before P la th died,however , she turned with "a ha t red no t

of t en equalled in a r t aga i ns t he r se l f and those whom she might

have loved in t h i s world . Alvarez , we have seen , adheres fu l ly to

the de s t ruc t ive element in a r t , the need fo r i n s t inc tua l energy

r e l e a s e . Never the less , it i s still f r igh ten ing to see such a

be l i e f appl ied spec i f i ca i ly . He wri t es t h a t most of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

l a t e r poems a re "about the un leas ing of power, about t apping the

roo t s o f he r own inne r v io lence" .29 Indeed , the "achievement of

her f i n a l s ty le" he assures u s , " is to make poe try and dea th

. inseparab le lt•

30Alvarez seems wil l ing to go so fa r as to endorse

psychot ic a r t as the only good a r t s ince he adds: "There i s , of

28 Ib id • , p. 64.

29 Ib id • , p. 62.

30Ib id • ,- p. 67.



45

course , nothing so very extraord inary about t ha t . I th ink t ha t

t h i s , in gene ra l , i s the di rec t ion a l l the b e s t contemporary

poet ry i s t ak ing l l • 31 L et us examine t he re fore the qua l i ty of

the c r i t i c a l acumen focused/on Sylv ia Pla th ' s ' ex traordinary

l a s t poems' , in pa r t i c u l a r IILady Lazarus" and "Daddyj" which the

avant-garde has pra i s ed as examples of her be s t work.

In "Lady L a z ~ r u s " Sylv ia Pla th speaks from th e psychot ic

core of one who can ' f e e l r e a l ' only by meeting th e t e s t of su ic ide

each decade. Alvarez, as we might expec t , wri t es t h a t th e s ub j ec t

of the poem i s " the t o t a l pur i f i c a t i on of achieved death" .32 And,

he cont inues , "what i s remarkable ••• i s the objec t iv i ty with which

she handles such persona l mater i a l " . This same ' o b j e c t i v i t y '

and concern with ' t o t a l pur i f i c a t i on ' charac te r i sed such v i o l e n t ,

psychot ic murders as engaged in by Char l i e . Manson and th e Nazis :

t ~ e s e cr imes aga i ns t humanity or ig ina te in the same fa l se so lu t ions

" .to the problems of ex i s tence . Alvarez overlooks prec i se ly the

s ~ g n i f i c a n c e of the persona l element in P l a t h ' s work. Ins t ead ,

placed in a f a l se , univer sa l con tex t , she becomes a r t i s t as scape-

goat :

She i s no t j u s t t a lk ing about her own pr iva t e suf fe r ing ...

[She] gives it a genera l meaning; through it she assumesthe suf fe r ing . o f a l l "the modern vic t ims . Above a l l , shebecomes an imaginary Jew.

Above a l l , Alvarez chooses no t to see t h a t p la th indulges

her own l i b i d i n a l dr ive to se l f - immola t ion in "Lady Lazarus" . She

31 b'd" 62""!.l., p. •

32The fol lowing quoted s ta tements by Alvarez about "Lady

Lazarus" and "Daddy" a re taken from "Sylv ia P la th" , pp. 64-66.



46

becomes an ' imaginary Jew' only in so fa r as she may pa r t i c i pa t e

vica r ious ly i n pa in - - in orde r t o f e e l r e a l . Joyfu l ly preoccupied

with se l f -de s t ruc t i on , Sy lv ia Pla th in f a c t remains qui t e insen-

s i t i v e to the suf fe r ings o f the camp vic t ims . When she descr ibes

"my sk in /Br igh t as a Nazi lampshade/ ••• My face a fea tu re le ss ,

f ine/Jew l i ne n" , her easy , cal low response i s a dehumanised one,

a f r ightening example of th e sch izo id diminut ion of a f f e c t . Yet

Alvarez commends t h i s de a t h -c i r c u i t th ink ing :

Anyone whose s ub je c t i s suf fe r ing has a ready-mademodern example of h e l l on ea r th in the concentra t ion

camps. And what mat te r s in them i s n o t so much the

phys ica l t o r t u r e - - s i nc e sadism i s genera l and perennia l

••• But when suf fe r ing i s mass-produced, men and womenbecome as equal and i den t i t y - l e s s as objec t s on anassembly l i n e , and noth ing r emains - -ce r t a in ly no va lues ,

no humanity. This anonymity of pa in , which makes a l ldign i ty imposs ib le , was Sylv ia P la th ' s sub jec t .

Alvarez ac tua l ly seems to accep t sadism as p a r t of our normal ex-

pe r i e nc e - - l i ke God o r th e weather . While the dehumanising vio lence

of the camps was indeed a psychot ic mani fes t a t ion of a wider pa t

te rn in our s oc i e ty , it a l so symbolised the s c h i z o id ' s despera te

need to exterminate the weak, ambivalent ' i m pur i t i e s ' with in us

a l l - - t h e fa l se so lu t ions o f i n f a n t i l e r egress ion . It was hoped

t h a t in t h i s denia l of humanity, an ' i d e n t i t y ' and ' r e a l i t y ' would

be confirmed. Thus, when Sylv ia Pla th par t i c ipa t e s in ' t h i s anony-

mity of pain t in "Lady Lazarus" , she does so in th e same s p i r i t

of sch izo id de lus ion t ha t motivated th e F ina l Solu t ion .

As Alvarez has fu l ly accepted these f a l se so lu t ions to the

problem of i den t i ty with in the pub l ic sphere in "Lady Lazarus" ,

so he endorses them with in the pr iva t e sphere as wel l . His



47

admirat ion of "Daddy" makes t h i s c lea r :

She seemed convinced , in these l a s t poems t h a t the

r oo t o f her suf fe r ing was the death of her f a the r ,

whom she loved , who abandoned her , and who dragged hera f t e r him in to dea th . And in her fan tas ies her fa the r

was pure German, pure Aryan, pure an t i - semi te .

Sylv ia Plath herse l f has a s l igh t ly more sub t l e vers ion of

the problem:

The poem i s spoken by a g i r l with an Elec t ra complex.Her fa the r died while she thought he was God. Her

case i s compl icated by the f a c t t ha t her f a the r was

also a Nazi and her mother very poss ib ly pa r t Jewish .In the daughter the two s t r a i n s marry and para lyse eachother . She has to a c t ou t the awful little al legory

once over before she i s f ree of it.

Actua l ly , the poem i s about the i n t e rna l i sed bad-objec t

daddy, the broken ' co lossus ' with in , and has nothing to do with

whether or no t he r fa the r was a Nazi . Otto Pla th came to America

a t the age of f i f t e e n , publ ished h is book, Bumblebees and Thei r

Ways in 1934, and otherwise seems to have given no reason to be

l i eve he was ' pure an t i - semi te ' . But to f e e l r e a l , to hold a weak

i de n t i t y t oge ther , the sch izo id ind iv idua l gives way to ' f a l s e

male doing ' and to a pur i ty of ha t red . It i s much e a s i e r to ha te

a daddy who i s imagined as a Nazi , and hence can be conceived as

'all

ba d ' . This i s the na ture o f t ha t ' pu r i t y ' of desc r ip t ion

Alvarez so admires . It i s a l so absorp t ion in a psychot ic , savage

detachment from the human dimension • _Alvarez, of course , f inds

s t r eng th in t h i s :

What comes through most powerfu l ly , I t h ink , i s the

t e r r ib l eunforg- iv ingness of her verse , the con t inua l

sense n o t so much of v io lence--a l though t he re i s a good



dea l o f t ha t - - a s of v io l e n t resentment t h a t t h i sshould have been done to her . What she does in the

poem i s , with a weird detachment , to tu rn the

vio lence aga ins t he r s e l f so as to show t h a t she

can equal her oppressors with he r se l f - i n f l i c t e doppress ion .

48

Although Pla th unques t ionably expresses a des i re fo r revenge in

"Daddy", she has not ac tua l ly been ' oppressed ' by anyone. Clea r ly ,

the problem l i e s with in , and t h a t or ig ina t ing in an environment

which somehow fa i l ed to engender a f i rm core of be ing , and in

pa ren t s who had been i n t e rna l i s e d as bad ob j ec t s . It i s a closed

system, and as Alvarez dimly r e a l i s e s , the ha te became se1f-

di rec ted and su ic ide r e s u l t e d . Blindly , however, he cont inues :

And t h i s i s the s t r a t e gy of the concentra t ion camps.When suf fe r ing i s t he re whatever you do, by i n f l i c t i n git upon y o u r s e 1 ~ you achieve your i de n t i t y , you s e tyourse l f f ree .

This i s most ce r t a in ly not the s t ra tegy of the concent ra

t ion camps; as th e wri t ings of Vik tor Frank l conf i rm. In be1ie -

ving t h a t ' f reedom' can be found by i n f l i c t i n g suf fe r ing on

ones e l f , Alvarez revea l s h is r e a l f asc ina t ion with th e s c h i z o id ' s

t e r r i b l e so lu t ions to the problems of ex i s tence . It i s an insane

b e l i e f t h a t i de n t i t y can be found in ac t s o f ul t imate dehumanisa-

t ion akin t o F a rbe r ' s mad t he ra p i s t s who came to pa r t i c i pa t e in

t h e i r own di s to r t ed views of normal ex i s t ence . Yet such opin ions

a re obviously wide-spread and deemed qui t e acceptab le by many.

A.R. ~ o n e s in h is essay , "On 'Daddy' " , f u l l y supports the sch izo id

v,iewpoint as expressed by A.lvarez, f ind ing in :Pla th ' s dea th "not

qnnih i l a t ion of the pe r s ona l i t y bu t the f ree ing o f it from the

humil ia t ing persecu t ion of love and vio1ence".33 In the end

33A. R. Jones , "On 'Daddy'" in The Ar t o f Sylvia" P"lath, p. 236.



49

Jones advances even beyond Alvarez in endors ing the sch izo id ' s

f a l se so lu t ions wi th in th e c u l t u r a l sphere . Alvarez i s ce r t a in ly

wi l l ing to imply t h i s as he f inds in psycho t ic a r t

a source o f c r ea t ive s t reng th , a way o f handl ing th eunhand1eab1e, and presen t ing the s i t ua t i on in a l l i t sfu11ness • . . • Poe t ry o f t h i s orde r i s a murderous a r t . 34

But Jones f inds "Daddy"

committed to th e view t h a t t h i s e thos o f l ove / b ru t a l i t yi s th e dominant h i s to r i a1 e thos of the l a s t t h i r t yyears . , . • which . • • can only mani fes t i t s e l f , today, in

images o f vio1ence • • • . The nursery rhyme s t r uc tu r e o f thepoem lends t h i s paradox th e force o f m at t e r - o f - f ac treasonableness and an a i r of almost reasonable i nev i t ab i1 i t y . In t h i s ' wea repe r ' suaded almost to coopera te

wi th ' the' dest ruc ' t ive , p'rin'cj,pl 'e-'-indeed, ' to l'oVe th e

pr inc ip l e as l i f e i t s e l f . 35 tmy emphasis)

We have seen t h a t th e l i t e r a r y a v a n t ~ g a r d e has applauded

$y lv ia Pla th n o t fo r h er a t tempts to unders tand o r fo r ' he r e f f o r t s

to meet the cha l lenges of l i f e in a respons ib le way, b u t r a the r

fo r h er adopt ion of f a l se , h a t e fu l so lu t ions to th e fundamental

problem of a weakened ego. Such views can be extremely dangerous

in th e c u l t u ra l sphere , encouraging th e pervas ive mala ise of

' , schizoid f u t i l i t y ' . As ,both l i f e and death a re s t r ipped of s ign i -

f ~ c a n c e , th e human dimension o f compassion fo r su f fe r ing becomes

~ e a n i n g 1 e s s . There can be little ques t ion t h a t Pla th was inf luenced

to some degree by j u s t such a c u l t u ra l and aes the t i c ambience.

~ n th e end it would have of fe red her reasons only for ' dea th .

perhaps , however, by d i sen t ang l ing her v i s ion from its dea th -

c i r c u i t s we may br ing to Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a r t the unders tanding and

compassion-- the t t oge t he rne ss ' - - t ha t she appears n o t to have ex-

per ienced in l i f e . The fo l lowing chap te r s w i l l a t t empt to do t h i s .

34A1varez, 11 Sylvia P l a t h " , pp. 66-67.

35Jones , "On'Daddy ' ' ' , p . 236.



CHAPTER III

THE COLOSSUS

Sylv ia Pla th ' s only co l lec t ion of poet ry to be publ ished

dur ing her l i f e t ime was The Colossus . These poems were wri t t en

dur ing the f i r s t three years of her marr iage , between 1956 and

the end of 1959. The volume i s not arranged chronolog ica l ly

nor was the poe t concerned with t h i s , fo r The Colossus gains

i t s power from the accumulat ion of images and t e n t a t i ve , pro -

bing suggest ions . However, fo r the sake of a developmental s tudy

of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a r t , it i s use fu l to fo l low Ted Hughes' a r -

1t i c l e on the chronologica l order of the poems, and to div ide

them in to four groups corresponding t o p rec i se per iods in her

l i f e throughout these years . Thus, the e a r l i e s t group was wri t t en

dur ing the two years she was reading Engl i sh a t Cambridge, and

inc ludes "Sow" I "Hardcas t le Crags" , II Faun" , "Depar ture ", "A l l

the Dead Dears" , "Watercolor of Grantches te r Meadows", "Black

Rook in Rainy Weather", "Strumpet Song", "Two Si s t e r s of Perse -

'phone" and "Spins t e r " • Then came the r e tu rn to Amer ic a and those

poems from the academic year 1957-1958 while she was t each ing a t

Smith College . T hi s group Inc ludes "Mussel -Hunter a t Rock Harbour",

wri t t en a t Cape Cod dur ing the summer before the s t a r t of the

academic term; "Night Sh i f t " , " L ore l e i " , " The Thin People" ,

1Hughes, b P . ~ i t . , pp. 187-95.

50



51

"The Ghost ' s Leavetak ing" , " F u l l Fathom Five ", "Snakecharmer",

II The Disquie t ing Muses ", "Frog Autumn", ." Scu l p t o r" , and most

l i ke ly "Maudlin", " The Companionable I l l s " and "The Times are Tidylt.

The t h i rd group or ig ina ted from the remaining months of 1958 to

the summer of 1959 when the Hugheses were in Boston, a t which

t ime she a t t ended Robert Lowel l ' s poet ry c la s se s a t Boston Univer-

s i t y . "Two Views of a Cadaver Room", "The Eye-Mote", "Po in t

Sh i r l ey ~ "Aftermath" , "Suic ide Off Egg-Rock", "Man in Black" ,

liThe Hermit a t Outermost House" I "The Beekeeper ' s Daughter" ' , and

most probably "The Colossus" , "The Bul l of Bendylaw", " I Want, I

Want" and "Moonrise" , a re included here . The four th and f i n a l

. group of poems was wri t t en in the autumn of 1959, dur ing the

. 2weeks a t Yaddo. From Yaddo th e Hugheses l e f t d i r e c t l y fo r England,

Sylv ia Pla th pregnant wi th her f i r s t ch i ld , Fr ieda , born Apr i l 1,

1960. This group compr i ses" The Manor Garden II, " Mushrooms",

II A Winter Ship" , "Blue Moles" , "The Burnt-Out Spa II, "Poem fo r a

Bir thday" and t e n t a t i ve ly , "Metaphors ll, "Oui ja" and IIMedal l ion".

The Colossus was rece ived favourab ly , if qu i e t l y , when it

was ~ u b l i s h e d in 1960. The reviews on th e whole were percep t ive ,

focus ing on th e obvious t a l e n t of one who had l ea rned her c r a f t

wel l . Yet the formal i ty and di sc re t e remoteness of the volume

were in f ac t powerfu l defens ive forces . Roy F u l l e r observed t ha t

Sylv ia P la th{s vo ice was still "ven t r i l oqu i a l " : IItoo many poems

have no po in t o the r than t he i r own s k i l l . For a l l the s t r angeness

and power, the book e xude s · t a s t e - - - t a s t e in the t r a d i t i o n t h a t

2Yaddo i s a t Saratoga Spr ings , near Lake George, NewYork s t a t e .



52

puts a good poe t in an academic s inecure" .3 . This poe t i c se l f -

consciousness shackled express ion of the inner con f l i c t , so t ha t

the t roub le with in of ten emerges only obl ique ly in a dis tu rb ing ,

undefined sense of menace. "Miss Pla th ' s burden i s " , Richard

Howard di sce rns , " throughout , the disas ' t e r inscr ibed with in the

4surface of l i f e and landscape" . In another review Alvarez

confirms t h i s impress ion ,wri t ing t ha t

most of h er poems r e s t secure in a mass of exper ience t ha ti s never brought o u t in to dayl igh t . • . It i s t h i s sense

of t h r e a t , as though, she were cont inua l ly menaced bysomething she could see only out o f the corners o f her

eyes , t ha t gives her work i t s d i s t i nc t i on . 5

F ina l ly , the hope expressed by one of these f i r s t reviews was

t h a t Sylv ia Pla th would " l e t th ings s l ip a b i t without, gushing"6

in he r next c o l l e c t i on . It was a hope l a t e r f u l f i l l e d with i r on i c ,

t r ag ic consequences for the poe t he r se l f .

This f i r s t volume, in i t s br igh t t a len ted way, was der iva -

t i ve . Sylv ia Pla th was l a t e r to disavow these e a r ly poems, remar-

king in an in.Terview t ha t she c ou ldn ' t "read any of th e poems

aloud now. I d id n ' t wri t e them to be read aloud. In f a c t , they

qui te p r iva t e ly bore·7

me" • Her exper ience was coloured by the

inf luence of s t rong male models , Theodore Roethke, Wallace

Stevens , and undoubtedly too by her husband, Ted Hughes. The

f i r s t two, l a rge ly l i t e ra ry models , were soon counteracted by th e

3Roy Fu l l e r , Review of The Colossus (London, 1960) , The

London Magazine, vol . 8 no. 3 (March, 1961) , pp. 69-70.

4Richard Howard, Review of The Colossus (New York, 1962,Poet ry , vo l . 101, no. 6 (March, 1963) , pp. 412-413.

5Alvarez, Review of The Colossus (London, 1960) , The Observer

Weekend Review, no. 8, 842 (December 18, 1960).6Fu l l e r , Review of The Colossus , p . 70.

7Br i t i sh Counci l In te rv iew, quoted by Alvarez , "Sylv ia P la th"

p . 57.



53

f r iendsh ip o f Rober t Lowel l and Anne Sexton, and t he i r examples o f

the ' i n t ense breakthrough in to very se r ious , very persona l emo-

t i ona l exper ience ' which so exc i ted her . The b i r t h o f her ch i ld ren ,

Fr ieda in 1960 and Nicholas tw o years l a t e r , a lso hera lded f i e r ce -

ly c rea t ive per iods . By then however , having found more than he r

own speaking vo i ce , she was wri t ing poems ' ou t loud ' l ike some

magica l incan ta t ion to appease the dis turbed psyche wi th in .

We have seen t h a t the schizo id i nd iv idua l f i nds ' g iv ing ' in

an emot ional sense ext remely d i f f i c u l t . Fixed in an e a r ly or a l

s tage h i mse l f , ' g iv ing ' and by extens ion c r ea t i v i t Y - ' - - i n Sylvia

Pl a t h ' s case th rough the b i r t h of chi ldren and the manifes ta t ion

of. genuine poe t i c powers--has th e s ign i f i cance of ' l o s s o f con

t e n t s ' . Focus ing on t h i s problem, Harry Guntr ip has w r i t t e n of

the profound o r a l concerns b f the sch izo id pe rsona l i ty :

When you cannot g e t what you want from the person youneed, i n s t ead of ge t t ing angry you may s imply go onge t t ing more and more hungry, and f u l l of a sense o f

. pa in fu l c rav i ng , and a longing t o g e t t o t a l and completepossess ion of your l ove -ob jec t so t h a t you cannot bel e f t to s t a rv e . Fa i rba i rn a r r ived a t the view (1941)

t h a t love made hungry i s the sch izo id problem and it

arouses the t e r r i b l e fea r t h a t one ' s love has become

so devouring and , incorpora t ive t h a t love i t s e l f hasbecome des t r uc t i ve . 8

The sch izo id ind iv idua l i s a lso possessed of an i n t ense

. 'hu:n'g·e'r·t'o b e , by h is need fo r psychic r e b i r t h and development of

a r e a l ego. This whole ques t ion i s of t en worked ou t over food ,

o r in the ins tance of Sylv ia Pla th , th rough the ex tens ive mouth

imagery which permeates her a r t , and i s c l ea r l y ev iden t in The

Colos·sus. It i s the t l i b i d i n a l or i en t a t i on of the sch izo id

.a.t,ti.t.ude . that i s r ep resen t ed by these mouth impulses , r eca l l i ng

8Guntr ip , ' Schizoid Phenomena, p . 24.



54

F a i rba i rn ' s desc r ip t ion of the i n f a n t ' s ego as above a l l , a

'mouth-ego ' . This developmental s tudy w i l l show t h a t the re was

• I

a k ~ n d o f f renzy assoc ia t ed with Sylvia Pl a t h ' s crea t ive element

both in l i f e and in a r t . She sensed she was devouring he r s e l f ,

as she desc r ibes t h i s cry ihg "mouth-hole" in "The Stones" :

"Drunk as a f oe t us / I suck a t the paps of darkness" .9

Sylvia Pla th tended l a t e r to dismiss the sub jec t mat te r of

the ear ly poems. They were concerned with "na ture l l she thought ,

" a l l those subjec ts which a r ~ absolu te g i f t s to the person who

does n ' t have any i n t e r i o r exper ience to wri te about" 10 In f a c t .

she a l ready car r i ed with in her the ' i n t e r i o r exper ience ' on which

she was l a t e r to draw, b u t when wri t ing The Colossus had no t y e t

l ea rned to express it d i r e c t l y . Ins tead , it i s acknowledged only

i nd i r e c t l y , as an ominous sense of t h r e a t lu rk ing a t th e edge

of the day l i9h t world . Her consciousness was still unflooded by

repressed mate r ia l ; the ' t r a ve l l i ng companions ' had y e t to be

faced . Fa i rba i rn found t h a t the sch izo id ' s gre a t e s t r es i s t ance

to overcome was h is t e r r i b l e fea r of the re lea se of bad ob jec t s

from th e unconscious : " ~ v h e n such bad obj ec t s a re re lea sed , the

world around the pa t i e n t becomes peopled with dev i l s which a re

too t e r r i fy ing ' for him to face" . The psychotherap is t , Fa i rba i rn

adds , may thus be sa id to func t ion as the " t rue successor to th e

exorc i s t " , i n t h a t he i s concerned , no t only with " the forg ive-

ness of s i n s " , bu t a l so with " the cas t ing ou t of dev i l sll

•

ll

9;From "Poem fo r a Bir thday" .

10Br i t i sh Counci l I t i te rview, quoted by Alvarez , "Sy lv ia)? la th" , p. 57.

11;Fairbai rn , ~ ? y c h o a n a l y t i c Stud ie s , pp. 69-70.



55

While those poems wri t t en during th e two years a t Cambridge are

of ten concerned with na tu re , it i s a world red in too th and claw,

the Wordsworthian s p i r i t gone rank. Nature i s never simply

' t h e r e ' , b u t must be peopled with demonic presences as y e t essen

t i a l l y undef ined in t he i r r e l a t i on to the poet . Only l a t e r does

Sylv ia Pla th , and th e r eade r , come to perce ive t h a t the persecu

t o r s are wi th in . The i r supposed r e f l e c t i on in the environment

exempl i f ies the s ch i zo i d ' s despera te need to t h ru s t h is sense of

badness beyond himsel f .

I CAMBRIDGE POEMS

"Wate rcolor of Grantches te r Meadows" conveys a l l th e

luminous del icacy of a waterco lor pa in t ing . It i s an i dy l l i c

universe t h a t has been conjured up and the poe t f ee l s it can

e x i s t only in th e innocence of a chi ldhood universe : " I t i s a

count ry on a nursery p la t e " . Throughout her a r t Pla th looks back

to the chi ldhood world as one of pr i s t i ne happiness as compared

with th e malignancy of th e a d u l t world . It i s the express ion

of a des i re to r e tu rn to ' a dimly remembered e a r l i e r sa fe p lace ,

al though in r e a l i t y the sch izo id ind iv idua l can only withdraw

~ n t o .gr ea t e r i s o l a t i on . So the sense of menace, in f a c t

l u r k ~ n gwith in a weak ego, i n s t ead i s conceived as j u s t beneath the su r

face of na ture : "The blood-ber r ied hawthorn hides its sp ines

with white" and hedges "meadows of benign/Arcadian green" . Even

th e human realm i s a f fec ted al though th e s tuden t s , you th fu l ly

vreoccupied with th e i n t e l l e c t and with love , remain unaware

"HOvl in such mild a i r /The m"l s h a l l s toop from h is t u r r e t th e

ra. t cry ou t" .



56

"Hardcas t le Crags" pursues t h i s theme as an inchoa te ,

ex te rna l menace as it t h rea tens human ex i s t ence . The poem des-

cr ibes the poe t walking a t n i gh t in a wide, rough-scu lp tured

va l l ey of the same name, which borders a smal l i ndus t r i a l town

in her husband ' s na t ive Yorkshi re . Leaving the v i l l a ge she walks

in th e f i e lds of the countrys ide , bu t as in the above poem fee l s

surrounded by some ominous, unknown e v i l . Here th e "humped in -

d i f f e r e n t i ron" of the surrounding h i l l s- -emblem a t ic o f the

l a t e r ' b e l l j a r ' consc iousness - -has locked the landscape bowl i n to

a vacuum of s tony s i l e nc e . Frightened by a premonit ion of im-

pending d i s a s t e r and

••• before the weigh tOf s tones and h i l l s o f s tones could breakHer down to mere quar tz g r i t in t h a t s tony l i g h t

she r e tu rns to the v i l l a ge . Yet th e town i t s e l f , l i ke the su r -

rounding landscape,seems to possess no human warmth. Only "dream

peopled" , it i s descr ibed as "black/Stone bu i l t " with i t s echoing

"s t ee ly" s t r e e t s and "dark , dwarfed co t t ages" . C lea r ly , th e poem

i s express ing a s t a t e o ~ psychic a l i e na t ion as th e poe t ' s whole

ex t e r na l world i s conceived in images of s tone , dead to any

human response .

The impor tance of "Hardcas t le Crags" l i e s in Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

unconscious use o f ' i n t e r i o r exper i ence ' . As she desc r ibes

he r s e l f walking in a "blank mood" t he re appears to be no so l id

core of s e l f , her phys ica l presence b u t a "palt;r-y gi f t l l , "smal l

heat" fo r th e elements which quick ly d imin ish her f r ag i l e sense

of being. In a remarkable image a t t h i s t ime , th e s c h i z o id ' s



5:1

sense of ' l a ck of conten t s ' i s powerfu l ly descr ibed . The wind

has pared "her person down/To a pinch of f lame", and in blowing!

around her ea rs seems r e a l l y to be echoing in the emptiness

with in a head cu t o ff a t the top , " l i ke a scooped-out pumpkin

crown".

In "Black Rook in Rainy Weather" Sylv ia Pla th muses on

the na ture of poe t i c i n s p i r a t i on , the source of which in t h i s case

i s a black rook ar ranging i t s sodden f ea the r s in the r a i n . This

i s a l so the f i r s t poem in which she begins to explore the t he ra -

peu t ic nature of her a r t , seen as a t ransmuta t ion in to th e

permanence of a r t i s t i c express ion from a l i f e impe r i l l ed by i t s

own s e l f -de s t ruc t ive ne s s . The moment of i n s p i r a t i on i s descr ibed

as "harrowing an in te rva l /Otherwise inconsequent" , which in a

more profound sense of fe r s "A b r i e f r e sp i t e from fear /Of t o t a l

ne u t r a l i t y " . The "love" the poe t exper iences a t t h i s moment i s

c l e a r ly bound up with an i n t e l l e c t u a l detachment from th e world .

In f a c t th e a c tua l , da i ly l i f e she l eads appears very l i ke th e

fa l se s e l f ( exis tence o' f the sch izo id i nd iv idua l : a weak, numbed

s e l f has been f abr i ca t ed in an exhaust ing e f f o r t to f e e l r e a l .

Thus, "wary", "skep t i ca l " and " ignoran t" , the poe t desc r ibes

he r s e l f as " t rekking stubborn through t h i s season/Of fa t igue" , _

hoping to "pa tch toge ther a content . . . Of sor t s " .

"Al l the Dead Dears" i s one of the most di s tu rb ing poems

in t h i s f i r s t group. A medi ta t ion on mor t a l i t y and the t r ansc ience

of l i f e , it was i nsp i red by the four th-cen tury sk e le ton of a woman,

a mouse and a shrew in the Cambridge Archaeologica l Museum. In



58

t h i s d i f f i c u l t ' poem Sylv ia Pla th a t t empts to probe the menace

she unconsciously f e l t inhe ren t in th e feminine pr inc ip l e , and

perhaps more spe c i f i c a l l y i so la ted in h er own mother . Feel ing

a l l t h ings pa r t i c i pa t e in the "gross ea t ing game" o f mor t a l i t y ,

th e poe t i s compelled to recognize kinsh ip with t h i s female

ske le ton . Yet in a sch izo id tv l i s t , k insh ip , r e l a t i ons h ip with

other s in any sense , i s seen as devour ing o r , a t be s t , d i s t u r

bingly ambivalent . The t r i n i t y o f "mother , grandmother , gre a t -

. grandmother" para l l e l s the th ree di squ ie t ing muses of a l a t e r poem

as they reach "hag hands" to haul the poe t i n to l i f e and c r ea t i ve

a c t i v i t y , and ul t imate ly aga in , back i n to dea th . An uneasy

sense o f e v i l pervades and c loses t h i s poem. The p o e t r e a l i s e s

t h a t un l ike th e mascul ine e lement , the drowned " da f t fa ther"

divorced from th e cycle o f b i r t h an<;1 dea th , th.e Janus- faced

feminine e lement su f fuse s a l l o f l i f e and i s one from which we

cannot escape .

I I CAPE COD POEMS

flMussel Hunter a t Rock Harbour" i s th e f i r s t of the second

. group o f poems, and was wr i t t e n whi le the Hugheses were summering

a t Cape Cod before Sylv ia began the 1957-58 academic term a t

Smith Col lege. This poem, a f ine and s e ns i t i ve achievement ,

cont inues th e i n t e r e s t in na tu re and man's a l i e na t ion from it so

c ha ra c t e r i s t i c o f th e e a r l i e r work. The poe t ' s ea r l y morning

t r i p to th e deser ted sea coas t to ga the r th e beached sea crea

t u r e s , and he r acu t e and ques t ion ing percep t ion of th e beauty

and mo ti v e s o f the se elemental organisms i s described. Although



59

she a t t empts to unders tand t h e i r na tu re , she cannot . Able only

to descr ibe .them e x te rna l ly , she f e e l s u t t e r l y shu t ou t from the

essence of the n a t u r a l un ive r se :

I /S tood shu t ou t , fo r once, fo r a l l ,Puzzl ing th e passage o f t h e i rAbsolutely a l i e n

Order • . • .

During he r yea r a t Smith Col lege , Sylv ia Pla th made the

dec is ion to take poe t ry se r ious ly enough to l eave the sa fe ty of

an academic s inecu re . Hence, th ree o f the b e s t poems wr i t t e n a t

t h i s t ime explore the na ture and or i g i n of the a r t to which she

had given h e r s e l f . "The Disquie t ing Muses" i s one o f t he se poems,

and a l so one of th e first of ~ n autobiographica l s e r i e s which was to

i n t e r e s t her th e fo l lowing yea r . The re fe rence to t he hu r r i cane

in the t h i rd verse r e c a l l s the 1938 hur r i cane o f her ch i ldhood,

which also f igu re s in "Ocean 1212-W". The poem i s i mpor t an t in

focusing on th e mother , and Sylv ia P l a t h t s consc iousness of having

tu rned from her a t an ea r ly age.

The title o f the poem r e f e r s to the t roub led forces she

knew lay behind h e r poe t i c i n t e n t . "Mouthless , eye less with

s t i t c he d bald head" , she desc r ibes them, evoking th e nightmar i sh

th ree l ad i e s of "Al l th e Dead Dears", and the ghoul i sh f igu re s of

Dachau and Hiroshima o f the l a t e r poems. The i r ' p a tched - toge the r '

na ture , a r ecur r ing metaphor throughout he r a r t , looks back to

"Black Rook in Rainy Weather" , and he ra lds the impor tance of the

title poem in the volume. These two q u a l i t i e s t hen , t h a t o f

incubus and th e s t i t c h e d - t ~ g e t h e r elements o f th e t i n t e r i o r ex-



60

per ience ' , emphasize the diqu ie t ing and, I sugges t , the sch izo id

source of poe t i c i n sp i r a t i on . The poet has been conscious of

these "dismal-headed" muses s ince e a r l i e s t chi ldhood, di s rup t ing

na tu ra l development and c l e a r l y per t a in ing to the feminine pr in -

c ip le . Her own mother seems qui t e unconscious of t h e i r r e a l i t y

in h er daughte r ' s imagina t ion , aware only of those witches which

"always/Got baked in to gingerbread" . This i r on i c , wel l -c ra f ted

l i ne suggests the poe t ' s ' l i b i d i n a l o r i e n t a t i o n ' , and he r pre -

occupat ion with ora l images and with food, because the pr imary

love craved i s always assoc ia t ed with t hese . Emily Dickinson

expressed a s imi l a r need: "Affec t ion i s l ike bread , unnot iced

till we s ta rve , and then we dream o f it, and s ing of it, and

pa in t i t " .12 Sylv ia Pla th wrote poetry about it. As an as ide ,

we note the p a r a l l e l t h a t as the mother fed Sylv ia and her bro ther

"cookies and ova l t ine" the n i gh t of the New England hur r i cane ,

so Sylv ia Pla th l e f t cookies and milk bes ide her own two chi ldren

the n i gh t she commit ted su ic ide . "The Disquie t ing Muses" ends

by implying t h a t as Sylv ia matured , her mother ' s f r ivo lous ,

porcela in world and her own grew ever fu r the r a pa r t . Although the

poe t fee l s her mother i s in some way re spons ib le fo r he r pred ica

ment , with ' f a l s e s e l f ' courage and t h a t s t o i c a l American smi le

she always wore, Sylv ia Pla th turned to face her " t r a ve l l i ng

companions".

liThe Ghos t ' s Leavetaking" i s a l so concerned with the na ture

o f poe t i c i n sp i r a t i on . In t h i s poem Sylv ia Pla th examines t h a t

l2Quoted by John Cody, Afte r Grea t Pain : The Inner Life

of Emily Dickenson (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of HarvardUnivers i ty Press , 1971) .



twi l igh t s t a t e between s l eep and the fu l ly awakened mind:

At t h i s j o in t between two worlds and two en t i r e lyIncompat ible modes of t ime, the raw mate r ia l

Of our meat -and-po ta to thoughts assumes the nimbusOf ambrosial reve la t ion .

61

The world of dreams i s descr ibed as the more a t t r ac t ive and in -

tense one. A rt the re fore i s an a t tempt to r e t a in something of

t h i s world, bu t because th e mind must be fu l ly conscious to give

, shape to it the r e s u l t i s something l ike Coler idge ' s "Kubla Khan":

a mere shadow of i t s or ig ina l se l f . However, Pla th he r se l f

was c lea r ly i nsp i red a t t h i s dawning hour and spoke of her l a t e r

poems as a l l being wri t t en -

' ••• a t about four in th e morn ing-- tha t still blue ,

almost e t e rna l hour before the baby ' s cry , before 13the glassy music of th e milkman, se t t l i n g h is b o t t l e s . '

"Sculptor '" i s the th i rd poem in th i s group which explores

more spe c i f i c a l l y Sylv ia P l a t h ' s concept ion of a r t and th e ro le

the a r t i s t plays . The poem i s dedicated to Leonard Baskin and was

i nsp i red by her admira t ion of h is mons te r - l ike drawings and scu lp-

t u res . For P la th , Baskin ' s a r t represen ted enduring c rea t ions

salvaged from the t ransc ' ient , "bodi less • . . nightmare" souls whom

he scu lp ted . This schizoid view of man combines with a b e l i e f ,

as in "The Ghos t ' s Leave tak ing" , in the world of a r t as possess ing

an i n t ens i ty and rea l i ty fa r beyond the human dimension. Yet the

a r t i s t , able to confer unique i den t i t y , i s himse l f a mere vehic l e

of the c rea t ive imaginat ion s ince h is a r t ou t l i ve s him. The

dual ism i nheren t here exempl i f ies the sch izo id ' s ins i s tence on

l3From the i n t roduc tory notes to "New Poems", a readingprepared fo r the BBC Third Programme bu t never broadcas t .



62

the mind, on a r t , to engender the sense of being l ack ing with in .

So Sylv ia Plath c lea r ly sought in h er own a r t to cont ro l theI

inner nightmare, and by embodying it to confirm now, and in

a more permanent way, the value of her ex i s t ence .

Two companion poems wri t t en during t h i s yea r , "Lore le i "

and "Ful l Fathom Five" , were i nsp i red by an account of Jacques

Cousteau 's underwater explora t ion . More impor tan t ly they focus

on death as a pathway to r eb i r th in a watery universe reminiscen t

of t h a t in "Ocean 1212-W·". In these poems the two impor tan t ear ly

inf luences , the sea and the death of the f a the r , converge. I' Lore le i"

descr ibes a r ive r in darkness and the Rhine nymphs s ing ing

"Of a world more f u l l and clear .. :)rhan can be" . The poe t sees in

t h i s watery universe what the sch izo id i nd iv idua l longs fo r :

"sure harbourage", and an e te rna l ' peace beyond the "mundane order"

of a t roubled l i f e . Even though these nymphs are associa ted with

"the pi tched ree fs of nightmare", wi th madness and with a pro -

found s i l ence so l i ke the dead f a the r who beckoned to her from

beyond the grave, the poe t wants only to jo in t h i s world a l though,

per force , her own death i s i t s passpor t .

' ' 'Full Fathom Five" , the t i t l e of which r e f e r s t o A r i e l. s

song informing Ferdinand of h is f a t h e r ' s s u p ~ o s e d dea th , con

t i nues the theme of "Lore le i " . It emphasizes the poe t ' s longing

to jo in her r e a l fa the r in dea th . Here the "o ld man" surfac ing

from the sea i s s t rangely dis f igured , l ike the broken colossus

of the title poem, a badly i n t e rna l i s e d daddy who in de a th ' s

s i l ence def i es the ques t ions o f h is daughter . She, however,



63

regards he r se l f as ex i l ed from him, and des i res only to leave

the o p p ~ e s s i v e n e s s of a l i f e with which she found it increas ingly

d i f f i c u l t to cope:

Father , t h i s th ick a i r i s murderous.I would brea the water .

I I I BOSTON POEMS

In the f i r s t two groups of poems the poet has at tempted

to descr ibe the menace she sensed inhe ren t in the ex t e r na l world ,

gradua l ly coming to sugges t i t s deeply persona l and i n t e rna l or ig in .

She begins to examine her ro le as an a r t i s t , and to formula te

h er conception of a r t as t h a t which alone surv ives the forces of

d i s in t e g ra t i on i n l i f e . A change can be discerned in the poems

of th e th i rd ,group wri t t en between mid 1958 and the au tumn of

1959 while th e Hugheses were in Boston, fo l lowing Sy l v i a ' s dec is ion

to abandon academia fo r a caree r as a poe t . Many of them draw

on autobiographica l d e t a i l s , prompted no doubt by h e r proximity

a t t h i s t ime to her bi r thp lace . Dis turb ing , pe rsona l exper iences ,

with obvious para l l e l s ih The Bel ' l ' J a r , a re r esur rec ted and

handled poe t i c a l l y . Of "Two Views of a Cadaver Room'!, "Suic ide

O ff Egg Rock" and "Af te rmath" , Ted Hughes has wr i t t e n :

••• they s t e e r in qui te master ful ly towards some p o i n t

in her l i f e t ha t had been pa infu l . For the f i r s t t imeshe t r i ed de l ibe ra te ly to l oca te j u s t what it was t h a thur t . 14

This pa i n f u l , i n t e rna l exper ience i s now explored with a new

candour and i n s i s t e nc e , and was encouraged th roughout t h i s year

by h er par t i c ipa t ion in Rober t Lowel l ' s poe try c las ses a t Boston

14Hughes, "Notes on . • • Pla th ' s Poems", p. 191.



64

Univers i ty , and f r iendsh ip with Anne Sexton, both poe t s whom

she admired and who too were examining the r e a l i t i e s of inner

d iso rde r in t h e i r a r t .

"Two Views of a Cadaver Room" descr ibes an exper ience

s imi l a r to Esther Greenwood's v i s i t to the l abo ra to ry o f Buddy

Willard in the novel . A view of s tudents noncha lan t ly di ssec t ing

corpses i s opposed to a Breugel pa in t ing in which two lovers a re

obl iv ious to the "car r ion army" a t t he i r elbow. The poem'

conveys a hor r i fy ing sense of th e ex ten t to which th e poe t imagined

human exis tence was th rea tened by nightmar i sh , uncon t ro l l ab le

fo rce s . L i t t l e i s spared , ne i t he r the body in dea th , only "a

sal low piece o f s t r ing" holding it t oge ther - -Sy lv ia P l a t h ' s

metaphor for phys ica l weakness become r e a l i t y - -no r the lovers

who, bl ind and dea f , choose to ignore de a th ' s l ee r ing head.

Only a r t spares , s t a l l i n g deso la t ion in pa in t . Yet th e power o f

l ove , though f r ag i l e , " foo l i sh" and " de l i c a t e " , i s recogni sed

as a source of e t e rna l i n s p i r a t i on and a way in which man might

meet l i f e ' s t r i a l s with ,courage. However, as Sylv ia Pla th came

to f ind r e l a t i ons h ip in th e world i nc reas ing ly d i f f i c u l t over

the nex t th ree yea rs , her l a t e r a t t i t ude towards love harbours

only the b i t t e r cynicism of "'The Couriers ": "A r ing of. gold with

th e sun in i t ? /L ie s . Lies and a gr i e f " .

The remarkable poem, "Suic ide Oft" Egg Rock" r e c a l l s

the autobiographica l d e t a i l descr ibed in The B ~ l l Ja r as E s the r ' s

at tempted su ic ide by drowning whi le picn ic ing with Jody and her

f r i ends . The sense of unrea l detachment which imbued "Two Views



'65

of a Cadaver Room" becomes here a sch izo id express ion of loss

of a f f e c t , a f r igh ten ing i nab i l i t y to fee l . In t h i s poem nothing

i s spared, ne i the r th e landscape which has been bru t a l i s e d

by mankind in to some hideous sore , nor nature he r s e l f which has

no concern or pi ty fo r t h i s man who wants to die . Sylv ia Pla th ' s

descr ip t ion of the persona ' s emotional s t a t e a t the po i n t of

death captures in a few b r i l l i a n t l i nes the sch izo id ' s reason

fo r dying. We r e c a l l such an i nd iv idua l ' s wish , no t in f a c t to

d ie , bu t to r e t i r e to some numbed, pro tec ted s t a t e so t h a t repara -

t i ve processes necessary fo r psychic r eb i r th and the development

o f a r e a l ego might come to bear . Hence, there i s II no p i t of

shadow to crawl in to" though c lea r ly th i s - -and not dea th- - i s the

su i c ide ' s or i g i na l des i re in - the poem. He i s descr ibed in l i f e

as f ee l ing dead ins ide , a l ready "beached with the sea ' s garbage",

a mere l iv ing machine. The world has l o s t a l l meaning fo r t h i s

man who views the ro t t i ng f i sh before him in l i nes t h a t r e c a l l

the c u t -o f f pumpkin crown of "Hardcas t le Crags", and convey a l l

the hor ro r o f complete ego d i s in t e g ra t i on :

Fl i e s f i l ing in th rough a dead ska t e ' s eyeholeBuzzed and assa i led the vaul ted b r a i n c h ~ r .The words in h is book wormed o f f the pages.Everything g l i t t e r e d l i ke blank paper .

"Af te rmath" , the s ub j ec t of which i s the profound i nd i f -

ference of the crowd when t ragedy s t r ikes the i nd i v i dua l , para l l e l s

the c rue l s t a r e s Esther in The Bel l Ja r , and undoubtedly the

poe t he r se l f , experienced on r e tu rn ing from the mental hos p i t a l .

The i so l a t i on experienced as " the crowd sucks her l a s t t ea r and



66

tu rns away", serves to confirm th e poe t s d i s i l l u s ione d view

of humanity. The poem may also rep re sen t th e anguished plea of

~ y l v i a Pla th he r se l f who, in f a i l i ng to f ind sympathet ic r e l a t i on

sh ip in her world , in th e end chose the p o s s i b i l i t y of r eb i r th

th rough phys ica l dea th .

More spe c i f i c a l l y au tob iog raph ica l i s "P o i n t Shir leyl l .

This poem i s a eulogy to the grandmother of 1I0cean l2l2-WII, and

memories made keen by the poe t ' s proximi ty to her b i r thp l a c e

t h i s year . Her v i s i t to the abandoned house of the dead

woman, t h a t had withs tood the b r u t a l i t y of the 1938 hur r icane ,

i s descr ibed . The poem opens with a dramat ic por t r aya l of the

conspi r ing na tu ra l forces IIsuch co l lus ion of mul i sh elements ll --cha rac t e r i s t i c of so many of these ear ly poems, and here concen-

t r a t ed in th e rapac ious sea . The poe t t r i e s t o r ek ind le the

s p i r i t of her grandmother but f inds she cannot : some i n t e rna l i s a -

t ion process e s s e n t i a l to t h i s has no t been completed . As a

su rv ivo r she gr i eves , f ee l ing he r s e l f i r r evocab ly cu t o f f from

the love she a s s oc i a t e s 'w i th chi ldhood, and deemed so necessary

now fo r s u r v i va l . Indeed , t h i s love t akes on r e l i g ious imp l i -

ca t ions as the poe t be l i eves the grandmother in dea th - - " she died

b le s sed" - -has achieved th e union descr ibed in II Full Fathom Five ll,

whereas the poe t in l i f e imagines he r se l f a worth less vic t im of

the materna l sea :

And I come byBones, bones only , pawed and tossed ,

We know t h a t it i s th e s c h i z o id ' s l i f e - l ong need fo r h i s pa re n t s - -



67

o r a beloved grandmother - - tha t confe r s upon them t h e i r ac t ua l

power over him. Thus, the persona here i s wi l l ing to abase he r -

s e l f in an almost pa the t i c need fo r love :

I would g e t from these dry-papped s tones

The milk your love i n s t i l l e d in them.

The poem ends with the sad r e a l i s a t i o n t h a t "s tones a re noth ing

of home", and by extens ion the first e igh t happy years. of he r l i f e

as descr ibed in "Ocean l2l2-W" a re gone fo reve r , a l though in an

e s s e n t i a l , emotional way they have never been outgrown •

. 1 I Want, I Want" extends the theme o f "P o i n t Sh i r ley" . The

title, in l i g h t of the poem, echoes a c h i l d ' s cry to be loved

and to be confirmed i n h i s i de n t i t y . With the uncanny i n s i g h t

of the sChizoid i nd i v i dua l , Sylv ia Pla th focuses on th e or ig in o f

her now t r oub led psyche. Ego-psychologi s t s a t t e s t t h a t the

sch izo id s t a t e or ig ina t e s in the pr imary s tages of infancy , in

some breakdown of the c h i l d ' s e a r l i e s t r e l a t i ons h ip with th e mother .

Thus th e "baby god" of the poem c r i e s ou t fo r h is mothe r ' s bre a s t ,

fo r her love , bu t f inds h is need comple te ly uns a t i s f i e d :

The dry volcanoes cr?cked and sp i t ,

Sand' abraded the milkless l ip .

When r e l a t i ons h ip with th e mother f a i l s , th e ch i l d tu rns to the

f a t he r in an emotional way. In Sy lv i a P l a t h ' s case ,when f ru s -

t r a t e d by h is dea th , h er own love must have appeared de s t ruc t ive .

When the joys o f lov ing seemed hope less ly bar red t he re appeared

little a l t e rna t i ve bu t to de l ive r he r se l f over to th e joys of

ha t ing :

Cried then fo r the f a t h e r ' s blood

Who s e t wasp, wolf and shark to work,



68

The r e su l t i s an a du l t engaged in fa l se modes of ex is tence - -" the

i n v e t e ~ a t e , dry-eyed pa t r i a r c h" - -o f almost no genuine emotional

f ee l ings and a harsh , cyn ica l view of l i f e . which the poe t j u s t i -

f i e s by i t s imagined p a r a l l e l in the na tura l universe .

In "The Beekeeper ' s Daughter" and "Colossus" , Sylv ia Pla th

at tempts to an even gre a t e r ex ten t to ' l oca te j u s t what it was

t h a t h u r t ' . The in f luence of Rober t Lowell and Anne Sexton has

been s i gn i f i c a n t fo r he r . Ted Hughes has wri t t en t h a t

"The Beekeeper ' s Daughter" i s one of a group of poemst h a t she wrote a t t h i s t ime about her fa the r • • . Thispoem, one of her c h i l l i e s t , recounts a key event in

her Vita Nuova. IS

This s ta tement i s as enigmat ic as the poem i t s e l f . However, given

Otto Pla th ' s ap ia r i an i n t e r e s t s , the poem explores Sylv ia ' s r e -

l a t ionsh ip with her fa the r . The scene t akes place in a garden ,

b r i l l i a n t with f lowers a lmost obscene in t h e i r f e r t i l i t y and with

a r ichness th rea ten ing to the daughter : "a well o f scen t s almost

too dense to brea the i n" . The f a the r , majes t i c "maestro of the

bees" , moves among the sub jec t s of t h i s garden, which also

inc ludes h is daughter . As in JI Po in t Shi r l ey" , the persona

conceives of her love fo r t h i s pa r en t a l f igure as a masochis t ic

abasement of s e l f : "My h e a r t under your foo t , s i s t e r of a s tone" .

At th e end of the second verse the poe t suggests t h a t in t h i s

f ru i t f u l ambience she may rep lace her mother in a ' l ove r e l a t i on -

sh ip with the fa the r . This i s aff i rmed in the t h i rd s tanza:

lSHughes, "Notes on ••• Pla th ' s Poems", p. 190.



Fa the r , br idegroom, in t h i s Eas te r eggUnder th e coronal o f sugar roses

,The queen bee marr ies the winter of your yea r .!

69

Fai rba i rn po in t s o u t t h a t the ch i ld c ons t i t u t e s the Oedipus

s i t ua t i on for h imse l f , and t ha t a t bottom both are f igu re s o f

the mother . I be l i eve Sylv ia Pla th subconscious ly r e a l i s e s t h i s

in the poem as she assoc ia t es "burrows", "hole-mouth l l ,"Eas ter egg"

and the whole fecundi ty of the garden with the beloved f a the r , a l l

images exempli fy ing a t the same t ime the s ign i f i cance o f th e femi-

nine element . But in e i t h e r case , the poe t sugges t s , love i s

des t r uc t i ve ; it i s II· a f r u i t t h a t ' s dea th to t a s t e " .

An uncol lec ted poem of the same pe r iod , J lElect ra on Azalea

~ a t h " , 1 6 makes th e above sugges t ion c l e a r . The poem i s concerned

with t h i s ' g rea t t ragedy ' o f the sch izo id condi t ion , and i s

th e to r tu red admission o f g u i l t by one who be l i eves it was h e r

love t h a t caused her f a t h e r ' s dea th :

Oh pardon th e one who knocks fo r pardon a tYour ga te , fa the r - -you r hound-b i t ch , daughter , f r i end .

It was my love t h a t d id us both to dea th .

·"The Colossusll

, th e title poem, i s perhaps Sy lv ia P l a t h ' s

most accomplished express ion in t h i s volume of the t roub led

fa the r /daugh te r r e l a t i ons h ip . It a lso looks forward to the ha t e -

fu l ut t e rance in "Daddy", in which the f a t he r i s aga in conceived

as a kind o f behemoth: "Ghast ly s t a t u t e with one grey toe /Big

as a Fr i s co s e a l " . "The Colossus" i s a profound s t a t emen t o f

i n t e rna l t u rmoi l as th e poe t speaks of he r e f f o r t s t o r econs t r uc t

a badly i n t e rna l i s e d daddy whose love she c raves fo r conf i rmat ion

l 6"E lec t ra on Azalea Path" , Hudson Review, 13, autumn

1960, p . 414.



70

of her own i de n t i t y . She looks back over t h i r ty years of inces-

san t l abour by one so diminished in selfhood as to be little more

than an an t , at tempt ing to patch toge ther the monstrous f igure

of a f a the r overwhelmingly important to her . But t h i s t o i l , hO\ ' l -

ever despera te , i s f u t i l e ; ne i t he r the now i na l t e r a b l e condi t ions

o f chi ldhood, nor the f a i l u re of the mother to engender a f irm

core o f 'on to log ica l s e c u r i t y ' can be changed. The poe t r e a l i s e s

the u t t e r imposs ib i l i ty o f her t a s k , the fo l ly of ' do ing ' when

she has no sense of ' b e ing ' :

I sha l l never g e t you put toge ther e n t i r e ly ,

Pieced , g lued , and proper ly jo in ted .

Yet she cannot tu rn away from these f a l se modes of su rv iva l because

l i f e seems to hold ou t no other ~ l t e r n a t i v e . The deeply persona l

though unfu l f i l l e d nature o f her p l i gh t , as in II" The Beekeeper ' s

Daughter" , i s sugges ted in the" acknowledgement t h a t "my hours a re

married to a shadow", thereby render ing a love r e l a t ionsh ip with

a r e a l husband most d i f f i c u l t indeed. The poem ends on a note of

despa i r . The j ocu la r a i r of r es igna t ion i s be l ied by the f i na l

l i ne s which express a l l the sense of ex i l e and i s o l a t i on , of

permanent a ~ a n d o n m e n t , Sylvia Plath as an adu l t so pa infu l ly f e l t :

No longer do I l i s t e n fo r the scrape of a kee lOn the blank s tones of the l anding .

IV YADDO POEMS

The poems of the four th and l a s t group in th e volume,wri t -

ten while the Hugheses were v i s i t i ng a t Yaddo in the autumn of 1959,

immediately p r i o r to t he i r r e tu rn to England, di f fe r - - excep t ing



71

"Poem fo r a Bir thday" - - from the di s tu rb ing autob iographica l con

cerns of the t h i rd group, having ins tead an ex te rna l , medi ta t ive

focus. There was the ready in f luence o f the contempla t ive exer

c i ses and se r i e s o f invoca t ions the Hugheses had devi sed toge ther

while a t Yaddo. Sy lv ia Pla th now turns to na ture with a f resh eye ,

accept ing i t s menaGe withou t needing to impose a persona l malignancy.

As she l ea rned to face th e r e a l t roub le wi th in , and came to pe r

ce ive . the ex ten t to which the inner world gave her i nsp i ra t ion fo r

poe t ry , na ture became a secondary cons idera t ion . Moreover, the

new poems gained power and l uc i d i t y from being read a loud; the

remarkab le" Poem fo r a Birthday" espec ia l ly m a ~ c . k s t h i s new speaking

voice . Hence, the na ture poems wri t t en a t Yaddo are no t espec ia l -

ly i n t e r e s t i ng and t end to cen t re on the acceptance of l i f e as

descr ibed -in "The Burnt-Out Spa": "The st ream t h a t hus t l e s us /Nei ther

nourishes nor hea ls" •

A more percep t ive response occurs in "The Manor Garden",

the scene o f which i s most l i ke ly the decaying autumnal garden

a t Yaddo. Sylv ia P la th ~ a s pregnant a t t h i s t ime with her f i r s t

ch i ld and it seems l i k e ly , s ince the poem addresses in a casua l ,

musing way the imminent a r r i v a l of another , t h a t she would have

been espec ia l ly consc ious of the ever-renewing cyc le o f b i r t h

and dea th . The poe t appears to address the_ growing foe tus wi th in

her as it progresses through the e a r l i e s t s tages of development ,

from i t s appearance as a f i sh and a p i g , soon coming " c l e a r of the

shadow" to human form--a progress ion matched by the cont inua l

change in na ture i t s e l f . The f i n a l l i nes marry t h i s thought



72

with a s ta tement of union between the na t u r a l and human realms:

The smal l b i r ds converge, converge:With t h e i r g i f t s to a d i f f i c u l t borning.

"Poem fo r a Birthday" can be cons idered Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

most notab le achievement in The Colossus . It i s a symphonic s t a t e -

ment of a sch izo id ' s i n t ense inner world to the e luc ida t ion of

which, perhaps unwi t t ing ly , the poet had dedica ted her poe t i c g i f t s .

Ted Hughes provides background informat ion of the se r i e s :

She was read ing Paul Radin 's co l lec t ion of Afr icanfo lk - t a l e s with gre a t exci tement . In these she foundthe underworld of her wors t nightmares throwing upi n t ense ly be a u t i fu l adventures , where the most unsuspected voices thr ived under the pressures of a r e a l i t yt ha t made most accepted f i c t i on seem a r t i f i c i a l andspur ious . At the same t ime she was r ead ing- -c lose ly

and sympathe t ica l ly fo r the f i r s t t ime- -Roethke ' s poems.

The r e su l t was a se r i e s of pieces , each a monologue 17of some charac te r in an underground, pr imi t ive drama.

In imagery-- the i n t e r e s t in the vege tab le and i n se c t world- -and in

form-- the shor t , ab rup t l i nes , the in f luence of Roethke can be

seen. But above a l l ,Sy lv i a Pla th had become more conf iden t in her

poe t i c powers a t the same t ime as she f e l t new l i f e s t i r r i n g with in

her . She was now able to, give a r t i s t i c express ion to the 'under-

world of her wors t nightmares ' wi th a l uc id i ty and courage she

had not prev ious ly revea led .

That the se r i e s i s going to be a kind of s e l f - p o r t r a i t i s

made c lea r with the opening poem, enigmat ica l ly t i t l e d "Who"'. It

begs the ques t ions , 'Whose b i r thda y? ' , and th e gre a t e r one of

i de n t i t y t ha t haunt s Sylv ia Pla th ' s poe t ry , 'Who am I ? ' The

f i r s t ques t ion appears to be answered as the poem begins with the

17Hughes, "Notes on ••• Pla th ' s Poems u

, p . 192.



73

mention of October , fo r the poe t ' s bi r thday was in t h i s month.

The second ques t ion i s never fu l ly answered, fo r it remained

the abid ing enigma behind the poet ry and the l i f e i t s e l f .

IIWho II, the f i r s t sec t ion o f II Poem fo r a Bir thday" cent res

on October , th e seasonal death of th e year as the poe t , having

wandered to an o ld t o o l shed, begins her col lage o f r e f l e c t i ons .

The poem conta ins elements of the dying garden a t Yaddo, o f the

poe t ' s pregnancy, and memories of her exper ience in a mental hos-

p i t a l . She records fee l ing shut ou t forever from th e bounty of

th e year as she descr ibes , in i n t ense o r a l imagery, th e l i b i d i na l

or i en t a t i on o f her s ta rv ing emot ional s t a t e : "The f r u i t ' s i n , /

Eaten or ro t t e n . I am a l l mouth". Conscious only of a profound

use lessness and fee l ing of emptiness , she f ee l s a t home among

th e broken, ru s ty too l s in th e shed, and admits t h a t even lithe

sp iders won ' t no t i ce" her presence . Lacking a sense of her own

i de n t i t y s ~ e can equa te he r s e l f only with some inconsequent ia l ,

inhuman, unfee l ing ob jec t :

I am a r oo t , a s t one , an owl p e l l e t ,Without dreams of any so r t .

This presen t condi t ion i s comparable , the f i n a l l i ne s sugges t ,

to Sylvia P l a t h ' s r e a l exper ience in th e mental hos p i t a l , of

being one of the l i v ing dead subjec ted to shock t rea tments and

the subsequent l oss o f memory.

As the p o e t probes her anguished inner world , she sub-

consciously r e a l i s e s t h a t th e problem i s in some way i n t r in s i ca l ly

l inked with her mother who fa i l ed to feed t h i s daughter love



74

enough to confirm i de n t i t y : "Mother, you are the one mouth/I

would be a tongue t o" . Feel ing i den t i ty le ss t he re a f t e r and

I

unable to f ind in l i f e th e sense of ' on t o l og i ca l s e c u r i t y ' neces-

sary to cont inued ex i s t ence , the poe t longs only fo r dea th .

Appropr ia te ly , it i s imagined as a kind of r e b i r t h , a re tu rn to

the mother f i gu r e , a hope t ha t the weak ego might have a second

chance to grow: "Mother o f o therness /Ea t me". In any event ,

th e 'poet c r i e s to be f reed from the ex igenc ies of .a l i f e with

which she was f ind ing it inc rea s ing ly d i f f i c u l t to cope: " I f only

the wind would leave my lungs a lone" .

The second sec t ion of t h i s longer poem, lIbark House", con-

t i nues the theme of the f i r s t in i t s exp lo ra t ion of the sch izo id

des i re to ' c r awl back i n s i d e ' . That Sylv ia Pla th he r se l f was

pregnant a t t h i s t ime adds a c e r t a in poignancy to her menta l

condi t ion . As the poe t descr ibes he r s e l f "chewing a t th e grey

paper , /Oozing the glue drops" , we perce ive t h i s fu t i l e exe rc i s e

in ' do i ng ' , these labours por t rayed so of ten in he r a r t to

' pa t ch toge ther ' an i de n t i t y . We know t h a t the regressed ego

of the sch izo id i nd iv idua l of ten undergoes sp l i t t i n g a t deeper

l e ve l s , and in fu r the r a l i e na t ing him from r e l a t i ons h ip i n the

world forces such a person always to be h is own guide , to e x i s t

by fa l se modes of surv iva l . Hence, the persona speaks of the

"many c e l l a r s " in t h i s dark house , and while poss ib le to "see

by my own l i gh t " he re , c lea r ly di rec t ion has n o t been found

because "more maps" must be'made. As the poe t imagines he r se l f

, grubbing bl ind l i ke a mole in s ide her psyche , she f e e l s th e



75

unborn ch i ld s t i r r i n g wi th in h er be l l y and th inks o f it as

inhuman and devour ing as it sucks l i f e from he r . The poem c loses

with th e poe t envious of t h i s foe tus , wishing he r s e l f to escape

where

It i s warm and t o l e r a b l e

In the bowel of the roo t .

Here s a cuddly rrother.

IIMaenad", the t h i rd sec t ion , cont inues t h i s thought as the

poe t looks back from the f renz ied s t a t e of adul thood t o ch i l d -

hood, a happy, f a i r y - t a l e world where love was enjoyed, a t l e a s t

from th e f a t he r :

Once I was ord inary :

S a t by my fa , ther ' s bean t ree

Eat ing the f inge rs o f wisdom.

With the f a t h e r ' s death th e ch i ld f e l t acute ly the lack o f a

mothe r ' s love and the poor i n t e rna l i s a t i on of t h i s beloved f a t he r :

liThe mother o f mouth ' s d i d n ' t love me./The o ld man shrank to a

d o l lll

• She has surv ived wi th an unrequi ted need fo r love and

conf i rmat ion of her i de n t i t y . We have seen t ha t the sch izo id

a c t i v i t y o f t ry ing to c re a t e a ' s e l f ' inva r iab ly meets with

f a i l u r e , s ince t h i s g i f t i s b e s t bequeathed by the mother in

e a r l i e s t chi ldhood. This never having been accomplished in the

poe t ' s . case , she now r e j e c t s her mother ou t r i gh t : IIMother, keep

o u t o f my ba r nya r d , / I am becoming another" . The poe t longs fo r

the peace of dea th bu t r e a l i s e s t h a t u n t i l then she can only

swallow what t ime has a l lo t t ed her . "Maenad" ends with a bleak

u t te rance t h a t i s no t even a ques t ion : "Te l l me my name ll• It

i s a l so Es t he r Greenwood's numbed r eac t ion in The Bel l J a r



76

as she l i e s bar ren o f memory fo l lowing e lec t ro -convu l s ive

therapy .

I

The four th sec t ion of "Poem fo r a Bir thday" , "The Beas t " ,

a lso opens with memories o f th e fa the r and those first e ig h t

happy years when he re igned omnipotent in h is daugh te r ' s eyes :

Breath ing was easy in h is a i ry holding.The sun s a t i n h i s a rmpi t .

Nothing went mouldy.

Then came th e move in land and the r e a l i s a t i o n : " I hard ly knew

h ' "1IU • Marr iage was an a t tempt to f ind in anothe r what the fa the r

had once been' , b u t t h i s too has proved u l t ima te ly d i s i l l u s i on i ng :

"I've-married a cupboard of rubbish.iT bed in a f i sh pudd le" . Li fe

now i s 'mouldy' indeed as she imagines he r s e l f exi led to th e bowels

of the ear th , w i thou t value , above a l l in her own eyes :

I housekeep in Time 's gut-end

Among emmets and mol luscs ,Duchess o f Nothing,Hai r tu sk ' s b r ide .

The f i f t h sec t ion , "Flu te Notes from a Reedy Pond", de-

sc r ibe s t h i s emot ional s lough of despond reached in the four th

.sec t ion . It i s por t rayed as a co ld , dank world a t the bottom o f

a l i l y pond where " the re i s little s he l t e r " , and every th ing i s

numbed by Le the ' s fo rg e t fu l wat e r s . The p o e t welcomes t h i s s t a t e

which, once more, i s c l e a r ly no t so much a d e s i r e fo r death as a

wish to r e t r e a t from the i nces san t demands o f l i f e :

This i s not dea th , it i s something s a f e r .

The wingy myths won ' t tug a t us any more.

In the f i n a l two sec t ions o f "Poem fo r a Bir thday" th e

poe t a t tempts to ob j ec t i f y h er i l l ne s s and to sum up her l i f e



77

in t h i s bir thday month. The sch izo id ' s inner world , f raught

by nightmarish i n t e rna l pe rsecu to rs , i s captured in "Witch

Burning", the s ix th sec t ion . The poet descr ibes her e f f o r t s to

cont ro l the bad objec t s with in by tu rn ing an i n t e l l e c t u a l ha tred

upon herse l f ; r ea l i s ing t h a t she i s both the witch and the wax

do l l , the persecu tor and persecuted , she fee l s t h a t "only the

dev i l can e a t the dev i l ou t" . She perce ives the fu t i l i t y of

blaming the pa s t or the death and inadequacies of pa r en t s . Yet

she i s caught in the sch izo id double-bind: ne i the r does she fu l ly

understand t h a t her presen t f ee l ings of life's f u t i l i t y and

her - longing to d ie do or ig ina t e in t h i s pas t ; nor has she found

p o s s i b i l i t i e s fo r e sse n t i a l r epara t ive ego growth in her pr e s en t

l i f e . The only a l t e rna t i ve seems to involve cont inu ing her f a l s e ,

despera te e f f o r t s to fash ion s e l f - i d e n t i t y . We see now the f i r s t

ins tance of the t e r r i b l e anger so c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of Ar ie l , and

here d i r ec t ed aga i ns t t h i s weak, r e c a l c i t r a n t se l f : " I t hur t s

a t f i r s t . The red tongues w i l l teach the t r u t h" .

"The Stones" , th e f i n a l poem in t h i s s e r i e s , was also the

l a s t poem Sylv ia Plath wrote in America. It r epresen t s a sober

re tu rn to r e a l i t y and to san i ty from the inne r world peopled by

th e mad, nightmarish c r ea t i ons of II Wi tch Burning". _It i s also

the courageous ut t e rance by one who fee l s dra ined of any human

response , indeed of l i f e i t s e l f . The poe t focuses on the sugges

t ion above, of the f a i l u r e of e f fo r t s to be reborn wi th in l i f e ,

o f being allowed to r egress under the care of a t l e a s t one under

s tanding person so t ha t psychic healing and the growth of a r e a l

ego may begin.



78

Denied i den t i ty by the mother , the poe t chose th e womb-

l i ke c e l l a r of he r f i r s t su ic ide a t tempt , only to be removed to

a mental hos p i t a l where smi l ing a l i ens ' do ' th ings to he r - - such as

e lec t ro -convu ls ive , therapy- - leav ing the t roub le wi th in unmi t i -

gated by the exper ience :

The grafters are cheerful;

Heat ing the pincer s , ho is t ing the de l i c a t e hammers.A cu r r en t a g i t a t e s the wires

Vol t upon v o l t . Catgut s t i t c he s my f i s s u re s .

The e sse n t i a l problem, the "mouth-hole" cry ing fo r love and con-

f i rma t ion o f i de n t i t y , meets only a "quarry of s i l ences " . Again

and again th roughout Sylv ia Pl a t h ' s a r t the persona r e t u r ns t o

her percep t ion of the or ig in o f t h i s i nne r weakness. With th e

death of the f a the r , the f u l l force of the mo ther ' s i nd i f f e rence

i s r e a l i z e d . A famine o f love has b l igh ted her ex i s tence :

... ente redThe stomach o f i nd i f f e rence , the wordless cupboard.

The rrother of pestles diminished me.I l::ecarre a s t i l l pebble.

As an adu l t she has r e t a ined a l l th e vorac ious o r a l need fo r food

and a f fec t ion of the YOU?g ch i l d . Her agony i s t h a t she cannot

f ind fu l f i l lme n t o f t h i s cry ing 'mouth-hole ' : "Drunk as a foe tu s /

I suck a t the paps of darkness" . Nor does t he poe t f e e l she can

depend on love al though it i s e s s e n t i a l to th e r epa r a t i ve process ,

fo r its pr imary exper ience has been so sCarred . In her sch izo id

perspec t ive love can only be des t r uc t i ve : "Love i s th e uniform

o f my bald nurS3 .. /Love i s the bone and sinew of my curse \ \ . The

poem ends b leak ly , th e medica l j aun t ine s s of the f i n a l , i r on i c

l i ne accu ra te ly 'conveying the wor ld ' s u t t e r l y i n d i f f e r e n t response .

S;ylvia P la th , ',the su rv ivo r , could only endure a little longer :



79

"My mendings i t ch . There i s nothing to do . / I sha l l be as good

as new".

The manifes t uni ty and a r t i s t r y o f " Poem fo r a Bir thday"

se t s it a pa r t as a cons iderab le achievement in The Colossus. The

se r i e s i s a marked advance over the academic remoteness of the

e a r l i e r poems in i t s i n t ense examinat ion of the sch izo id menta l

s t a t e . Sylv ia Pla th had red iscovered Roethke ' s poe try a t an

important s tage in h er poe t i c development and found in it, as she

had a l so found in f r iendship with Lowell and Anne Sexton, kindred

voices lending her courage to f ind her own. Although the poe t

always remained sens i t ive to the world of na t u r e , the d i f fu se ,

ex t e r na l universe of the ea r ly poems i s l a rge ly abandoned he re -

a f t e r for the brooding concerns of a psyche tormented by a ha tred

of i t s own weakness.



CHAPTER IV

CROSSING THE WATER: THE TRANSITIONAL PHASE

The Colossus r epresen t s the culminat ion of the f i r s t

' phase o f Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a r t i s t i c development; A r i e l , he r only

o the r se l f - e d i t e d c o l l e c t i on i s c lea r ly di s t ingu i shed by a

cons iderab le advance in poe t i c s t a t u r e . The Colossus had been

long in ges t a t i on . Ready fo r publ i ca t ion in the summer o f

19561

shor t ly a f t e r her nlarr iage, it was f ina l ly publ i shed four

years l a t e r . The volume was rev ised many t imes , Sylv ia speaking

with discouragement o f "beginning to wither to one o f my s i l e n t

cen t e r s " as she repea ted ly submit ted the manuscr ip t under ever -

changing t i t l e s :

Nothing s t i nks l i ke a p i l e o f unpublished w r i t i ng ,

which remark I guess shows I still d o n ' t have a puremotive (0 i t ' s - s uc h - fun - I - j u s t - c a n t t - s top -who-c a re s

i f - i t ' s - pub l i she d -o r - r e a d ) about w r i t i ~ g ... I still wantto see it f i n a l l y r i t u a l i z e d in p r i n t . ,

The Colossus was f i n a l l y accep ted by Heinemann a t the

end of January 1960 fo r f a l l publ i ca t ion . Thus Crossing th e Water, ,

publ i shed postumously in 1971, r epresen t s a t r a n s i t i o n a l phase from

The Colossus to Ar ie l , from the f i na l months of 1959 and the wri t ing

lLois Ames, "Notes Toward a Biography" , in : The' Ar't' 'of

Sylv ia P la th , p. 166.

2 'Quoted by Ames, 0 E . c i t . , p . 168

80



81

of "Poem fo r a Bir thday" u n t i l ear ly 1962, fo r Winter Trees and

A r ie l a re l a rge ly the achievement of her l a s t year of l i f e .

During t h i s per iod the Hugheses had re turned to England (December,

1959) , moved from London to t he i r cot tage in Devon (summer, 1960) ,

and saw the b i r t h of two ch i ld ren , Fr ieda (Apri l 1, 1960) and

Nicholas (January 17, 1962) .

Many of the poems in Cr·ossing the Water , r e f l ec t ing th e

event s of these yea rs , were f i r s t publ ished in magazines o r in

l imi t ed ed i t ions throughout 1961 and 1962. But as i s a l so t rue

of Winter Trees , they remained ' uncol lec ted poems' in Sylv ia

Pla th ' s mind; only th ree o f them3

were inc luded in h er se lec t ion

of the A r i e l poems. While conta in ing a number of s t rong poems,

t h i s in te rmediary volume i s uneven in qua l i t y , and lacks the un i ty

o f e i t he r The Colossus or A r i e l . The poe t he r s e l f found th e l i f e

s t y l e she was l ead ing wi th two very young ch i l d r en , housework

and wri t ing in s h i f t s , f ru s t r a t i ng and in th e end no t very pro-

duc t ive : "a couple of poems I l ike a year looks l i ke a l o t when

they come ou t , bu t in f a c t a re po in t s o f sa t i s f a c t i on separa ted by

l a rge vacanc ies" .4 "S t i l l bo rn" po in t s to the weakness of. t h i s

t r a n s i t i o n a l c o l l e c t i on :

These poems do no t l i ve : it's a sad diagnos is .

But they a re dead , and t h e i r mother near dead with

d i s t r a c t i on ,

And they s tup id ly s t a r e , and do not speak of her .

Sylv ia P l a t h ' s judgement of her work, even given her high

s tandards of a r t i s t i c exce l lence , was harsh . Ted Hughes has

3,!you ' r e" , "Tul i ps" and "Morning Song", c f . Hughes,

"Notes on . • • Pla th ' s poems", p . 193•.

4Quoted by Ames, "Notes Toward a Biography" , p . 170.



82

wri t t en t h a t when "she consol ida ted her hold on the second phase" ,

two years a f t e r w r i t i n g " Poem fo r a Bir thday" , "she dismissed

everything pr i o r to "The Stones" as J uve n i l i a , produced in the

days before she became he r s e l f " . This a r r i v a l a t "he r own centre

o f gr av i t y" , Hughes sugges ts , had l a rge ly to do with the b i r t h

of her f i r s t c h i ld , hera ld ing f i e rce ly c r ea t i ve powers which

found t h e i r gre a t e s t express ion a f t e r the b i r th o f a son two years

l a t e r . "The Stones" , the re fore , a t l e a s t in Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

mind, marked a s i gn i f i c a n t tu rn ing po i n t . No longer were the

usua l l abours over the Thesaurus necessary . In a note to the

poem Hughes speaks of the powers, always s t ronge r than she was,

t h a t compelled her to wri t e so slowly b u t then. "qui t e suddenly

she found he r s e l f f ree to l e t he r s e l f drop , r a the r t han inch over

5br idges of concepts" . "The Stones" cen te r s on the c o n f l i c t a t

the h e a r t of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s poet ry he re a f t e r . On the one hand

t he re i s what Richard Howard terms the ' l i t h i c impulse ' ,6 the

de s i r e to escape the cont ingenc ies of l i f e , a r egress ive s t a t e

metaphor ica l ly descr ibed as an i n e r t , unfee l ing s tone ," t ac i tu rn

and sepa ra te ... in a quarry o f s i l ences " . On the other hand

t he re remained th e des i re to l i ve , and to t e s t i f y in a r t to her

i n a b i l i t y to communicate with a world t h a t ignored her pa r t i c u l a r

~ c h i z o i d v i s ion . "She faced a ta sk in he r se l f " , Hughes conf i rms

"and her poe t ry i s the record of her progress in th e t a sk" .7 Only

:::-.:

Wanted

5Hughes, "Notes on . . • P Ia th ' s Poems ", p. 192.

6Richard Howard, "Sy lv ia Pla th . 'And I Have No Face , I Have.

to Efface Myself . . .r", in The A rt of Sylv ia Pla th , p. 79.

7Hughes, o p . c i t . , p. 187.



83

in the poems wri t t en in the f i na l days o f l i f e does she abandon

a l l h o p ~ , welcoming death as the one abso lu te in a world of d i

minishing a l t e rna t ives . Hence, as a t r an s i t i ona l volume Crossing

the Water e labora tes upon the dichotomy noted in ' ~ T h e Stones" I

and marks the beginning of an increas ingly persona l record which

culminated i n Ar i e l , and in su ic ide .

At l e a s t two poems in CYos"sing the" Water, "Pr ivate Ground"

andI I I am

Ver t ica l

ll,

per ta in to the l a s t group in the" Colossus ,

or ig ina t ing from the hol iday a t Yaddo. Although publ i shed a year

l a t e r than liThe Manor Garden l f, "Pr ivate Ground" a l so explores the

poe t ' s r eac t ions to the grounds a t Yaddo. While the e a r l i e r poem

focused on her melancholy sens i t i v i ty to the death of the year

and to the wonder of her f i r s t pregnancy, the l a t e r one i s much more

in t rospec t ive as the pr iva t e e s t a t e becomes a metaphor fo r the

poe t ' s ensuing psychologica l r egress ion . The descending b e l l j a r

consciousness i s re f l ec ted in her v iv id percep t ion of the prepa

r a t i ons fo r winte r - - these v i sua l descr ip t ions so cha rac t e r i s t i c

of The Colossus- -as the 'Greek s ta tues are boarded up, the f i shponds

dra ined and a l l i s packed away. The poe t has a sense of being

sea led o ff by a superhighway nearby in t h i s progress ive ly l i f e l e s s

world where even lithe day fo rge t s i t s e l f " . A sch izo id awareness

of the fu t i l i t y of any human ges ture c loses the poem. Though

she c o l l e c t s the carp l e f t to d ie in the dra ined pond, the lake



84

with i t s devouring maw to which she de l ive r s them remains

di s tu rb ing ly ambivalent : "Morgue of old logs and o ld images,!

the lake/Opens and shuts , accept ing them among i t s r e f l e c t i ons ll •

In i t s preoccupat ion with death , II . I am Vertical '" c lose ly

resembles mate r ia l in "Poem fo r a Bir thday II . The poe t f ee l s her-

se l f a l i ena ted from the na t u r a l universe , a metaphor in the poem

fo r an una l te rab le separa t ion from the pa ren ta l love Sylv ia Pla th

always craved. She imagines the roo t s o f t r ees sucking up

"minera ls and mother ly love" , and beau t i f u l f lowers , as in liThe

Beekeeper ' s Daughter" , gain ing the "Ahs" of f a the r ly a t t e n t ion .

The sch izo id need to 'draw back ins ide l i s imaged in the numb,

i de n t i t y l e s s s leep which al lows her to come c lo s e s t to achieving

a s t a t e of uni ty and ' on to log ica l s ecu r i t y ' with her world. Never-

t he l e s s , it i s an admission o f f a i l u re to f ind r e l a t i ons h i p i n

the human dimension t ha t makes death- -and the poss i b i l i t y of a

happier r e b i r t h - - s o a t t r a c t i ve : "And I s ha l l be use fu l when I

l i e down f ina l ly : /Then the t rees may touch me fo r once, and the

f lowers have t ime fo r me.". The poem' s quie t a s se r t ion of he r

longing to d ie both hera lds the i n t e ns i t y of t h i s dec is ion in such

l a t e r poems as "Lady Lazarus" and "Ar ie l " , and a t the same t ime

e f fec t ive ly cont ras t s the pa in and f e roc i ty of the l a t t e r with

i t s own l y r i c a l beauty .

As in The Colossus , many of the poems in Crossing the Water

r e f l e c t Sylvia P l a t h ' s gr ea t se ns i t i v i t y to the na t u r a l world .

Five o f them a re concerned with her reac t ions to s pec i f i c p laces .



85

"Two Campers in Cloud Country" a n d " Sleep in the Mojave Dese r t "

probably or ig ina ted in the camping t r i p the Hugheses took in

1959 j u s t pr i o r to t h e i r v i s i t a t Yaddo, while "Wuthering Heights" ,

"F in i s te r re" and "Par l iament H i l l F ie ld s " pe r t a in to the Engl ish

landscape on t h e i r r e tu rn . "Two Campers in Cloud Country" i s con-

cerned with the f l ee ing of a "pol i t e" and s tu l t i f y in g Boston to

a rugged wi lderness - - " the l a s t f ron t i e r of the b i g , brash s p i r i t " - -

bu t overpowering to a sense of human i den t i t y . Although a t t r a c t i v e

a t f i r s t , th e whole exper ience takes on menacing over tones fa r

more di s tu rb ing than the ennui of Boston as the poe t senses an

i ns id ious t h rea t to s e l f :

Around our t e n t the o ld s i m p l i c i t i e s soughSleepi ly as Lethe , t r y ing to g e t in .

We' l l wake blank-bra ined as water in the dawn.

We saw' in The Colossus t h a t the poe t ' s consciousness of a

di s tu rb ing menace lu rk ing a t th e edge of the day l i gh t world o r i -

gina ted in he r t roubled schizoid se l f . Or as Richard Howard

expresses it, " the s p i r i t of place , fo r he r , was her s p i r i t in t ha t

place l l •8

Hence, the i nc i p i e n t t e r r o r conceived in the na tu ra l

landscape r e f e r s equa l ly we l l to both the American and Engl i sh

environments . IIWuthering Heights" explores t he re fore the same

sch izo id fea r of ' l o s s of i nner con ten t s ' t o the hos t i l e elements

as does "Two Campers in Cloud Country" . The former i s a l so some

th ing of a companion poem to the e a r l i e r "B a rdcas t l e Crags" . Both

record the poe t ' s i n t ense reac t ion to the foreboding landscape

of her husband 's na t ive West Yorksh i re as it th rea tened to snuff

8Howard, II Sylv ia Pla th : I And I Have No Face • . • Ii , p. 78.



86

ou t he r "smal l hea t " a l t oge t he r . The pe r sona l dimension i s

emphasized in the poem, bu t un l ike Emily Bronte who saw a f i e rce

s t r eng th in t h i s l and , Sy lv ia Pla th senses only th e co ld , in

human d i s s o l u t i on o f h er weak s e l f :

I can f e e l it ( the wind) t ry ing

To funnel my hea t away.

I f I pay the roo t s of the hea ther

Too c lose a t t e n t i on , they w i l l i nv i t e meTo whiten my bones among them.

The ambivalence the sch izo id ind iv idua l ha te s cha r ac t e r i z e s these

moors. "T i l t ed and d i s pa r a t e llthey a re "always uns tab le " , o f-

fe r ing ne i t he r warmth nor the poss ib i l i t y o f r e l a t i ons h ip : " they

only d is so lve and d is so lve /L ike a se r i e s o f promises , as I s tep

forward" . Even the graz ing sheep who "know what they a re" have

a gr ea t e r sense of pe r sona l i de n t i t y than she , an exper ience

t h a t i s " l i ke being mailed in to space, /A t h i n ! s i l l y message" .

,The poe t i s express ing a s t a t e of f r igh ten ing psychologica l i s o -

l a t i on , in which o th e r people a re remembered by the mut te r ing

wind as th e inanimate ' b l ack s tones ' of "Hardcas t le Crags" . She

f e e l s he r s e l f being bea ten t o ex t i nc t i on as the poem c loses , i n

l i ne s t h a t p a r a l l e l the longing fo r d e a t h ' s un i ty in " I am V er t i -

c a l " : "The sky l e ans on me, me, th e one upright/Among a l l

hor i zon ta l s" . In these e a r l i e r poems Sylv ia Pla th still r e t a i n s

s u f f i c i e n t detachment to d e l i g h t in c e r t a i n aspec ts o f h er world ,

as she does here in descr ib ing the sheep , disguised as grandmothers ,

"Al l wig c u r l s and yel low tee th /And ha rd , marbly baas" .

In an e f f o r t to convey the i nc reas ing f r a i l t y and in

subs t a n t i a l i t y o f a weak ego, the image o f an inanimate paper



87

s e l f f a s c i na t e s Sylv ia Pla th f rom" Wuthering Heights" onwards.

It occurs th roughout Cross ing the Water, most notab ly in th e

title poem in which she descr ibes "two black , cu t -paper people" ;

or as th e "shee t of blank paper" i n " A L i f e " , th e shadow o f an

i den t i ty the hos p i t a l i s e d woman drags behind her . The image gains

in i n t e ns i t y and pe r sona l emphasis with the A r i e l poems; the

poe t , fol lowing i l l n e s s and despa i r de sc r ib ing he r se l f in "Tul ips"

,a s " f l a t , r i d i c u lous , a cu t -pape r shadow". It culmina tes perhaps

in "Cut" . Here the s c h i z o id ' s despe ra t e a t tempts to f e e l ' r e a l '

i s expressed in her p leasu re a t having c u t . o f f th e top o f h er

thumb and then : " I have taken a p i l l to k i l l /T he t h in papery

f ee l i ng" .

The menace o f the na tu ra l envi ronment to a f r ag i l e sense

of being i s again the s ub j ec t of " F i n i s t e r r e " . The poe t ' s own

i n s ubs t a n t i a l s e l f f inds a dramat ic p a r a l l e l in t h i s ragged penin-

su la o f land descr ibed as a g ia n t ' s "knarled hand, "cramped on

noth ing" . As she watches the bot tomless exploding sea beneath

her , th e g lory o f i t s pa s t i s l o s t in presen t despa i r : "Now it i s

only gloomy". Imagining the mis t s as composed of th e hope less

souls of th e dead she walks among them, b u t f a i l s to r e t a i n a

sense of persona l i de n t i t y : " they s t u f f my mouth with co t ton" .

The influence of Fobert lowell ' s " Our Lady o f Walsingham" I sec t ion

s ix o f h is "Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket ri , can be seen in th e

descr ip t ion of "Our Lady of the Shipwrecked", in the t h i rd verse

o fII , • " 9Fl.nl .sterre . But unl ike Lowel l ' s ne u t r a l d i v i n i t y , Sylv ia

9Robert Lowell , "The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket" , Poems1938-1949 (Faber , 1960), p. 18. See a l so E. Aird , Sylv ia Pla th

{Edinburgh: Ol ive r & Boyd, 1973) , p . 42.



88

P l a t h ' s "Lady"- - l ike the poe t ' s f a the r - - i s deaf to the prayers

of her worshippers who be l i eve in and depend on her , fo r "she i s

in l o v ~ with the be a u t i fu l formlessness of the seall

• Clear ly ,

al though the poem ends with a descr ip t ion of the vendors ' s t a l l s

and t r i n k e t she l l s from the sea , akin to the f r i v o l i t y of h er

mother ' s world as explored in "The Disquie t ing Muses", the poe t ' s

imaginat ion has been captured by " the Bay of the Dead down the re" ,

he r f a t h e r ' s dark universe .

' . 'Parliament Hil l F ie lds" , the l a s t of those poems de s c r i -

bing a pa r t i c u l a r se t t i ng in Crossing the Water, begins as a

c i ty scape al though it i s also gumkly adumbrated as an innerscape .

The poem was f i r s t publ ished in August 1961, and appears to

f t th ' , th t . d th . . t 1 0~ e ~ r 0 e mlscarr lage e poe exper lence e prevl0us Wln ere

Suffe r ing t h i s los s / she fee l s he rse l f ignored both by the na tu ra l

and the human realms, in the l a t t e r ins tance by the ucrocodi le"

of young g i r l s opening to swallow her . More impor tan t ly , th e

sch izo id fea r of lack of i den t i ty has also been ignored: "Nobody

can t e l l what I lack . • • I 'm a s tone , a s t i c k" . Her demands fo r

re la t ionsh ip a re met by II s i l ence a f t e r s i l ence" . As in " F in i s -

t e r r e " she i s gagged in her e f fo r t s to communicate, the wind

s topping her breath " l i ke a bandage". The l oss of the unborn

ch i ld confirms her f a i l u r e , and images c l u s t e r to convey a sense

of i n f e r t i l i t y , of l e t t i n g go: "Your c ry fades l ike the c ry

o f a g n a t . / I lose s i gh t of you on your b"lind journey". Acknow-

ledging t ha t g r i e f does fade a l though sorrow l i nge r s , the poe t

" r.emembe"rs the" nursery and her l iv ing daughter . But as she

lOAird, Sylv ia P la th , p. 44.



89

tu rns to go in her own ' t a l e of old sorrow l beckons from the

darkness :

The old dregs , the old d i f f i c u l t i e s take me to wife .

Gulls s t i f f e n to t h e i r c h i l l v i g i l in th e draughty h a l f - l i g h t ;I en t e r the lit house.

Three o the r poems in the volume are concerned with na tu re .

These inc lude "Blackber ry ing" , "Crossing th e Water" and "Pheasant" .

The f i r s t two extend the theme of nature as a di s tu rb ing menace

to i de n t i t y whi le th e l a t t e r , except iona l fo r Sylv ia P la th , i s

a joyous paean.

The poe t of t en con t r a s t s the fecundi ty o f na ture with her

own sch izo id f ee l ings of emptiness and s t e r i l i t y . Her mood i s

s imi l a r in i t s i n t e ns i t y to , the anguish G. M. Hopkins expresses

regard ing h is poe t i c a b i l i t i e s in a famous sonnet :

••• b i r ds bu i ld - -bu t no t I bu i ld ; no, b u t s t r a in ,

Time's eunuch, and no t breed one work t h a t wakes.Mine, 0 thou lord of l i f e , send my roo t s r a i n . ll

"Blackberrying" possesses t h i s qua l i t y . A se r i e s of unspoken

cont ras t s i s impl ied betwen the abundant f e r t i l i t y of na ture

which t akes on ominous I .onesco-like over tones , and the suggested

a s s a u l t s made on the poet1s f r a g i l e sense of persona l i de n t i t y .

!h e poem opens on a nbte of gr ea t s t i l l n e s s and unease: "Nobody

in th e lane , and noth ing , nothing b u t b l ackbe r r i e s " . The poe t

descr ibes he r se l f pick ing these co lossa l be r r i e s i n a l ane lead ing

to the sea where " the only voice , pro t e s t i ng , pro tes t ing" i s th e

noisy f lock of b lack choughs overhead. An undefined sense of

IlG.M. H o p k i n ~ , "Thou a r t indeed j u s t , Lord , if I contend" ,

Poems 'and p'ros 'eo ' f Gerard ManleHo

kins , se l ec t ed byW.

H. GardnerPenguin: Harmondsworth, 1953), p. 67.



90

urgency hur r i es her one more hook beyond the bush of f l i e s

. gorged l i ke l o t u s e a t e r s , from the suffoca t ing canopy of b lack

berry bushes to the openness of the sea - - " the only th ing to

·come" to . Yet her own s t r eng th of i de n t i t y has been diminished

even fu r the r in breaking from the· "blood s i s te rhood" o f the

bushes to Vulcan 's i n t r a c t a b l e presence, from s i l ence to a

fu r ious , noisy noth ingness :

• . • nothing bu t a gre a t space

Of white and pewter l i g h t s , and a d in l i ke s i lve r smi thsBeat ing and bea t ing a t an i n t r a c t a b l e meta l .

This same theme i s cont inued in th e title poem, one of

th e gloomies t in th e volume as it speaks of two "cu t -paper people"

cross ing a lake a t n i gh t , t h e i r i d e n t i t i e s effaced by the fo re

boding " s p i r i t of blackness" everywhere. By c on t r a s t , "Pheasant"

i s a happy except ion to Sylv ia P l a t h ' s di s tu rb ing na ture poems

as it expresses her pleasure taken in the simple beauty and

presence of the b i rd . In t h i s sense the poem i s unl ike the

e a r l i e r " Black Rook in Rainy Weather", in which th e rook ac ted

as a c a t a l y s t fo r a disquss ion of the na ture o f poe t i c i n s p i r a

t i on . The poe t , in pleading fo r th e b i ~ d ' s l i f e in "Pheasant" ,

joyously recognizes the essence o f 'be ing t it possesses :

I am no t m y s t i c a l : i t i s n ' tAs if I thought it had a s p i r i t .It i s simply in i t s element .

·;From "Poem fo r a Birthday" onwards, medica l imagery as soc ia -

ted with a f r igh ten ing sense of l oss of i de n t i t y , i l l n e s s and

hosp i ta l s i s a common element in Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a r t , and notab ly

so in these t r a n s i t i o n a l poems.It

i s c lea r ly ev iden t in



91

""Parl iament Hi l l F ie lds I discussed above: the se t t l i n g gu l l s

appear l i ke an i nva l id ' s f l u t t e r ing hands , the wind s tops her

b r ~ a t h " l i ke a bandage", th e moon's r i c tu s appears " th in as the

sk in seaming a s c a r " , and as the poem ends , g u l l s "s t i f f e n" in

the c h i l l y nigh t .

:IIThe Surgeon a t 2 A.M. II i s an obvious example of t h i s

preoccupat ion wi th medica l imagery as the poe t imagines a t i r e d

surgeon ' s thought s . It i s an a r t i f i c i a ~ h y g i e n i c world he

func t ions in , y e t he conce ives of it in images drawn from the

na tu ra l universe and which in tu rn dimini sh h is own s i gn i f i c ance :

It i s a garden I have to do wi th- - tuber s and f ru i t s

The he a r t i s a red-be l l -b loom, in d i s t r e s s .I am so smal lIn comparison to these organs!I worm and hack in a purp le wilderness .

Nev er the less , the imp ersona l i ty of t h i s world condemns th e

doc to r ' s humani tar ian i n t e r e s t s . There i s a hor r i f y i ng sense of

detachment in the des c r i p t i on of the p a t i e n t on the opera t ing

t a b l e : "As usua l t he re i s no face . A lump of Chinese whi te /With

seven holes thumbed in . • . " , as the re i s in the a t t i t u d e t h a t he

has "per fec ted" th e "s t a tue" benea th h i s s ca l pe l by c u t t i ng some-

th ing away, a "pa tho log ica l sa lami" he de l igh t s in prese rv ing .

Sylv ia Pla th remains ambivalent in her a t t i t u d e as she suggests

a compar;i.son between th e u t t e r sUbjugat ion of s e l f in he.r own

unfu l f i 1 l i ng re l a t i ons h ip with her f a t he r , spoken of in "The

Beekeeper ' s Daughter" , and th e doc tor t s omnipotence in the eyes

o f h is dependent, vulnerab le pa t i en t s as he walks among them:



92

" I am the sun, in my white coa t , /Grey faces , shu t te red by drugs ,

fol low me l i ke f lowers" .

I

Loss of i de n t i t y with in a medica l con tex t i s again th e

sub jec t of ' ' 'Pace L i f t " . In t h i s poem the image of th e IIgauze

sarcophagi" o f "The Surgeon a t 2 A.M." converges more pr ec i s e l y

in to "mummy-cloths", and the sugges t ion t h a t as the anc ien t

Egypt ians bel ieved t h i s embalming method would ensure new l i f e

in the f u t u r e , so modern medica l prac t ices also f a l l a c ious ly

claim a kind of r e b i r t h : 'You ' l l be as good as new! ' "Pace Lif t "

begins with a f r i end re tu rn ing from a c l i n i c , bandaged b u t

happy with the success of cosmetic surgery . The poe t i s skep-

t i c a l , remembering the f r igh ten ing e f f e c t of anaes thes ia a t age

n ine , akin to l a t e r exper iences in a menta l hos p i t a l . In an

e f f o r t to r eassure , the f r iend innocent ly recounts a hor r i fy ing

a ssa u l t to her sense of being . She r e c a l l s the adminis te r ing of

, anaes the t ic by a "kind man" who f i s t s her f inger s :

He makes me f e e l something prec ious

I s l eak ing from the f inger -ven t s . At the coun t of two

Darkness wipes me o u t l i ke chalk on a blackboard . • .I d o n ' t know a th ing .

Por f ive days I l i e in se c r e t ,Tapped l i ke a cask , th e years dra in ing in to my p i l low.

Lacking a sense of i de n t i t y assoc ia ted with the face the persona

s ~ w da i ly in the mir ro r , she imagines it can be peeled away as

eas i ly as paper , t h a t these hea l ing s t i t c he s can reve rse th e

process of growth. The f r i end ac tua l ly be l ieves " s he ' s done fo r l l-.

a ;phrase echoed l a t e r in "Death and ,Co.", s i g n i f y i ~ g Sylv ia

,

r l a t h ' s acknowledgement o f th e death of herown

s e l f - - t h a t the



93

o ld face and the o ld persona l i ty can be t rapped lIin some l abo ra -

to ry j a r ll • Imagining he r s e l f reborn through surgery the persona

can now engage in th e wholly sch izo id ac t ion of crea t ing a new

se l f : "Mother to mysel f , I wake swaddled in gauze , /P ink and smooth

as a baby".

A more profound l oss o f i de n t i t y with in the depersona l i sed

sphere o f medicine i s explored in '-'A Life ll . This poem may be d iv i

ded in to two p a r t s , th e world o f san i ty and hea l th as opposed to

the world of mental breakdown and hos p i t a l i s a t i on . The poe t

admonishes those in th e former to be aware o f t h e i r obl iv ious ,

unconsciously i de n t i t y l e s s s t a t e , as t h e i r exis tence i s little

more than a parade o f appearances and s upe r f i c i a l convent ions

f o ~ IIElsewhere the landscape i s more f rank . /The l i g h t f a l l s with

ou t l e t up , bl ind ingly l l . In th e poem's second s ec t i on , sugges t ing

Sylv ia P la th i s own menta l -hosp i ta l exper ience , the l i f e r ea l i zed

by an i n s t i t u t i o n a l i s e d woman has been s t r ipped o f i de n t i t y ,

ba r ren as the moon, 1I0r a shee t o f blank paperll, fol lowing menta l

breakdown. Already dead in e f f e c t , II she l i ve s qu ie t ly . . t-.7ith no

a t t achments , l i ke a foe tus in a bo t t l e ll , an u t t e r l y one-dimensional

ex i s tence from which a l l human emotions have been exorc ised by

th e cold p r a c t i c a l i t y o f medica l e f f i c i ency . Even so , advancing

age and nightmare t e r ro r s remain to v ic t imize a l i f e whose only

fu tu re i s death i t s e l f .

These poems assoc ia t ing i l l n e s s and the co ld , impersonal

medica l arena foreshadow Sylv ia P l a t h ' s angry response in A r i e l ,

and above a l l in The Bel l J a ~ to those who smi l ing ly professed



94

to help when she he r se l f was overcome by a su ic ide a t tempt and

menta l breakdown a t age nine teen . She discovered however t ha t

th ings were only 'done ' to her wi thout in any way engendering

a sense of ' b e ing ' , the r e a l need. As the t rouble with in was

ignored, so hope of mit iga t ing it th rough re la t ionsh ip with the

world was f rus t ra t ed and eventua l ly abandoned. Violen t images

c l u s t e r in Ar ie l : as the s t i t c he s and spare pa r t s of "The Appl i

can t " ; as th e deformity , horror and sense lessness o f ugly death

in "Berck-Plage". The ' pe r fec ted s t a t ue ' in "Edgell i s a dark

p a r a l l e l to the doc to r ' s s ta tement in liThe Surgeon a t 2 A.M.":

the t e r r i b l e r e a l i t y of the poe t ' s dec is ion t o d i e an i ron ic

condemnation of the depersona l ised , f a l l i b l e claims of medica l

prac t i ces .

Sylv ia Pla th a l so assoc ia t es hosp i ta l imagery with f r ac -

tu red , t roubled human r e l a t i ons h ips such as the sch izo id i nd iv i -

dual i nvar i ab ly exper iences . "In P la s t e r " exempl i f ies such,_

and was prompted by seeing a person next to he r in an almost .

complete c a s t during one of the poe t ' s own hos p i t a l s t ays . In

imagining the na ture o f the re la t ionsh ip between the two she

conceives o f it in human, male/ female terms, in such in t imacy as

to be a kind of marr iage. The poem thus explores a t t i t udes to -

wards a ma r i t a l r e l a t i ons h ip . At the same t ime it captures the

' amazing reve rsa l of moral va l ues ' c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of th e s c h i z o id ' s

fa l se e f fo r t s to surv ive a t a l l cos t s : the subs t i tu t ion of hate

fo r love , s ince love i s deemed too devouring and des t ruc t ive

to be endured. The male persona in the poem regards the c a s t

as h is feminine coun te rpa r t to whom he i s unwil l ing ly bound fo r



95

a t ime . He discovers th e ef f i cacy o f love only to abuse t h e i r

symbiot ic r e l a t i ons h i p by h is need to dominate it a t th e ex-

pense o f the "s lave m enta l i ty" of the other . Yet when t h i s fe -

male o the r seeks to a t t a i n h er own i de n t i t y , he fea r s he w i l l

be devoured by t h i s r e l a t i ons h ip j u s t as he had hoped to absorb

he r . As th e poem. ends / su rv iva l a t all cos t s i s h is so le concern:

"11m co l l ec t i ng my s t r eng th ; one day I s h a l l manage wi t hou t h e r , /

. And s h e ' l l pe r i sh with empt iness t hen , and begin to miss me;"

This t r a n s i t i o n a l volume marks Sylv ia P l a t h ' s i nc reas ing

concern with f a i l u r e in human r e l a t i ons h ips . As she focuses

more c l e a r ly on he r own s u f f e r i ng th e va r ious s t r a i n s o f imagery

begin to converge: o f be ing i r r evocab ly shu t o u t to desc r ibe

th e profound a l i ena t i on and sense o f f u t i l i t y exper ienced; o f

blackness and s t ones to sugges t the i nc reas ing rep re s s ion o f

a f f e c t ; o f i l l n e s s and amputat ion to give express ion to th e pover ty

o f human responses . These elements combine in JI Event . , descr ibed

in Chapte r One. "How th e elements s o l i d i f y" it b e g i n ~ as the

poe t a t t empts to convey a sense of the t e r r i b l e i s o l a t i o n she

i s exper ienc ing t h i s n i gh t , c u t o ff in h er own suf fe r ing from

th e na t u r a l universe as she i s from th e human, from th e c h i ld

in th e c r ib and th e husband bes ide he r : "One touch: it burns and

s i ckens" . It i s her own d is tu rbed psyche which ba r r icades love

o u t , while the i n t e r n a l pe r s ecu t o r s , the "groove of o ld f a u l t s ,

deep and bi t t e rH,d ismember the weak ego from with in . The i nne r

devas ta t ion i s r e f l e c t e d in a f r igh ten ing i n a b i l i t y e i t h e r to

. give or to r ece ive love . As dawn breaks t h e p o e t acknowledges:

"We touch l i ke c r ipp l e s . " Yet even in ext remi ty Sylv ia P l a t h ' s



96

gre a t sens i t i v i ty to language and to the world around her i l lumi

na tes the despa i r , as does t h i s phrase in the poem: "where apple

bloom i ces the nigh t " .

Most, c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of' Cross ing the Water i s "Apprehen

s ions" . This poem a t tempts to define a suf fe r ing sch izo id s t a t e

of mind in terms of four , coloured , pr i s on - l i ke wal l s - -whi t e , grey,

red and black--colour 's which charac te r i ze the f i n a l poems. Here

they r epresen t an i nc reas ing ly pa infu l movement backward and

inward from the world. The white wal l represents the numbed,

vege ta t ing i nd i f f e rence of mere surv iva l . As the r egress ive

s t a t e ensues the grey wal l of the mind becomes "clawed and bloody",

suggest ing a t tempts to ward o ff the i n t e rna l persecu tor s . Steps

sp i ra l l i ng in to a wel l of sourness loom behind and he ra ld the

f i n a l plunge. The red wall o f the t h i rd verse r e f e r s to the

cont rac t ions of th e he a r t and the automat ic func t ion ing of the

lungs . Having crawled back i ns ide from a l i f e deemed unbearable ,

the poe t i s even more tormented by the t e r r o r of death: IIOf

being wheeled o ff under crosses and a ra in of p i e t a s " . The

black wal l of the f i na l verse r epresen t s t h i s s t a rk and abso lu te

f i n a l i t y . There i s no room fo r ques t ion ing or ambivalence he re ,

a r ea l i s a t ion the poet only expressed cons i s ten t ly in the poems

wri t t en during the l a s t few days of l i f e . Clear ly , " A p p r e h e n s i o n ~ 1foreshadows t h a t s u i c ida l f a l l in to the red .•• Eye, the cauldron of

morning ".

Fina l ly , "Las t Words" descr ibes the kind of bur i a l the poe t

wants: not the "pla in box" of the modern se rv ice , b u t the sa rco-



97

phagus of the Egyptian one, with a l l its assoc ia t ions of r e b i r t h .

Signi f i can t ly , she wants t h i s co f f in decora ted with symbols of

power and i de n t i t y : "With t i ge ry s t r i pe s , and a face on i t /Round

as the moon,to s t a r e up", such as she lacked in l i f e i t s e l f t ha t

she may gr ee t those who discover her in th e fu tu re . The second

verse explores the reason fo r her s p e c i a l concern with approaching

death , and once again centres on the sch izo id fea r of loss of

inner con ten t s , o f u l t ima te ego di s in t egra t ion :

I do no t t r u s t the s p i r i t . It escapes l i ke steamIn dreams, through mouth-hole or eye-hole . I c a n ' t s top it.

One day it won ' t come back.

Unl ike people however, mate r ia l " th ings" in the ou t s ide world a re

no t ambivalent , and possess fo r the poe t th e warmth and sympathy

she. fa i l ed to f ind in human r e l a t i ons h i ps . She asks then t h a t

these r e a l , domest ic ob jec t s accompany her in death , t h a t t h i s

pagan ges tu re o f an i nd i v i dua l ' s importance and i de n t i t y in l i f e

may confer r e a l i t y on he r :

Let me have my copper cooking po t s , l e t my rouge pots

Bloom about me l ike n i g h t f lowers , wi th a good smel l .

I s ha l l hard ly know mysel f .

Although t h i s t r a n s i t i o n a l co l l ec t i on i s an uneven one,

and desp i te Sylvia Pl a t h ' s harsh judgement of t h i s per iod , these

poems 'do speak of h e r ' . In t he i r deeply in t ro spec t ive nature

they represen t an obvious advance over the world of The Colossus .

The e a r l i e r , genuine i n t e r e s t in th e n a tu ra l universe has been

l imi ted in favour of i t s express ion as a metaphor o f the i nne r

menace, while o the r poems point , to th e f a i l u re in human r e l a t i o n -

sh i ps t ha t under lay the t r a g i c sense of i s o l a t i on she exper ienced .



98

With inc reas ing c l a r i t y the poe t seeks to convey the repressed

mate r ia l r i s i ng to consc i ousness , and to communicate the needs

of he r weak ego.



CHAPTER V

WINTER TREES

Sylv ia Pla th ' s four th co l lec t ion of poe t ry , Winter Trees ,

was publ ished in 1971. It cons i s t s of two sec t ions , the f i r s t

of which i s eighteen poems, wri t t en dur ing the l a s t nine months

of her l i f e . The second sec t ion i s an extended dramat ic piece ,

"Three Women: A Poem fo r Three Voices" , and was wri t t en somewhat

e a r l i e r than the l y r i c s , being pre- recorded fo r the BBC on

August 2, 1962, fo r t ransmiss ion on September 13, 1962.1

For

purposes of t h i s developmental s tudy it seems l og i c a l t he re fore

to examine these two sec t ions chronolog ica l ly .

"Three Women" i s Sylv ia Pla th ' s only poe t i c work wri t t en

spec i f i ca l ly fo r broadcas t ing . I t s theme of pregnancy and c h i ld

b i r th in the form of dramatic monologues i s an or i g i na l one fo r

a rad io broadcas t . It r e f l ec t s too the development from The

Colossus the poe t spoke 'o f in emphasizing t h a t these new poems,

coming d i rec t ly from her own ' ve ry se r ious , very persona l emotional

exper i ences ' , were now wri t t en to be read aloud. The autobiogra

phica l element i s eviden t in the work b u t only in a gene ra l i s ed

way. No doubt Sylv ia Pla th drew on her exper iences of motherhood

to c rea te the f igure of the Wife,while h er own r ecen t miscarr iage

lAird , Sylv ia Pla th , p . 51.

99



100

would have engendered unders tanding of the Secre ta ry ' s pred ica

ment. Moreover, as Ei leen Aird has pointed ou t , the home of

the Wife i s a t r ansparen t desc r ip t ion of the poe t ' s own Devon

home, and the Univers i ty the Gir l a t t ends probably r e c a l l s th e

poe t t s two years a t Cambridge.2

However, as a sus ta ined poe t ic

express ion it i s no t pa r t i c u l a r l y success fu l .

The work i s t r i a d i c in s t ruc t u r e , descr ib ing t h ree women

who exper ience pregnancy, de l ive ry and a r e tu rn to da i ly l i f e .

They remain nameless , disembodied crea t ions ,vo ices over the

crack l ing wire which do not d i scourse d i r e c t l y with one another ,

each descr ib ing he r pass ion as an i n t e rna l , se l f - con ta ined mono-

logue. A dua l a r t i s t i c purpose has been served: a p a r t i c u l a r ,

feminine exper ience has been univer sa l i sed ; while both the unr iva l -

led joy as wel l as the a l iena t ion and i so l a t i on t he poe t he r s e l f

f e l t in t h i s c rea t ive process , i s also explored . IIThree Women!!

appears i n i t i a l l y to be s u r p r i s i ng l y convent ional : a g l o r i f i c a t i on

o f motherhood a t the expense of o the r a t ta inments in l i f e . It i s

also a remarkable t r i bu te fo r a sch izo id ind iv idua l such as Sylv ia

P la th , fo r whom the r e a l i t y of ch i ld ren would tend to conf i rm the

subs t a n t i a l i t y and worth of a mother who s incere ly doubted these

values in he r se l f . We r e c a l l t h a t th e poe t seemed l i be ra t e d

' i n to her r e a l s e l f ' with the b i r th of F r ieda , whi le Nicholas

heralded an excep t iona l c re a t ive outburs t . Thus, Sylv ia Pla th

br ings to her crea t ion o f th e Wife in t h i s work a lov ing regard

fo r maternal fu l f i l lme n t . The Secre ta ry and th e G i r l a c t as

2Ib id ., p . 51.



101

fo i l s to t h i s pe r fe c t s t a t e : the former cannot br ing a ch i ld

to t e ~ and fol lowing her miscar r iage sadly r e t i r e s to th e rou

t i ne of da i ly l i v ing , whi le the l a t t e r gives up her i l l e g i t i m a t e

daughter to re tu rn t o un iver s i ty l i f e .

The Wife as the c e n t r a l f igure begins t h i s dramat ic work

which opens in a matern i ty ward. With Copernican i n t rospec t ion

she medi ta tes on her pregnancy:

I am slow as the world , I am very pa t i e n t ,

Turning through my t ime , the suns and s t a r sRegarding me with a t t e n t ion .

So complete i s her sense o f unquestioned ' b e ing ' , o f being ' f u l l '

in a most or ig ina l way, t h a t even the mind may abjure i t s

r e s pons ib i l i t y with in t h i s world of ordered , l og i c a l necess i ty ;

" I do no t have to th ink , o r even r e h e a r s e ~ . / W h a t happens in me w i l l

happen without at tent ion."Yet the

Wife ' sse l f - su f f i c i e n t

absorp t ion in pregnancy i s soon revea led as a s t a t e o f f r igh ten ing

i so l a t i on . Having prev ious ly abnegated her persona l i ty , she .be-

comes " the cen t re of an a t roc i ty" as l abour begins , her very being

undergoing a r i t u a l death fo r the coming ch i ld envi s ioned as her

new s e l f . The opening image of the world i s again used, t h i s

· t ime to give express ion to th e t e r r i b l e dis so lu t ion o f s e l f ex-

per ienced as she i s overwhelmed by t h ~ c h i l d ' s e f f o r t s to be born:

I am breaking apa r t l i ke the world . There i s t h i s blackness ,

This ram of b lackness . I fo ld my hands on a mountain .The a i r i s t h i ck . It i s th ick with t h i s working.I am used . I am drummed in to use .

At th e b i r t h of her "b lue , fur ious boy" she gazes with

wonder upon him and in l y r i c a l , t ender l i ne s ques t ions the pauc i ty



102

of her previous ex i s t ence . She determines to p r o t e c t and sh ie ld

him always. At the same t ime he i s c lea r ly th e "hook" she hangs

on, the r e s t o r e r of her i den t i ty and so lace in her l i f e . Gone

i s the sense of se l f - se c u r i t y engendered by pregnancy and now,

l i ke the Secre ta ry , she senses "the i nca lcu lab le malice o f the

everyday" . She wonders how long she may a c t as a buf f e r to her

ch i ld when she he r se l f i s so profoundly vulnerab le and he so

t iny and defence less :

How long can I be a wall , keeping the wind off?

How long can I beGent l ing th e sun with the shade o f my hand,In t e rcep t ing the b lue bo l t s o f a cold moon?

The voices of l one l i ne s s , the vo ices of sorrowLap a t my back i ne luc tab ly .

How sha l l I so f ten them, t h i s little lu l laby?

She , i s reassured though by a peacefu l re tu rn home to normalcy,

whi le her f ea r s f ind express ion in th e r e l i e f t h a t her p e r f e c t

son has no t been a thal idomide v ic t im . However, the Wife ' s mono-

logue ends op a r a the r bana l note as she w i l l s he r son to be

"common", presumably hoping thereby t h a t he w i l l escape th e t o r -

ments of the poe t ' s own exper ience .

The Secre ta ry regards her miscarr iage as a re f lec t io r i of

a more gene ra l f a i l u r e in her l i f e . Unlike th e Wife who fu l ly

accepts her pregnancy, who can ' b e ' fo r her c h i ld , th e Secre ta ry

l i nks her i n f e r t i l i t y with a l i f e l i ved 'unna tura l ly ' , f raugh t

by a des i re to manipulate exis tence by menta l processes . Her

f r equen t miscarr iages have engendered in her a sch izo id sense

of being devoured by ex t e r na l fo rce s , and so s'he tu rns with

vengeance upon the na t u r a l universe which she fee l s consp ires

aga ins t new l i f e :



103

I lose l i f e a f t e r l i f e . The dark ea r t h dr inks them.

She i s th e vampire of us a l l . So she suppor t s us ,

Fa t tens u s , i s k i nd . Her mouth i s red .

I know he r . I know her i n t ima te ly - - -

Old win te r - face , o ld barren one, o ld t ime bomb.

Men have used her meanly. She w i l l e a t them.E at them, e a t them, e a t them in the end.

Afte r the agony of he r hos p i t a l exper ience she l e aves , having l o s t

both a ch i ld and a sense o f her own i de n t i t y . With l i p s t i ck she

draws on a new mouth, a new mask to face the " inca lcu lab le malice"

o f the world . Protec ted by her cynicism she w i l l surv ive as a

"hero ine of the per iphera l ll, engaged in busy ac t iv i ty which ignores

t he inne r sorrow:

I am myse l f again . There a re no loose ends.I am bled white as wax, I have no i ' ~ t t a c h m e n t s .I am f l a t and v i r g i n a l , which means nothing has happened,Nothing t h a t cannot be e ra sed , r ipped up and scrapped,

begun aga in .

Nightmares now r e l i e v e the despa i r and the monologue ends on a

note of opt imism as she begins to hope again : liThe c i t y wai t s and

aches . The little grasses /Crack th rough s tone , and they a re green

with l i f e " .

Unlike th e Wife and the Secre ta ry who wanted t h e i r preg-

nanc ie s , th e G i r l r e i t e r a t e s t h a t she "wasn ' t ready" . Nor could

she deny the consequences of he r ac t ions as she pe rce ives he r

pregnancy the r e s u l t o f "Every little word hooked to every little

word, and a c t to a c t " , i n i ron ic c o n t r a s t to the S e c re t a ry ' s

mode of ex i s tence . Surpr i sed by l i f e , the G i r l f inds the . e ~ f e c t so f love de s t ruc t ive , and wishes t h a t she had "murdered t h i s , t h a t

murders me". She gives up h er " red , t e r r i b l e g i r l " and i s con-

sc ious of a hol lowness wi th in as she l eaves the hos p i t a l :



104

. • • There i s an empt iness .I am so vulnerab le suddenly.I am a wound walking out of hos p i t a l .I am a wound t h a t they a re l e t t i n g go.

I leave my hea l th behind. I leave someoneWho would adhere to me: I undo her f inge rs l i ke

bandages : I go.

She r e tu rns to the un i ve r s i t y but the b lack gowns of gradua t ion

appear l i ke fune ra l garb to her . Unlike th e Secre ta ry who sorrowed

over her lack of a t tachments the Gir l r eve l s in her new freedom,

though she too s u f f e r s the i so la t ion confer red upon h er by her

exper ience: " I am so l i t a ry as gras s . What i s it I miss?"

There i s a r i ch use o f imagery in "Three Women". Ei leen

Aird has poin ted ou t t h a t a s t rong r e l i g ious s t ruc tu re underpins

3the drama. This imagery appears to be used only to give a more

univer sa l dimension to the work with th e suggest ion t h a t chi1d-

bear ing , in the ind iv idua l woman's mind, r iva l s in importance th e

b i r t h of C hr i s t . As Aird sugges ts , ne i the r any C hr i s t i an nor

ph i lo soph ica l conclus ion appears to be th e poe t ' s i n t e n t ion . In-

s t ead , the s ign i f i cance of t h i s r e l i g ious imagery r e s t s in i t s

symbolic value , as does the image of the concentra t ion camps in

the l a t e r poems. However, ne i the r of these images i s used in

its f u l l e s t sense : as the re i s no redemptive vi s ion in the former ,

so the re i s little pi ty or compassion in the l a t t e r .

More impor tan t in "Three Women" a re the images used to

c on t r a s t the s t a t e s of f e r t i l i t y and i n f e r t i l i t y . There i s little

doubt t h a t the b i r t h of her own ch i ld ren ef fec ted a gre a t change

in Sylv ia P l a t h ' s percept ion of her world . Where prev ious ly she

had used images drawn from the na t u r a l universe to convey most

of t en a sense o f i t s i n h e r ~ n t malignancy, in t h i s work she pays

3Aird , Sylv ia P la th , pp. 56-59.



105

t r i bu te to a nature which bodies fo r th her concept ion of preg-

nancy and c h i ldb i r t h : She sees in the na t u r a l cyc le an expres

s ion of the feminine pr inc ip le in l i f e , of growth and f e r t i l i t y ,

of a pr imary sense of rbe ing ' . By c on t r a s t , i n f e r t i l i t y i s

assoc ia ted with technology, with man-made death and de s t ruc t ion ,

with the mascul ine pr inc ip le in l i f e , with f a l s e i n t e l l e c t u a l

_' doing ' by those who cannot I be r .

P l an t imagery, and espec ia l ly t h a t of t r e e s and f lowers ,

i s most of t en assoc ia ted with f e r t i l i t y . It d i s t i n g u i s h ~ s the

Wife ' s speeches as she happi ly accept s her pregnancy and her

c h i ld , unl ike the Secre ta ry whose h i s t o r y of miscarr iages breaks

t h i s cyc le , and th e Gir l for- whom f e r t i l i t y i s a disgrace to be

r e j e c t e d . As the poem begins , the Wife expresses the wholly

na tu ra l exper ience of her pregnancy: "Leaves and pe ta l s a t t end me",

an image which i s e labora ted upon in the moments of labour :

I am calm. I am calm. It i s the calm before something awful :The yel low minute before the w ~ n d walks , when the leaves

Turn up t h e i r hands, t he i r pa l lo r s .

She descr ibes her old s e l f as a brown seed about to break as the

new s e l f , her c h i ld , f lowers fo r th . Hence the f i n a l , pa i n f u l

moments of l abour are-expressed in images of des t r uc t i on : "The

t r e e s wither in the s t r e e t , th e ra in i s co r ros ive" . In one of

those s t a r t l i n g Pla th ian images assoc ia ted with blood t h a t embel l ish

these l a s t poems, she descr ibes the placen ta : lIa red l o tus opens

in i t s bowl of blood" . F lo ra l imagery also evokes a l l th e prec ious

wonder and f r a i l t y of the new-born i n f a n t : "His l i d s a re l i ke the

l i lac - f lower /And s o f t asa

moth, h is b rea th" .When

f i r s t seenin

the hos p i t a l nursery he tu rns sunward to h is mother , " l i ke a little,



106

b l i nd , br igh t p l an t " . The Wife ' s fea r s fo r h er ch i ld and de-

s i r e s to sh ie ld him a re expressed in terms of the ha r she r na t u r a lI

e lements , bu t as she seeks reassurance in normal i ty the t ender

beauty of the world i s again evoked through f l o r a l imagery in

a memorable way: "Dawn f lowers in the g r e a t elm ou ts ide the

house" •

F ar fewer p l a n t images are a f f i l i a t e d with the Secre ta ry

and always, with a s ing l e , f i n a l except ion , as emblems o f death

and s t e r i l i t y . With the beginning o f her misca r r i age she se,nses

"dea th in th e bare t r e e s" , and becomes a t the moment o f p a r t u r i -

t i o n , "a garden o f black and red agonies" . Her bereavement i s

descr ibed in the co ld , s t e r i l e images of win te r , and she no t ice s

as she l eaves the hos p i t a l t h a t " these little black twigs do

no t th ink to bud". However, her r e tu rn to da i l y l i f e and th e

coming of spr ing al lows fo r an emotional hea l ing and th e b i r t h

o f t e n t a t i ve hope: "The little grasses /Crack th rough s tone ,

and they a re green with l i f e " .

The few vege ta t ive images per t a in ing to the G i r l emphasize

he r so l i t a ry and defence less s t a t e . She remembers t h a t when her

pregnancy was conf i rmed, "The wil lows were c h i l l i ng . " As she

makes the dec is ion to abandon her c h i ld , th e hos p i t a l f lowers ,

foreshadowing a l a t e r poem, "Tul ips" ,become a metaphor fo r both

her own g r e a t vu lne ra b i l i t y and t h a t o f her daughter :

The f lowers in t h i s room are red and t r op i c a l .

They have l ived behind glass a l l t h e i r l i v e s , they havebeen cared fo r t ende r ly .

Now they face a win te r o f whi te s hee t s , white faces .



107

She r e t u r ns to the un ive r s i t y , bu t the sound of a bi rd crying with

sorrow in i t s voice reminds her of her loss and he r g r e a t lone-

l i ne s s : " I am so l i t a ry as gras s . 1I

Whereas f e r t i l i t y i s connected with images from th e na t u r a l

world , i n f e r t i l i t y i s c lea r ly r e l a t e d to th e mascul ine pr inc ip le

and c rea t iv i ty in i t s most des t ruc t ive forms. The S e c re t a ry ' s

opening s tanza as her miscar r iage begins es t ab l i s he s t h i s opposi-

t i on :

I watched the men walk about me in the of f i c e . They wereso f l a t !

There was something about them l i ke cardboard , and now I

had caught it,

That f l a t , f l a t f l a tne s s from which i deas , de s t r uc t i ons ,

Bul ldozers , g u i l l o t i n e s , white chambers of shr i eks proceed,Endless ly proceed--and the co ld angles , the abs t rac t ions .

There i s also th e r a the r commonplace s t r a i n throughout Ii Three

Women" t h a t fu l f i l lme n t does not come to those who th ink t oo hard .

More accu ra te ly perhaps , Sylv ia Pla th i s s e ns i t i ve to her own

exper iences of ch i ldbea r ing , and mindful of the ex t en t to which

they con t ra s ted so gre a t ly with her own sch izo id tendency to

i n t e l l e c t u a l i s a t i o n . S ~ e was also very conscious of the emphasis

placed on what Winnicot t terms ' f a l s e male doing ' in our c u l tu re ,

and the ha t red of feminine qua l i t i e s and a sense of ' b e i ng ' in

our l i ve s . It i s the na t u r a l ' t r ue s e l f ' t he poe t wishes to

recognize in t h i s work, as opposed to the ' f a l s e s e l f ' exis tence

$he and many in the world around her were l a r ge l y engaged in .

Hence, through th e dichotomous f igu re s o f the Wife and th e

Sec re ta ry , the ordered world of nature with i t s cyc le s of b i r t h

and dea th i s e f fec t ive ly con t ra s ted to th e t e chno log ica l , c e l lu lo id



108

l i f e in which man s t r ives to dominate over these na tura l cyc les .

Elabora t ing on the ills of a man-made world , the G i r l focuses on

- the. Secre ta ry ' s ment ion of a white chamber as she r ea l i s e sher

own f ea r s of the de l ive ry room: " I have seen the white c lean ·

chamber with i t s i n s t rumen t s . / l t i s a place of shr i eks . It i s no t

happy. II The G i r l func t ions as an in te rmediary c rea t ion in t h i s

oppos i t ion o f f e r t i l i t y and i n f e r t i l i t y , s ince she exper iences in

he r unwanted pregnancy both the materna l f ee l ings of the Wife and

the sorrow and los s of the Secre ta ry .

"Three Women" r epresen t s a cons iderab le advance over the

e a r l i e r poe try , both in dramat ic form and in i t s emphasis on

spe c i f i c a l l y feminine exper iences . The sch izo id element emerges

with something of Edvard Munch's 'The Cry ' about it. The sense

of persona l a l i e na t ion from the world and human r e l a t i ons h ips

i s unmi s t akab l e . Above a l l the work propounds the f a l l a c y t h a t

the ch i ld confers i den t i t y on a mother who l a cks t h i s sense of

her own r e a l i t y . Her fu l f i l l m e n t comes in pregnancy, while the

ac tua l r e spons ib i l i t i e s of motherhood a re conceived as nebulous

and f r igh ten ing . Descr ip t ions of the hor ror s of the de l ive ry

room p a r a l l e l s imi la r ut t e rances in The Bel l J a r , and emphasize

th e accelera t · ing vio lence in Sylv ia Pla th s view of the world.

The shor te r e igh teen poems o f Winter Trees were , l i k e the

A r i e l poems, wri t t en in the l a s t nine months of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

l i f e . In a b r i e f i n t roduc t ion to the volume, Ted Hughes desc r ibes



109

them as coming ou t of the same batch from which A r i e l was "more

or l e s s a rb i t r a r i l y " chosen. While such poems as II Child" , liThe

Rabbi t Catcher" and "For a Fa the r le s s Son" r i v a l anything in

Ar i e l , th e volume as a whole i s uneven.

This f ina l , 'marve l lous year ' saw an as ton ish ing b u r s t of

c rea t iv i ty . Many of these l a s t poems were wri t t en with gre a t

r a p id i ty and i n t e ns i t y ; sometimes two or th ree on th e same day,

and many in the same f a mi l i a l sur roundings . The poems a re in -

c reas ing ly persona l in focus , of ten cen te r ing on domestic concerns ,

y e t u l t imate ly achiev ing the wider i n t e r e s t of poe t ry which ga l -

vanizes the nerve ends because of the raw, sch izo id source from

which it came. Certa in images begin to recur in Winter Trees with

an i n s i s t ence t h a t hera lds the obsess ive fe roc i ty o f A r i e l . Her

f r i ends were c o r re c t in sens ing danger in t h i s a r t i s t i c expres -

s ion which seemed a t th e same t ime almost to conSlliue th e poe t

he r se l f . "The blood j e t i s poe try , /There i s no s topping i t " ,

Sylv ia Plath descr ibed it l a t e r .

Three of the most be a u t i fu l and l y r i c a l poems in Winter

Trees are about th e poe t ' s chi ld ren . "Chi ld" , "For a Father l ess

Son", and "By Candle l igh t" form a group with f ive of the A r i e l

poems: "Morning Song", "The Night Dances", . "Nick and the Candle-

s t i c k " , lIyou' re "and "Balloons ". They are a l l express ions of

Sylv ia Pla th ' s love for her ch i ld ren , and a des i re to pro t e c t

and sh ie ld them from the despa i r and a l iena t ion she he r se l f e x ~per ienced as an adu l t . Given her own sch izo id longing to r e t r e a t

to the pr i s t i ne happiness of chi ldhood, she looks with wonder



110

upon its peacefu l , un ta in ted innocence. "Chi ld" explores the

sharp c on t r a s t between the inna te c l a r i t y of the c h i ld , and her

own dark and unhappy s t a t e :

Pool in which imagesShould be grand and c l a s s i c a l

Not t h i s t roublous

Wringing of hands , t h i s darkCei l ing wi thout a s t a r .

While her world i s quick ly c ons t r i c t i ng , her c h i l d r e n ' s

world on th e o t he r hand i s imagined as a br igh t poo l of p o s s i b i l i -

t i e s . Moreover , t h e i r u t t e r l y t r u s t i ng eyes a re qui t e unaware of

t h e i r mother ' s t roubled inne r s e l f . Sylv ia P l a t h ' s imminent

sepa ra t ion from Ted Hughes before Chr i s tmas ,1962 , i s suggested in

"For a Father l es s S o n ~ . As the poe t t r i e s to imagine her s on ' s

reac t ion to t h i s l e ave - tak ing , she marvels a t h is innocence to these

happenings:

But r i g h t now you a re dumb.

And I love your s t up i d i t y ,

The bl ind mir ro r o f it. I look in

And f ind no face b u t my own, and you th ink t h a t \ s f u n n ~It i s good fo r me

The two preceeding poems revea l Sylv ia P l a t h ' s inc reas ing

preoccupat ion with mi r ro r imagery as symbols of ' b e i ng ' . Her a r t

i s fecund with the meaning D.W. Winnico t t has as soc ia ted with

mir ro rs in "The Mirro r Role o f the Mother and Family" , in which

he po in t s ou t how the c h i l d ' s i den t i ty i s confirmed by h is r e f l e c -

t i on i n the eyes o f o the rs as we l l a s , of course , in th e ac t ua l

mir ro rs t h a t e x i s t in th e house . Thus the m i r ro r ' s calm face i s

a metaphor fo r l i f e in Sy lv ia P l a t h ' s poet ry . It i s as soc ia ted



111

most of ten with young ch i ld ren as in 'I Child" , "F or a Father l ess

Son", o r in "Bras i l i a " : "0 you (. •• ) leave /This one/Mirror safe" .

.By c on t r a s t , the sha t te red mir ro r i s a symbol fo r dea th and

of ten r e fe r s to her own su i c i da l wishes . "Las t Words" in Crossing

the 'Water emphasizes t h i s , the poe t speaking of her l i f e ' s mirror

as clouding over , soon to r e f l e c t "nothing a t a l l " . "Thalidomide u

speaks of another kind of awful dea th :

The .g lass cracks a c ros s ,

The' image

Flees and abor t s l i ke dropped mercury.

Poems wri t t en in th e f i n a l days of l i f e conclude the image. "The

mirrors are sheeted" in "Contusion" , and the process i s com-

ple t ed in "Words", the l a s t poem Sylv ia Pla th wrote , and fo r a r t i s -

t i c reasons alone one of the most poignant . She f e l t her l i f e

could not cont inue , though

For :

The sapWells l i ke t e a r s , l ike the

Water s t r iv ingTo r e - e s t a b l i sh its mir ro r

Over the rock

That drops and t u rn s ,

A whi te skul l )

Eaten by weedy gr eens ,

From the bottom o f the pool , f ixed s t a r s

Govern a l i f e .

"By Cand le l igh t" , a t h i rd poem about the poe t ' s ch i ld ren

and a companion l y r i c to ItNick and the Candles t ick" , was probably

wri t t en in the l a s t t h r e e months o f he r l i f e . The s t rong desc r ip t ive

powers o f The Colossus have been re ta ined to shape with words a



p a i n t e r ' s count ry :

This i s w in te r , t h i s i s nigh t , smal l love-

A s o r t of b lack horseha i r ,

iA rough, dumb count ry s t u f f

' S t ee l ed with th e sheenOf what green s t a r s can make it to our ga te .

, 112

Typica l now in the poet ry i s t ha t t h i s graphic scene of

the mother holding her ch i ld and peer ing i n to the n i gh t should

become a metaphor fo r the poe t ' s own sch izo id sense o f l ack of

r e a l i t y , as opposed to the na t u r a l r e a l i t y of the c h i ld and th e

menacing, surrounding environment . She i s de l igh ted t he re fore t h a t

the mere l igh t ing of the candle confers i den t i ty on h er baby:

"One match sc ra t ch makes you r ea l . " Not so with the poe t he r se l f

who f e e l s shu t ou t from the world of l i g h t and beginning t o suf -

foca te under the descending b e l l - j a r consc iousness : "The sack

of black! It i s everywhere, t i g h t , t i gh t ! " These poems give

evidence o f Sylv ia P la th ' s . g r e a t tenderness fo r her ch i ld ren . At

the paille t ime t he re ' i s the awareness of being profoundly d i s -

tanced from them, sea led o f f from re la t ionsh ip in th e world by

th,e ensuing r egress ive powers. II The Other'" expresses t h i s

- f r igh ten ing sch izo id s t ~ t e : "Cold g la s s , how you i n s e r t you rse l f .. .

'. Between myself and myself !"

Since the source of one ' s mirror image i s in r e l a t i ons h ip

with o t he r s , as Sylv ia Pla th became i nc reas ing ly i s o l a t e d from

her world so he r ' compuls ive need to unders tand ' and to have a

weak i den t i ty confirmed were v i t i a t e d . Moreover, we have seen

t h a t what Winnicot t terms ' f emale element b e i n g ' , th e I-Thou

r e l a t i ons h ip , th e realm of shared being and c rea t ive r e f l e c t i o n ,

i s feared by the sch izo id ind iv idua l who, in tu rn ing from the



113

world seeks refuge in ' f a l se male doing ' and ' bu s t l i ng ' s e l f -

a c t i v i t y . Hounded by an unsa t i s f i ed hunger to be , the sch izo id

!

ind iv idua l adamantly denies human needs and human f a l l i b i l i t y ,

adhering fu l ly to the ' t aboo on weakness ' , t h a t t to be Big and

Bad. is a t l e a s t to be Someone' . Such an ind iv idua l i s prone

to the ' t h ree grea t t r aged ies ' descr ibed by Fa i rba i rn . We have

examined Sylvia Pl a t h ' s express ions of fea r in the e a r l i e r poetry

t ha t her love was des t ruc t ive . The death of her f a the r , above

a l l , seemed to confirm t h i s . But in poems wri t t en in the l a s t year

o f l i f e , when f u l f i l l men t through love seemed hopeless ly bar red ,

she gives way to a compulsion to hate and be r a t e d , though a l l

the t ime c lea r ly longing to love and be loved. Fai rba i rn wri te s

of the 'amazing reve rsa l of moral va lues ' to which the sch izo id

ind iv idua l i s prone , when ~ a t i n g becomes both a joy and an end

in i t s e l f , s ince in the sch izo id ' s f a l se reasoning it i s be t t e r

to des t roy by hate than to des t roy by love. In some of the

l a t e poems Sylv ia Pla th gives he r s e l f over to the joys of ha t ing ,

as a f a n t a s t i c amount of anger came to be di rec ted outward a t

the world .

One of the most obvious examples in Winter Trees i s "Stopped

Dead". It expresses qu i te a d i f f e r e n t a t t i t ude towards babies

than in the poems examined above. The poem descr ibes a ca r

with i t s tw o corrupted occupants s topped a t a lookout p o in t some-

where in the Pyrenees facing Spain , a t which p o in t the female

passenger vent s her fury a t the world:



It's v i o l en t . We're here on a v i s i t ,With a goddam baby screaming o f f somewhere.There ' s always a bloody baby in th e a i r .

! I ' d c a l l it a sunse t , bu t

Whoever heard a sunse t yowl l i ke tha t?

114

This extreme d i s l i ke of demanding chi ldren f i n d s · i t s p a r a l l e l

. in The Bel l J a r , i n E s t he r ' s uncompromising as se r t ions t h a t she

hated babies and, we r e c a l l , a lso in ~ O c e a n l2l2-W", in young

Sylv ia ' s a t t i t ude to the news of th e imminent b i r t h of her bro the r .

~ o the sch izo id i nd iv idua l who himsel f craves love and conf i rma-

t ion of i de n t i t y from o the rs , these same demands from a he l p l e s s ,

of ten s t ink ing ch i l d , must appear a t t imes overwhelming.

"Lesbos" , "Purdah" and "Gigolo" are a l l express ions of the

poe t ' s f i e r ce anger to th e po in t o f ha t red a t c e r t a in aspec ts o f

the world. They can a lso be descr ibed as ' f e min i s t ' poems. It

i s to Sylv ia Pl a t h ' s c r e d i t t ha t she ra i l ed aga ins t the imposi t ion

of se rv i tude : domest ic , sexual and otherwise , t ha t female r e l a -

t i onsh ips with men of ten cons i s t i n . It i s f a l s e , however, to

look upon t he poe t and her a r t as the martyred embodiment of t ~ et a l en t ed , midd le -c l a s s , marr ied housewife , incarcera ted in the

ki tchen with two ch i ld ren and forced to s t a r e a t her univer s i ty

degree framed over the ki tchen s ink . To s te reo type Sylv ia Pla th

i s c l e a r ly to misread her wri t ings and to over look the r e a l

fo rces o f her c rea t ive powers. Household du t ie s were sha red ,

while Sylv ia took th e morning s h i f t a t w r i t i n g , Ted the af te rnoon.

During her l a s t year of l i f e , when she was too t i r e d a t n igh t

to cope with anyth ing b u t 'music and brandy and wa te r ' , she g o t

up a t 5 a.m. to work on A r i e l . Yet her poe t ry f lou r i shed , and



115

drew i t s i n s p i r a t i on la rge ly from domestic and persona l sources .

- The kind of l i be r a t i on Sylv ia Pla th sought d i d no t cons i s t in

I

being re l i eved o f the evening ' s d i shes bu t r a t he r to be f reed of

a t e r r i b l e sense o f non-being , of no t being whole in some essen-

t i a l w ~ y . She d i ed , no t fo r lack o f a s pec i f i c a l l y feminine

i de n t i t y , bu t because she f e l t she had -no i den t i t y . Moreover ,

she died hoping to be reborn , be l i ev i ng t h a t psychic regenera t ion

l ead ing to a r e a l s e l f ex i s t ed somewhere on th e o the r s id e .

"Lesbos" i s impor tan t then fo r more than i t s angry (and

a l l too necessary) r e t o r t to Hollywood's p l a s t i c dream-vis ion o f

domest ic m a r i t a l b l i s s :

v i s iousness in th e ki tchen!

The po t a t oes h i s s .

It i s a l l Hollywood, windowless •••

The poe t sp i t s o u t t e r s e , co l loqu ia l l i ne s with an acr id b i t e and

honesty--IIMeanwhile t he r e ' s a s t ink of f a t and baby crapl l_-rare

concerns in poet ry except in t ha t wri t t en recen t ly by women.

But the poem i s a lso about f a i l u r e s in re la t ionship--IIEven in

your Zen heaven we s h a n ' t meetl l - -and t h a t g r e a t t r agedy o f the

schizo id ind iv idua l , the consecra t ion in the wel l - sp r ing o f hat red

when love no longer seems poss ib l e , n e i t h e r given nor rece ived:

Now I am s i l e n t , hate

Up to my neck,Thick, th ick .

"Purdah ll i s a powerful express ion of rage a t th e custom of

isolat i .ng women from the world as mere sexua l c ha t t e l s o f men.

Mirror imagery i s s i g n i f i c a n t in conveying th e qua l i ty o f l i f e

exper ienced by one whose i den t i t y depe-nds on r e f l e c t i ng the wishes



116

o f another . The poem ends in a crescendo of crazed emotion as

the persona vows r e t r i b u t i o n . Shat te r ing her porce la in image

and sugges t ing the vio lence of Jud i th , Char lo t t e Corday o r

Clytemnest ra , she becomes a rag ing murderess :

The l i oness ,. The sh r iek in the ba th ,

The c loak of h o l e s ~This qua l i ty o f i nc ip i e n t , demonic vio lence d i r ec t ed aga i ns t men

looks forward to the devour ing phoenix /harpy f igu re Sylv ia Pla th

becomes in one o f her bes t known and most ha t e f u l poems, "Lady

Lazarus" :

Out of the ashI r i s e with my red ha i r

And I e a t men l i ke a i r .

Inc rea s ing ly so , the poems o f the l a s t nine months become

powerfu l , dramat ic express ions of ou t r age , as Sylv ia Pla th r e -

cords the t a sk she faced i n he r s e l f i n a t t empt ing to communicate

th e needs o f a weak ego. We are l e f t with th e g i f t of he r poe t ry :

a r a r e , impassioned record o f f a i l u r e , of he r very i n a b i l i t y to

communicate, in t ime with anyone; and of her unsuccess fu l a t tempts

to f ind avenues of r e b i r t h in l i f e i t s e l f .

In "The Courage of Shut t ing Up", the v io lence and b r u t a l i t y

the poe t saw in th e ex te rna l universe becomes a metaphor to de-

sc r ibe i t s counte rpar t wi th in . Images which c l u s t e r throughout

t he se l a s t poems--armaments, surgeons , t a t o o in g , mir ror s , p o l i t i c s ,

th e ills of being f e m a l e - ~ g i v e concre te form to i n t e rna l despa i r .

The poem i s a graphic example of what Fai rba i rn has discerned as

the tendency of the sch izo id ind iv idua l to mainta in the inne r



117

world as a c losed system. Ins tead o f express ing rage d i r e c t l y

. a t h er envi ronment--a he a l th i e r reac t ion- - the persona chooses

. s i l ence ins t ead . Moreover, she f inds courage in t h i s . Although

the bra in records unre l ieved gr ievances with th e i n s i s t ence of

a metronome, the s c a r l i ne of th e mouth re fuse s ut t e rance . The

tongue has a l so r e t i r e d from its e f f o r t s to communicate, and

t akes i t s place l i ke some s tu f fed t rophy in the l i b ra ry of the

sch izo id ' s i n t e l l e c t u a l r e t r e a t . Only th e eyes , mir ro rs of the

sou l , al low access to the t o r tu re with in . But even they , l i ke

th e carved blank gaze o f s t a tua ry , a re dead to the joys of ex i s -

t ence :

They may be white and shy, they are no s too l pigeons ,

Thei r dea th rays fo lded l i ke f l ags

Of a count ry no longer heard o f ~An obs t i na t e independencyIn so lven t among the mountains.

In advocat ing f a n t a s t i c con t r o l , both i n t e l l e c t u a l and emot ional ,

th e poem r e c a l l s another famous s ta tement of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s :

" I be l ieve t h a t one should be able t o con t ro l and manipulate ex-

per iences , even the most t e r r i f y i n g - - l i k e madness, being t o r

tu red ••• with an informed and i n t e l l i g e n t mind. 114 This i s th e

f a l s e - s e l f behaviour of th e sch izo id ind iv idua l who, in over -

emphasizing th e mind and inner r e a l i t y , vigorous ly denies human

needs; and who in suppor t ing the ' t aboo on weakness ' i s a l l too

prone to th e joys of ha t ing when he cannot f u l f i l l h is needs

through love.

This theme i s e labora ted in liThe Rabbi t Catcher" which

.cap tures b r i l l i a n t l y a sense o f the dimini sh ing a l t e rna t i ve s

4Quoted by Alvarez , II Sylv ia P la th" , p. 64.



118

Sylvia Pla th was l e f t with in l i f e . The poem begins without

ambivalence. The vio lence experienced as the wind 's fury

snatches away her vo ice and th e sea bl inds her with i t s r e f l e c -

t i ons i s as much i n t e rna l as ex te rna l ly occasioned: " I t

was a place of force-- /The wind gagging my mouth with my own

blown h a i r " . When the s c h i z o id ' s inner world i s maintained as a

closed system, the i n t e rna l pe rsecu to rs may become so much a

p a r t of ex is tence t h a t they may come to be loved as l i f e i t s e l f .

The poe t appears to take j u s t t h i s kind of masochis t ic joy in

her s u f f e r i ng :

I t a s ted the mal ign i ty of the gorse ,

I t s black sp ikes ,

The extreme unct ion of i t s yellow candle -f lowers ,

They had an e f f i c i e nc y , a gre a t beauty ,

And were extravagant , l i ke to r tu re .

The fury of wind, sea , gorse has engendered a growing

consciousness of the hollow cen te r o f pain with in and the sense ,

i nc reas ing ly so throughout these l a s t poems, of being drawn in -

exorab ly to a f ixed po i n t of e x t inc t i on : "There was only one

place to g e t to" . This mood foreshadows the l a t e r f ee l ing of

hopeless despa i r in "The Moon and the Yew Tree": . " I simply cannot

see where there i s to g e t to" . The poe t compares he r se l f to a

hunted r a bb i t , outmanoeuvred a t every t u rn by e x te rna l , u t t e r l y

.uncontro l lab le fo rces , to convey the f r an t i c despera t ion ex-

ver ienced when th rea tened by imminent ego d i s s o lu t ion . Though

r e l a t i ons h ip with another would mit iga te th e t e r r o r , t h i s avenue

i s no longer poss ib le s ince love i t s e l f appears only bru ta l ly

des t ruc t ive :



And we, too , had a r e l a t i ons h ip -

Ti gh t wi res between u s ,

Pegs too deep to uproot , and a mind l i ke a r ing

Sl id ing shu t on some quick th ing ,

! ~ h e c ons t r i c t i on k i l l i ngme

a l s o .

119

The i n t ense ly persona l themes of v io lence and ou t rage

so c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of t h i s volume f ind t h e i r most un ive rsa l u t t e rance

in II Mary ' s Song I , one o f the bes t known poems in th e c o l l e c t i on .

Like IILesbosll, II Mary ' s Song

llopens in the dominion of the k i t chen .

A lament r a the r than a song, the poem d is so lves with gre a t economy

from one r e f l e c t i on to th e nex t as the a rche typa l , suf fe r ing Mary

beholds her son whose se l f - immola t ion serves only to unleash th e

repea ted ' ho locaus t s ' of r e l i g ious pe rsecu t ions , from the Inqu i -

s i t i on and pogroms to the concent ra t ion camps o f Germany and Poland.

The poem a t t empts to give an h i s t o r i c a l express ion to Sylv ia

P l a t h ' s convic t ion in the malignancy of a world t h a t IIwill ki lL

and e a t " . It revea l s too her growing preoccupat ion with concen-

t r a t i on camps as emblems o f he r own s u f f e r i ng , and thu.s looks

forward to the ' p o l i t i c a l ' poems i n A r i e l - - II Lady Lazarus II,

IIDaddyll, IIPe;ver 103° " - - and i s inc luded wi th them in th e American

e d i t i on of A r i e l . Yet II Mary 's Songll

a f fo rds a sharp con t r a s t .

to these f i n a l poems. It r e t a in s an honesty and haunt ing l y r i -

cism in the poe t ' s a t t i t u d e towards the camps n o t to be found

l a t e r : IIGrey b i r ds obsess my hear t /Mouth-ash , ash o f eye . 1I The

poem a lso emphasizes the gre a t development in a r t i s t i c approach

from The Colossus . Whereas the poe t ' s imagina t ion had focused

on and remained l a rge ly in the e x t e rn a l environment in t h i s first

volume, the reve rse i s t rue in Winter Trees and Ar ie l . In the



120

l a s t poems un ive rsa l themes and the na t u r a l environment are

l a id claim to by the su f fe r ing i nne r world as metaphors to ex-

.press the r i s i ng t i de o f a l i ena t ion and despa i r , waters in which

Sylv ia Pla th was soon t o d i e .



CHAPTER VI

ARIEL

Arie l , the volume on which Sylvia Pl a t h ' s recogni t ion as

a poe t l a rge ly r e s t s , was publ i shed in 1965, two years a f t e r her

dea th . Unlike The' Col'ossus which represen ted the work of seve ra l

yea r s , most of th e poems in A r ie l were wri t t en in th e l a s t four

months of the poe t ' s l i f e . In h is chronologica l o rder ing o f the

poems, Ted Hughesl

has noted t h a t Sylvia Pla th s e lec ted only

th ree poems fo r t h i s co l l ec t i on from the two years between 1960

and 1962, th e per iod of Cross ing the ~ \ T a t e r . "Tu l ip s " , wri t t en

in March 1961 and r eca l l i ng the poe t ' s appendectomy, i s one of

these . Hughes remarks t h a t t he usua l lucubra t ions over th e

Thesaurus were abandoned fo r t h i s poem, and l ike those t h a t were

to fol low was wri t t en with a l l the speed of some d i s t r e s s f u l

l e t t e r . "Morning Song", about h er daughter Fr ieda ,a l so or ig ina tes

from t h i s t ime, whi le " L i t t l e Fugue", in sp i red by Beethoven 's

Grosse Fugue,was wri t t en l a t e r in the year . "Elm", concerning

a la rge t r e e in t h e i r garden in Devon da te s from Apr i l 1 9 6 2 ; i t

begins. ' t he f i n a l phase ' . "The Hoon and th e Yew Tree" came soon

a f t e r and was wri t t en a t Ted ' s sugges t ion , when in sp i red by the

v i s ua l e f f e c t o f th e moon above a yew t ree in a graveyard nearby.

1Hughes, o p . c i t . , pp. 193-195.

121



122

liThe Rival ll was wri t t en sometime during the spr ing o r ea r ly summer

of 1962, "Berck-Plage" soon fol lowing in Ju ly 1962: it records a

vaca t ion th e Hugheses spent in France the previous June and the

death of a neighbour a lmost exac t ly a year l a t e r . October and

November of 1962 were ext remely c rea t ive months, and inc lude a l l

those poems in A r i e l up to th e end of th e Bee sequence , though

they were among the first to be w r i t t en . The companion poems,

"The Munich Mannequins" and "Totem", were wr i t t e n over two days

in mid-January 1963, and were soon followed by " P a ra ly t i c " .

"Bal loons", "Contus ion" , "Kindness" , "Edge" and "Words" r ep r e s en t

the work o f th e p o e t ' s l a s t week of l i f e .

A r i e l most c l e a r l y evidences Sylv ia P l a t h ' s sch izo id per

cept ion o f her world . In t h i s volume the i n t e rna l despa i r be

comes paramount and peace i s envi s ioned only in imminent s u i c i de .

Since l i f e appeared to o f f e r no avenues of r e b i r t h , no oppor tu

n i t i e s fo r a weak ego th rea tened with d i s s o lu t ion to reg re s s and

r epa r a t i ve forces come to bea r , dea th a t l e a s t of fe red escape

from th e horror o f ex i s t ence . Whereas l i f e i s conceived as

bleak and gro tesque , " the black ca r of Lethe" , and mankind i t s

v ic t imized , mu t i l a ted passengers ; dea th i s the de s t ina t i on ,

~ o s s e s s i n g a l l the be a u t i fu l ' nob i l i ty of c l a s s i c a l Greek s t a tua ry ,

o r envi s ioned "pure as a babylf. When loving relationsh,i; l?s in

in th e world became imposs ib le Sylv ia Pla th gave he r se l f over to

d e a t h - c i r c u i t modes of t h ink ing , t o a r a d i c a l inve rs ion of moral

va lues in a fu t i l e a t t empt to sus ta in a weak i d e n t i t y . In these

despera te e f f o r t s to f e e l ' r e a l ' she sought to endorse and j u s t i f y



· 123

in some of her poems a pur i ty of ha t red and excor ia t ing vio lence

which i nev i t ab ly became se l f -d i r e c t e d . F ina l ly , the re remained

ne i t he r hope nor any way ou t of t h i s l i b i d i n a l a t t achment to

se l f - immola t ion , t h a t "b lackout of knives" wherein she e x i s t e d ,

except through dea th .

There i s little hope in the world of A r i e l . It i s l a rge ly

a domest ic universe , the poe t descr ib ing the mar i t a l r e l a t i ons h ip ,

her ch i ld ren , beekeeping exper iences , her response to ce r t a in

landscape scenes beyond th e house. Yet when a l l i s shot th rough

with the v io lence of her longing to d i e , l i t t l e remains of the

comfor t ing secur i ty of f a mi l i a l sur roundings . Marriage i t s e l f i s

re jec ted with the b i t t e r cynicism of " T h ~ Cour ie rs" : "A r ing

of gold with the sun in i t ? /L ie s . Lies and a gr i e f " ; o r the

sardonic i rony of "The Appl ican t" , in which t enderness and love

a re scorned as hol low chimera:

A l iv ing d o l l , everywhere you look .It can sew, it can cook,It can t a lk , t a lk , t a lk .

Wil l you marry it, marry it, marry it.

No longer do the ch i ld ren of Winter Trees o f f e r a kind of

t a l i sman aga i ns t th e mal ignant world in these l a s t poems. "Mor-

ning Song", descr ib ing the b i r t h o f th e poe t ' s baby daughter ,

se rves to emphasize the profound a l i e na t ion she exper ienced in

marr iage , and by extens ion , i n r e l a t i ons h ip with the world :

Our voices echo, magnifying your a r r i v a l . New s t a t ue .

In a dra f ty museum, your nakednessShadows our s a fe ty . We s tand round blankly as wal l s .



124

Sylv ia ' P la th sensed th e t ragedy of her t e r r i b l e i n a b i l i t y to re -

ce ive love as she descr ibes th e i r r e t r i e va b l e loss of her s on ' s

innocent ,dancing joy in liThe Night Dances".

Such coldness , fo rge t fu lness .

So your ges tu re s f l ake o f f - -

Warm and human, then t he i r pink l i g h tBleeding and pee l ing

Through the b lack amnesias of heaven.

At l e a s t she d id no t car ry ou t the propos i t ion suggested in II Edge",

to fo ld these pe t a l ch i ld ren to her and take them with her i n to

dea th . The emotions a re seared in Arie l . The co r ros ive vio lence

and ha t red in t h i s world of maimed human re la t ionsh ips i s as much

di rec ted aga i ns t o t he r s , and notably aga i ns t th e husband and

f a t he r f i gu r e s , as aga i ns t the poe t ' s own se l f . Eventua l ly , even

a r t could no longer con t r o l and manipulate the maddened i nne r

l i f e ; no longer was it a charm aga i ns t the horrors of her own

r e a l i t y : "The blood j e t i s . poe t r y , / T he r e i s no s topping i t . "

"Tul ips" , one of th e e a r l i e s t poems Sylv ia Pla th se l ec ted

fo r A r i e l "was the f i r s t s ign" , Ted Hughes wr i t e s , "o f what was

on its way.,,2 S t y l i s t i c a l l y it d i f f e r s from many of th e other

poems in the c o l l e c t i on with i t s longer l i ne s and s t anzas , while

themat ica l ly it r e l a t e s to e a r l i e r poems in i t s preoccupat ion

with the l o s s o f i de n t i t y experienced in a hos p i t a l environment,

and with the image of f lowers as th rea ten ing and devouring. But

in th e poe t ' s c l e a r l y ' s t a t e d des i re to be r id of a l l " lov ing

a ~ s : s o . c . i a t i o n s n , she gives express ion to her suf fe r ing sch izo id se l f

2

Hughes, "Notes on ... Pla th ' s Poems", p. 193.



125

with a new hones ty and i n t e ns i t y .

Medi ta t ing on her hos p i t a l exper ience in its a n t i s e p t i c ,

cadaverous s t i l l n e s s , th e persona reve l s in t h i s oppor tuni ty to

be f reed o f a l l r e spons i b i l i t i e s . She glad ly re l inqu i shes her

sense of persona l i de n t i t y to become a IIbodyll only :

I am nobody; ...

I have given my name and my day c lo thes up to the nurses

And my hi s to ry to the a na e s the t i s t and my body to surgeons .

This i s an express ion of th e sch izo id i nd iv idua l ' s des i re to fade

in to ob l iv ion , t o r e t i r e to a numbed, pass ive s t a t e t h a t r epa ra -

t i ve processes might begin . As th e persona r ead i l y accept s her

own depersona l isa t ion , so the presence of others becomes meaning-

l e s s to he r and she r ega rds th e white-capped nurses as impersonal

as gul l s f ly ing in land . The s tone imagery of The Colossus f inds

express ion here as she equates he r s e l f to an inan imate pebble

which does no t want to be bothered by th e IIsmiling hooks ll of

husband and ch i ld . She fee l s she possesses a l l the pur i ty of a

nun, in th e sense o f both i so l a t i on from and den ia l of human

exper ience . Clea r ly , however, it i s no t in f a c t death t h a t she wants ,

bu t r a t he r to be f reed from life's inces san t demands. This i s t he '

t l i f e - t i r e d n e s s ' Guntr ip desc r ibes , a ' need ing to s top l i v ing bu t

no t wishing to d i e ' :

To l i e with my hands tu rned up and be u t t e r l y empty.How f ree it i s , you have no idea how f r e e - - -The peacefu lness i s so b ig it dazes you,And it asks no th ing . . •It i s what th e dead c lose on, f i na l l y • • . .

Recal led to t h i s world and t o hea l th by a bouquet of

b r i l l i a n t tUl ips in the hos p i t a l room, she f inds t h e i r i n t ense co lo r

pa in fu l and d is tu rb ing . Elsewhere in t h i s volume, red , symbol



126

of blood and of l i f e , i s in imica l in the inc rea s ing ly black

and white inner landscape. These tUl ips become a metaphor fo r

a l l t h a t the weakened sch izo id ind iv idua l f indsunbearable

in

human r e l a t i ons h ips . Thei r v iv id a f f i rma t ion o f l i f e hur t s her ,

while in brea th ing they seem to devour her oxygen. She f e e l s

he r s e l f t rapped in mid view between the sun and_ these f lowers ,

forced to recognize a debased opinion of he r se l f , b u t above a l l

ca l l ed upon to commit he r s e l f to cont inued exper ience . She cannot

meet t h i s demand and des i res only to be r e l eased to dea th :

And I am aware of my hea r t : it opens and c lose s

Its bowl of red blooms ou t of sheer love of me.

The water I t a s t e i s warm and s a l t , l i ke the sea ,

And comes from a count ry fa r away as hea l t h .

" L i t t l e Fugue", wri t t en a few months a f t e r Ii Tul ips" , also

ca ta logues Sylv ia P l a t h ' s enveloping sch izo id despa i r . " I l i ke

black s ta tements" , she aff i rms as - the poem descr ibes the maimed,

a l i ena ted exper ience of de f i c i e n t human r e l a t i ons h ips , i n which

" the deaf and dumb/Signal the b l i nd , and are ignored ." The pe r -

vas ive image of th e yew t r e e , of ten plan ted in graveyards and

hence assoc ia ted with dea th , becomes a symbol of the poe t ' s own

s u i c ida l des i r e s to end a bleak , mechanical ex i s tence :

Death opened, l i ke a black t r e e , black ly .

I surv ive the whi le ,

Arranging my morning.These are my f i nge r s , t h i s my baby.The clouds are a marr iage dr e s s , of t h a t pa l l o r .

Tree imagery bodies fo r th th e poe t ' s experie-nce o f l i f e

as an agonized cry of despa i r in th e two powerful l y r i c s , "Elm"

and "The Moon and the Yew Tree ". I n " Elm ", which Ted Hughes



127

descr ibes as beginning ' t he f i na l phas e ' , Sylv ia Pla th looks

with in her d is tu rbed psyche to t ha t "bottom" which i s no longer

fea red , and descr ibes the v io lence to the se l f of imminent ego

dis so lu t ion . The ou te r world has been r e j ec t ed as hope of a t t a i -

ning love through re la t ionsh ip i s abandoned as ch imer i ca l :

Love i s a shadow.

How you l i e and cry a f t e r it

Lis ten : these a re i t s hooves: it has gone of f , l i ke a horse .

Yet th e in tense inner world to which the sch izo id ind iv idua l may

be forced to reg re s s i s even more f r igh ten ing and v io l e n t than

h is exper ience of the ex t e r na l universe . In powerful l i ne s the

poe t l i kens her i n t e rna l persecu tor s , " the i s o l a t e , slow f a u l t s /

That k i l l , t h a t k i l l , t h a t k i l l , " to corros ive poisons , to " the

a t roc i t y of sunse t s" , t o explos ion of the s e l f in to f ragments

bru ta l i zed by the wind, to being scorched and dragged by the moon.

Her wors t Gothic dreams have become a hor r i fy ing r e a l i t y :

I am inhabi ted by a cry .

Night ly it f l aps ou t

Looking, with i t s hooks, fo r something to love .

I am t e r r i f i e d by t h i s dark th ing

That s leeps in"me;A ll day I fee l its s o f t , fea thery t u rn ings , its mal ign i ty .

As in "Elm", Sylv ia P l a t h ' s na tu ra l ambience l e n t i n s p i r a -

t ion to "The Moon and th e Yew Tree" , an i n t ense ly in t rospec t ive

poem which conveys th e sch izo id depths of one in "complete despa i r " .

The persona compares the view of th e moon over a yew t r ee in a

neighbour ing graveyard to he r own e f f o r t s to cont ro l l i f e by

barren i n t e l l e c t u a l precep t s : "This i s the l i g h t of th e mind,

cold and p l a ne t a ry . ; The t r ees of the mind are b lack ." But th e



128

mind has f a i l e d to assure d i r e c t i on o r meaning in her l i f e :

" I simply cannot see where the re i s to g e t to . " The p o e t iden-

t i f i e s h e r s e l f with the moon, a symbol th roughou t t h i s co l lec t ion

of unre l ieved des pa i r , and hence she cannot pa r t i c i pa t e in the

a f f i rma t ion o f r e s u r r e c t i on the church b e l l s r ing ou t each Sunday.

Nei the r th e feminine moon nor r e l i g ion of f e r s Sylv ia Pla th th e

maternal love and sense o f i de n t i t y she always c raved :

The moon i s my mother . She i s n o t swee t l i ke Mary_

The blue garments unloose smal l ba t s and owls •

. How I would l i ke to be l ieve in t enderness - - -

Only black , demonic forces now have s i gn i f i c ance fo r her as she

gl impses her own imminent death in th e s t a rk evening scene: "And

the message of the yew t r e e i s b lackness - -b l ackness and s i l ence . "

The sense o f journeying towards an inexorab le des t i na t i on

is a lso the theme o f "Get t ing There" , one o f the most tormented

poems in the volume. A ll th e pain and s u f f e r i ng i n the poe t ' s

exper ience o f l i f e i s descr ibed th rough th e graphic metaphor of

a war t r a i n ca r ry ing badly wounded s o ld i e r s who surv ive the

while desp i t e t h e i r agony:

It i s a t r a i n s t op , the nurses

Undergoing the fauce t wate r , its v e i l s , v e i l s in a nunnery,Touching t h e i r wounded,

The men th e blood still pumps fo rward ,Legs, arms p i l e d ou ts ide

The t e n t o f unending c r i e s - - A hos p i t a l of d o l l s .

Only death of fe r s escape from t he se h o r ro r s o f ex i s t ence . It i s

c l ea r l y - - - and d is tu rb ing ly - - -conce ived as a sch izo id metamorphosis

i n to th e peace and pur i t y of r e b i r t h :



And I , stepping from t h i s sk in

Of o ld bandages, boredoms, o ld faces

'Step to you from the black ca r of Lethe ,Pure as a baby.

129

The conclusion of "A Bir thday Present" s imi l a r ly empha

s ize s the poe t ' s growing be l i e f in death as a way to escape a l i f e

she found unendurable . So grea t was the need to begin again as a

ch i l d , to p o s s ~ s s the in teg ra ted cente r t h a t could sus t a in he r ,

t ha t she was qu i te wi l l ing to accept the vio lence of se l f - immola t ion :

And the kni fe no t carve , bu t en te r

Pure and c lean as the c ry of a baby,And th e universe s l ide from my s ide .

What i s d is tu rb ing from the r eade r ' s perspec t ive i s t h a t

such a psychot i c viewpoin t i s argued so convincingly in poems of

gr ea t t a l e n t and power. It i s a l l too easy , as in the ins tance of

ce r ta in advocates o f the modern avant -garde , to be persuaded

"a lmost to cooperate with the des t ruc t ive pr inc ip le - - indeed , to

love the pr i nc i p l e as l i f e i t s e l f " . 3 This i s sue wi l l be examined

more fUl ly in a l a t e r discuss ion of the volume's ' p o l i t i c a l ' poems.

A r ie l i s charac te r ized throughout by th e t r a ns l a t i on of

events in the, ex te rna l world in to metaphors fo r the t roubled

inner experience. In "The Bir thday Presen t " , the phys ica l death

des i r ed by the persona i s the ex te rna l cou te rpa r t to " the cold

dead cen t re " , the hollow sense of non-being o ~ the sch izo id

ind iv idua l : l i ke the "s t i l l ne s s" held by h er bones in " Sheep

'F" " .. .. ' In og · , or the s t a s ~ s ~ n darkness of " A r ~ e " . "Cut" emphasizes

the ext .eu t to . which the sch izo id pe rsona l i ty simply does no t f e e l

3A• R. Jones , "On 'Daddy·" , p. 236.



130

' r e a l ' . The poe t desc r ibes the perverse pleasure taken in having

deeply cu t her thumb while pee l ing an onion---and then the p i l l

to k i l l "The th in /Papery f ee l ing . " As the need to fee l r e a l became

more despe ra te , so vio lence committed aga i ns t the se l f i s deemed• I

a l i be r a t i ng exper ience. In "Ar ie l " , one of the volume 's most

memorable poems, the exhi la ra t ing experienc·e of r id ing he r horse

soon becomes the freedom to unpeel "Dead hands , dead s t r ingenc ies"

before the vio lence of s u i c i de . The poe t ' s own ea r ly morning death

i s foreshadowed in be a u t i fu l , galvanic images:

And I

Am the arrow,

The dew t h a t f l i e sSuic ida l , a t one with the dr ive

In to the red

Eye, the cauldron of morning.

The Bee sequence, wri t t en in the f a l l of 1962, most c lea r ly

r evea l s the poe t ' s concern throughout Arie l to give express ion

to h er i n t ense inner world by adumbrat ing domest ic , persona l

exper iences . "The Bee Meeting" , the most s i gn i f i c a n t of these

~ o e m s , recounts a ga ther ing with Devon v i l l a g ~ f r i ends and a bee

agent to remove the v i rg in bees from t h e i r queen , fo r t he re wi l l

be no k i l l i n g t h i s year . This event becomes a metaphor fo r the

poe t ' s gre a t i so l a t i on and vulne rab i l i ty . The v i l l age r s she meets

appear s t range and impersonal in t h e i r pro tec t ive garb and ve i l s

whi le she fee l s defenceless , both phys ica l ly and emot iona l ly ,

in her s l eeve less summer dress : " I am nude as a chicken neck,

does nobody love me?" When given a smock he r se l f she hopes the



131

bees w i l l not smel l her f ea r . The company then moves through a

beanf ie ld , observed as a sea of s c a r l e t f lowers menacing as blood-

c l o t s , to the loca t ion of the h ives . As the persona dons a h a t

and v e i l the magical r i t e of i n i t i a t i o n begins : " they are making

me one of them." Images o f i l l nes s and opera t ion , so charac te r i s -

t i c of these l a s t poems, converge in t h i s nightmare exper ience,

though the t e r ro r t h a t roo t s her i s a s t a t e of mind: " I could

no t run without having to run forever ." She s tands as ide , f ea r -

fu l o f h o s t i l i t y and wishing to remain anomymous as "a personage

in a hedgerow" as th e hive i s opened and the v i l l a ge r s search fo r

the queen bee . At the same t ime she sympathizes and c l e a r ly

i de n t i f i e s with t h i s old bee who must l i ve another year before

the "br ide f l igh t , /The upf l i gh t of th e murderess in to a heaven

t h a t loves her." The vi rg in bees a re moved by the v i l l a ge r s be-

fore the duel of dea th they would i nev i t ab ly win bu t the old

queen, ungra te fu l fo r t h e i r meddling, remains hidden away. As

the vi l l age rs begin to remove t he i r pro tec t ive c lo th ing the poe t

exper iences the break ing ,of th e magica l spe l l . Yet so c lose ly

has t h i s event pa ra l l e l e d her own narrow escape from death t h a t

she i s overcome with i t s persona l s ign i f i cance :

I am exhaus ted , I am exhaus ted- -

P i l l a r of white in a blackout o f knives .I am th e magic ian ' s g i r l who does not f l inch .

The v i l l a ge r s a re untying t h e i r di sgu i ses , they are

shaking hands.Whose i s t h a t long white box in th e grove , what have

they accompl ished, why am I cold .

Most of the poems in A r i e l are pr iva t e , i n t rospec t ive s t a t e -

m e n t s o f suf fe r ing . -However, t h a t brimful auuumn of 1962 also saw



132

the mingl ing of pr iva t e and publ ic concerns in "Fever 103 0",

"Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy", th ree of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s most famous

and ' p o l i t i c a l ' poems. There are those who, not ing her ex tens ion

beyond the persona l through such modern mani fe s ta t ions of b r u t a l i t y

in the h i s t o r i c a l images of the concentra t ion camps,Fascism, and

th e Hiroshima bombing, claim these poems def ine " the age as

sch izophren ic , torn between bru ta l i t y and a love which in the end

can only mani fe s t i t s e l f , t oday , in images of ~ i o l e n c e . " 4 Cer-

t a in exponents of the modern avant -garde have annexed these poems

as examples of the poe t ' s be s t work, as in s tances o f the ' f i ne

f renzy ' o f th e twent ie th century . According to A.R. Jones :

the l a s t poems of Sylv ia Pla th draw t h e i r compulsivei n t e ns i t y no t so much from t h e i r element of naked confe s s ion bu t from t h i s assumption t h a t in a derangedworld , a deranged response i s the only poss ib le reac t ion

of the s e ns i t i ve mind. S

It appears t h a t psychot ic a r t has become soc ia l ly accep

t a b l e . But to accept the above ' a ssumpt ion ' i s to suppor t

imp l i c i t l y Sylv ia P l a t h ' s inc rea s ing ly v i o l e n t , ha te fu l percep-

t ion of her world , i ndeed , to co-opera te in her own de a t h -c i r c u i t

l og ic . This i s prec i se ly what A. Alvarez does in h i s p ra i se of

~ ' F e v e r 103 0" , a poem

whichexempl i f ies the bas ic ol?l?osit ion in

t h i s volume between the pa in and" s ickness of l i ~ i n g and the

pur i ty and re lease of dea th . Sy lv ia P l a t h ~ s des c r i p t i on of "Fever

103 Q" p a r a l l e l s i t s own ant i-human i n t e l l e c t u a l detachment:

4Jones , "On 'Daddy ' " , p. 236.

S I b i d . , p. 231.



133

This poem i s about two kinds o f f i r e - - - t h e f i r e s o f

h e l l , which merely agonize , and th e f i r e s o f heaven,which p u r i fy . During th e poem, th e first s o r t o f

f i r e s u f f e r s i t s e l f in to th e second. 6

Alvarez sees c l a r i t y in a l l t h i s . A t te s t i n g t h a t th e movement o f

th e poem i s "a l so t h a t o f a persona l c a th a r s i s " , he adds : "She i s

c l a r i fy ing n o t only an a b s t r a c t dea t h , b u t a lso her fee l ings about

7it, from th e c lu t t e r e d and in su f fe rab le to th e pure and accep tab le . "

In r ecoun t i ng he r exper ience o f a r i s i ng fever the poe t has

discovered a p e r f e c t mask behind which she can unleash her ha t r ed

o f th e world with impuni ty , adding, " I am to o pure fo r you o r

anyone ." Her e f f o r t s to l i nk h er own pain to more u n iv e r s a l examples

revea l a l l the ' p u r i t y ' o f an i n t e l l e c t u a l d i sda in hor r ib ly detached

from th e emot iona l r e a l i t i e s o f those who ac t ua l l y su f fe red and

d i ed in th e Hirosh ima bombings and in the concen t r a t ion camps in

Europe:

My head a moon

Of Japanese pape r , my gold beaten sk i n

I n f i n i t e l y de l i c a t e and i n f i n i t e l y expens ive .

It i s t h i s t h a t both Sylv ia Pla th and Alvarez f ind ' c l u t t e r e d and

i n s u f f e r a b l e ' , whi le dea th - - the p o e t ' s o·wn s u i c i d a l a s p i r a t i ons - -

i s rega rded as ' pu re and accep t ab l e ' . Yet to as p i r e to t h a t

•pur i t y , which t r anscends fo reve r th e problems o f be ing human i s

to engage in th e sch izo id i nd iv idua l ' s f a l s e s o lu t i o n s to th e

problems o f i d e n t i t y . Above a l l Alvarez ignores t h a t she died

in t he p rocess as he admires th e a r t i s t i c con t ro l and de t e rmi na t i on

6From the in t roduc to ry notes to "New Poems", a read ing

prepa red fo r th e BBe Thi rd Programme b u t never broadcas t , Alvarez ,

.. Syl v i a P l a t h" , p . 62.

7A1varez, "S y l v i a P l a t h" , p . 63.



134

with which she faced her inward , t e r r i f y i ng exper iences --"so

as no t to be overwhelmed by them.,,8

Alvarez p e r s i s t s in t h i s dehumanized mode of t hought in

h i s p ra i se of "Lady Lazarus" , which he ·descr ibes as " the t o t a l

pur i f i c a t i on of achieved death. , ,9 The psychot ic perspec t ive

of these p o l i t i c a l poems comes under the gu ise of what Sylv ia

Plath termed ' l i g h t v e r s e ' : joking se l f -contempt a t th e expense

of a more human response . As the nursery rhyme t echnique achieves

t h i s e f f e c t in II Daddy " , so whimsica l , gro tesque impert inence i s

served up in the companion piece , II Lady Lazarus" . This poem a l so

seeks t o un iver sa l i ze th e poe t ' s exper ience of pain as she equates

he r t h ree s u i c ida l c r i se s with the horror o f th e Jewish massacres:

A s o r t of walking mirac le , my skin

Br igh t as a Nazi lampshade,My r i g h t foo t

A paperweight,My face a f e a tu re l e s s , f ine

Jew l i nen .

There i s no h i n t of compassion in th e poem fo r those who s u f -

fe red . It evinces only the s t a l e rhe to r i c and s e l f indulgence

of one thoroughly disengaged from th e roo t s of f ee l ing . In f ac t ·

she "assumes the suf fe r ing o f a l l th e modern vic t ims"IO

, only

~ n so f a r as martyrdom conf i rms one ·s i de n t i t y in a. g lo r ious way •

.8·Ib id • , p. 64.

9Ib id • , p. 64.

lOIb id . , p. 64.



135

"Lady Lazarus" expresses Sylv ia P l a t h ' s l i b i d i n a l at tachment to

se l f -ann ih i l a t ion , in orde r t h a t she might f e e l ' r e a l ' :

DyingI s an a r t , l ike every th ing e l se .

I do it excep t iona l ly we l l .

I do it so it fee l s l ike h e l l .

I do it so it f ee l s r e a l .

The poem ends by advocat ing a de a t h -c i r c u i t based on hat red as the

persona swears revenge in some imposs ib le a f t e r l i f e which demands,

per force , her own dea th .

Such de a t h -c i r c u i t log ic i s expressed most c lea r ly in

"Daddy". The poem focuses on a pers i s t en t theme in Ar ie l , des-

. cr ibed by Alvarez as ' t he roo t o f her s u f f e r ing ' in the dea th of

her fa the r . Ignoring the au tob iographica l element of '.' Daddy" ,

Sylvia Pla th asse r ted t h a t the persona i s be s e t by an E le c t r a com-

plex and i s involved t he reby . in ha t ing a mother with whom she

i den t i f i e s as Jewish vic t im, and loving a Nazi fa the r whom she

r e j ec t s as murderous and bru ta l . She concludes t h a t " in the

daughter th e two s t r a i n s marry and para lyse each other - - she has

to a c t o u t the awful little a l l egory before she i s f ree of it."ll

This r i t u a l des t ruc t ion of a f a th e r ' s memory exempl i f ies a

schizoid fa l se so lu t ion to the problem of i de n t i t y . As we might

expec t , the demonic Nazi f igure of "Daddy" has little to do with

the r e a l Otto Pla th who emigra ted to America in 1900 a t the age·

of f i f t een and died when Sylv ia was nine . Though of Pruss ian

descent her f a the r could no t a c tua l ly have been impl ica ted in the

Nazi war cr imes , nor was he r Austr ian mother , .Aurel ia P la th , among

l lFrom th e in t roductory notes to "New Poems I f , Alvarez ,"Sylvia Pla th ", p. 65.



136

those murdered Jews. These f igures in the poem e x i s t as th e

imaginary crea t ions o f one who demands revenge in a rec rea ted

pa s t , though the poe t h e r s e l f has n o t in f a c t been oppressed

by anyone. The mothe r ' s ro l e having been appropr ia ted long ago

as ""e saw in The Colossus by her daugh ter , the opp os i t ion in

the poem i s between f a t he r and daughter . More accu ra te ly , the

r e a l c o n f l i c t or ig ina t e s wi th in the -poe t ' s t roubled psyche , in

the a t tempt to reconc i le her despera te need to be mothered with

th e des i r e to love o r to hate a poor ly i n t e rna l i s e d fa the r . Thus,

whi le th e l y r i c ends in exco r ia t ing fu ry , it i s a l so a r a r e love

poem.

-IIDaddy II opens with the ambivalent f ee l ings of one who,

be l iev ing she was respons ib le fo r h er beloved f a t h e r ' s death a t

n ine , decides a t th e age o f t h i r t y t o s l ay the t roubled memories

o f t h i s "God", t h i s "ghas t ly s ta tue" a s soc ia ted with the beauty

o f the sea : II Daddy , I have had to k i l l you. /You died before I had

t ime- -" . The sense o f roo t le s snes s as a first genera t ion immigrant

complements h er i n t e rna l fee l ings of lack o f i de n t i t y . ~ a n t a s y z i n gabou t her pa ren t s p o l i t i c a l assoc ia t ions had they remained in

Europe, she a l l i e s h er own suf fe r ing to t h a t o f the a rche typa l

wandering Jew. The poe t ' s long-t ime f ea r o f h er f a the r , based

on th e c h i l d ' s f ea r t h a t he r love was des t r uc t i ve and caused h is

dea th , g ives i t s e l f over to th e joys of ha t ing as an adu l t . Now

the f a t he r i s conceived as "Not God b u t a swas t ika ." From a

sch izo id p o in t o f view she speaks with f asc ina t ion of both

pr iva t e and publ ic oppress i on :



Every woman adores a Fa sc i s t ,

The boot in the face , the bru te

Brute he a r t o f a bru te l i ke you.

137

This i s no t to say as A.R. Jones a sse r t s t ha t "b ru t a l i t y

is not only a necessary p a r t of love bu t i s also a c e n t r a l and

inev i tab le p r inc ip le o f l i f e ll•

12Nor i s it to acquiesce in

Alva rez ' s own specious argument in which he sees both freedom and

crea t ion of one ' s i den t i t y in Sylv ia P l a t h ' s " se l f - i n f l i c t e d op-

.press ion."13 Such den i a l of one ' s humanity can never lead to

' f reedom' or s e l f - d e f i n i t i o n . In orde r to f e e l r e a l those of

weakened i de n t i t y may seek ou t ha te fu l , v io l e n t modes of ex i s t ence .

It i s much e a s i e r the re fore fo r Sylv ia Pla th to ha te the i n t e rna l ,

broken ' co lossus ' when t h i s daddy i s s te reo typed as Nazi and thus

'all bad ' . The husband in t u rn was to complement t h i s ha te fu l ly

conceived fa the r :

I made a model of you,A man in black wi th a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.And I sa id I do, I do.

As the persona had f e l t re spons ib le fo r the f a the r ' s dea th , so she

now exper iences g u i l t a t the dis so lu t ion of t h i s marr iage : " I f

I ' v e k i l l ed one man, I ' v e k i l l e d two-- - I I• "Daddy" ends with the

savage r i t e of the townspeople jo ining the daugh te r in ha t red .

Soon t h i s ha tred became phys ica l ly se l f -d i r e c t e d with in the i n t e rna l

c losed system and th e p o e t ' s own su ic ide re su l t ed .

12Jones , liOn 'Daddy '" , p . 235.

13Alvarez , "Sylv ia P la th" , p . 65.



And the v i l l a ge r s never l i ked you.They are dancing and stamping on you.They always knew it was you.Daddy, daddy, you ba s t a rd , I 'm through.

138

Sylv ia Pla th has been much pra i sed fo r the mas te r fu l ' de-

tachment ' and ' c on t ro l ' with which she handles deeply pa infu l ,

autob iographica l mate r ia l . It i s also necessary to recognize in

her a r t the element of i n t e l l e c t u a l di sda in of one who has ceased

to f e e l , e i t h e r ' r e a l ' or a p a r t of humanity, and who r e so r t s to

a rad ica l invers ion of moral va lues with an i n t ense joy t h a t can

be highly persuas ive . Sy lv ia Pla th does not b r ing to these p o l i

t i c a l poems a des i re to unders tand the t rue roo t s of her suf fe r ing

or h er s u i c ida l impulses . Dangerous c u l t u r a l imp l ica t ions l i e

in he r powerful i n s i s t a nc e on the accep tab i l i ty of her l i b i d i n a l

at tachment to a fa l se dea th c i r c u i t , to escape what i s deemed the

' v io lence of love ' in normal human r e l a t i onsh i p s .

A s i gn i f i c a n t and pe rc e p t ib l e change can be discerned in

Sylv ia P l a t h ' s a t t i t u d e towards dea th in the poems wr i t t e n in

the f ina l weeks o f l i f e . An e a r l i e r , angry ambivalence now gives

way to a qu ie t , calm a c c ~ p t a n c e of the i n e v i t a b i l i t y of s u i c i de .

Even in the companion poems, " The Munich Mannequins" and "Totem" ,

wri t t en in mid January 1963, the re i sstill

some doubt : in the

former because "per fec t ion i s t e r r i b l e , it cannot have ch i ld ren" ;

while the l a t t e r expresses th e despe ra t ion o f being "Roped in a t

the end by the one/Death with i . t s many s t i c k s . II "Kindness" r

' 'contusion' ' , "Edge" and "Words", a l l wr i t t e n in the l a s t week of

l i f e , no longer dwel l on the pa in and suf fe r ing o f ex i s tence o r

on a savage ha tred bu t look to the peacefu l se ren i ty o f death,

' t h a t calm and ne u t r a l s t a t e in which being and nothingness



139

coinc ide ' •

An a i r of re s igna t ion pervades "Edge" as the poe t contem-

pla te s her imminent su ic ide . To d ie i s to be per fec ted , the dead

body pure as a c l a s s i c a l Grecian s t a tue , l i ke the " Ion ian /Dea th-

gowns" of the two chi ldren in th e e a r l i e r "Death and Co.". Gone

i s the r evu l s ion expressed a t the o ld man's death in s tanza four

of "Berck ...Plage": "This i s what it is to be complete . It i s

hor r ib le . " At the end of l i f e ' s - t r i a l s h e r s e l f , she makes the

f r ightening suggest ion to take her babies with her i n to death . In

an image o f grea t na tu ra l beauty , remin iscen t of the l y r i c a l

ske tches in The Colossus, and f reed of the l a t e r themes of s i c k -

ness and vio lence , she descr ibes he r se l f as the pe ta l s of a rose

clos ing with the coming nigh t :

She has folded

Them back in to her body as pe ta l sOf a rose close when the garden

St i f fens and odours bleedFrom the sweet , deep t h roa t s of the nigh t f lower .

The moon, symbol throughout the poe t ry of endless pa in and despa i r ,

i s no t saddened by bu t fu l ly accepts the poe t ' s i r r evocab le dec i -

s ion to s tep over the edge in to dea th .

A r i e l i s c l e a r l y Sylv ia Pla th s most comp-lete and s e l f -

conta ined volume. In these f i n a l poems the re i s a sense of having

come fu l l c i r c le as we remember "Tul ips the e a r l i e s t poem saved

fo r t h i s co l l ec t ion and the de s c r ip t i on -o f death it gives :

The peacefu lness i s so b ig it dazes you,And it asks nothing . . •It i s what the dead close on, f ina l ly • . • .



140

There i s no ' r age aga ins t t h e 9 y i n g o f the nigh t ' in these l a s t

poems, ne i t he r angry i n t ens i ty nor any f e a r . The f i n a l i t y of

dea th , the abso lu te noth ingness of the yawning void , i s contem-

pla ted from the u t t e r l y emot ionless s t a t e of one who has abandoned

a l l hope. Even the e a r l i e r idea of r e b i r t h does no t f ind express ion

in these poems. Only the . a r t would remain, bu t it could no more

conta in the poe t ' s l i v ing presence than she he r se l f could escape

the inexorab le pa t t e rn of her l i f e :

Words dry and r i d e r l e s s ,The i ndefa t igab le hoof - taps .

WhileFrom the bottom of the pool , f ixed s t a r s

Govern a l i f e .

!'Words"



CHAPTER VII

THE BELL JAR

The Bel l Ja r i s Sylv ia Pla th ' s only publ ished novel .

In mid January 1963, l e s s than a month before her su ic ide on

February 11, it was publ ished under th e pseudonym o f V i c t o r i a

Lucas. According to A. Alvarez , Pla th used the pseudonym be-

cause she did no t cons ider The Bel l J a r a se r ious p iece o f

wri t ing , and pa r t l y because she r ea l i zed too many people would

be impl ica ted and hur t by it.l

He wri t es t h a t "she spoke of

it with some embarrassment as an autobiographica l appren t i ce -

work which she had to wr i te in order to f ree he r se l f from the

past . , ,2 In l i g h t of the death t h a t fol lowed soon a f t e r , we may

pos tu la t e t h a t th e p a s t had loomed with pa r t i c u l a r s ign i f i cance

in her l i f e those l a s t two yea rs , and t h a t in wri t ing about

h er su ic ide a t tempt a t nine teen , Sylv ia Pla th was c l e a r l y a t

tempti! lg to ob je c t i fy and con t ro l those des t r uc t i ve ene:rgies

to which she was soon to succumb again. The idea had i n t e r e s t e d

her fo r some t ime. By Apri l 1 , 1961, F r i e da ' s f i r s t bi r thday ,

she records being lover one t h i rd through a novel about a

c o l l ~ g e . g i r l bui ld ing up fo r and going through a nervous break-

down' . She wrote :

lAlvarez , "Sylv ia Pla th" , p. 57. In t h i s regard it i si n t e r e s t i ng to note t h a t Sylv ia Pla th ' s mother thought The

Bel l J a r represen ted ' t he bases t ingra t i tudet

•

2- - - - , "Prologue" in The Savage God, p. 21.

141



'. 142

I have been wanting to do t h i s for ten years bu t hada t e r r i b l e block about Wri t ing A Novel. Then suddenly in beginning negot ia t ions with a New York pub l i she r

fo r an American ed i t ion of my poems, the dykes brokeand I s tayed awake a l l night se ized by fearsome e xc i t e

ment, saw how it could be done, s t a r t e d the next dayand go every morning to my borrowed s tudy as to anof f i c e and b e l t ou t more o f it. 3

Never the less , the ci rcumstances under which The Bel l Ja r and th e

f i n a l poems were wri t t en were no t easy . 1961 brought , in rap id

success ion , a miscar r iage fol lowed by an appendectomy and then

pregnancy aga in . The fol lowing year was even more d i f f i c u l t .

Repeated a t t acks o f f lu and high fevers plagued the summer, l e a -

ving Sylv ia both phys ica l ly and emot ional ly exhausted. Afte r a

vaca t ion in I re land she could not bear another winter in Devon and

began commuting bi-weekly to London. Her de te r io ra t i ng r e l a t i on -

sh ip wi th Ted Hughes prompted the separa t ion and move to London

j u s t before Christmas 1962, in one of the co l des t win te r s in over

a century . Pipes f roze ; ne i the r l i g h t nor hea t were dependable;

t he re was no te lephone; and she was ill with a s inus i n f e c t i on

and two very young ch i ld ren . The Bel l J a r was publ i shed with in

a month, to reviews which were 'most ly illiterate', and caused

only minor i n t e r e s t .4

Most c r i t i c s discovered only a f t e r he r

dea th t h a t Sylv ia Pla th and Vic tor ia Lucas were one and the same

wr i t e r .

Although Sylv ia pla th had wri t t en s h o r t s to r i e s prev ious ly ,

it i s of i n t e r e s t to ask why she turned to th e novel form a t

t h i s s tage in her a r t i s t i c development . When in te rv iewed by Pe te r

3Ames, IINotes Toward a Biography I , pp. 169-170.

4Mary Kinzie , IIAn Informal Check L i s t o f C ri ticis:rn'" in

The A rt of Sylv ia P l a t h , p. 287.



143

Orr, she emphasized the a t t r ac t ive d ive r s i t y of l i f e t h a t can

be captured in prose , bu t which i s more d i f f i c u l t in th e adum-

bra ted form of poe t ry :

I f e e l t h a t in a novel , fo r example, you can g e t in

too th-brushes and a l l the parapherna l ia t h a t one f inds

in da i ly l i f e , and I f ind t h i s much more d i f f i c u l t in

poe try . Poe t ry , I f e e l , i s a t y rann ica l d i sc i p l i ne ,you 've got to go so f a r , so f a s t , in such a smal l spacet h a t you 've j u s t g o t to tu rn away a l l the pe r i phe r a l s .

And I miss them! I 'm a woman, I l i ke my little Laresand Penates , I l i ke t r i v i a , and I f ind t h a t in a novelI can g e t more o f l i f e , perhaps no t such an in tense

l i f e , bu t ce r t a in ly more of l i f e , and so l Ive become

very i n t e r e s t e d in novel wri t ing as a r esu1 t . S

Sylv ia Pla th was deeply i n t e r e s t e d i n descr ib ing th e

i n t e ns i t y of her own l i f e in The Bel l Ja r . The resemblances

between Es the r Greenwood's background and exper iences and Sylv ia

P l a t h ' s own are many and obvious . Surfac ing in both the poems

and th e novel a re th e same i n s i s t e n t snapshot memories o f a,New

England seacoas t with i t s Deer Is land Pr ison and ho t dog s tands

and ga rba ge - l i t t e r e d s t r and . The poet ry r epresen t s prec i se ly

focused, c lose-up shots whereas the wide-angle lens of the novel

d ~ p t o r t s every th ing l i ke a crazy funhouse of mir ror s . The t r ag ic

cry of the poems, th e essence wrung from a l i f e , i s seen in i t s

comic mask in the novel . Often r e f l e c t e d i n the pervas ive

image of bab ie s , the shock of smi les on pick led faces f l oa t s in to

vi s ion l i ke Pavel T c h e 1 ~ t c h e w ' s di s tu rb ing 'Hide and Seekl . But

the novel i s also about madness--and a very r e a l su ic ide a t t empt - -

as th e poems a re no t .

SPete r O rr ( ed . ) , The Poet Speaks, p . 167.



144

An extremely wel l -c ra f t ed nove l , The Bel l Ja r i s fecund

on a number of l ev e l s . The wry humour of the p r o t a g o n i s t a l

Ilows fo r a percep t ive American G r a f f i t i : what growing up in

the ' 50 ' s was l ike from a young g i r l ' s p o i n t o f view; a sca th ing

indic tment of psych ia t r i c p rac t i ces ; and more s pec i f i ca l l y ,

the remarkable i n s i g h t s of the schizoid i nd iv idua l who, using her

a r t as a t he rapeu t i c dev ice , poin ted to the roo t s o f her su f fe r ing

in an ext raordinary way. The novel f l e shes out and exposes the

ea r ly environment, br idging the gap between the au tob iograph ica l

"Ocean 1212-W" and the poems. Through the f i gure o f Esther

Greenwood it focuses f a i r ly r e a l i s t i c a l l y on Sylv ia P l a t h ' s

menta l breakdown and su i c ide a t tempt before her senior year a t

Smith. The novel recounts her sUbject ion to what R. D. Laing terms

the ' degrada t ion ' of convent ional psych ia t ry : i n su l in shock

therapy and ECT, and the demands o f f a l s e s o c i a l i s a t i o n placed

upon her in a forced re tu rn to san i ty . Her exper ience c lose ly

p a r a l l e l s Harry Gunt r ip ' s account o f th e environmenta l inadequa-

c ~ e s of ten experienced by those who may need to be ' r eborn ' , to

regrow as a 'whole per son ' :

I f a p a t i e n t needs a long r egressed i l l n e s s whichcannot be coped with a t home, he may f ind himse l f takenout of ana lys i s and in to h o sp i t a l , and made the sub jec t

o f concen t ra ted e f f o r t s to suppress h is i l l n e s s fo rc ib ly

by drugs or ECT and h o s p i t a l d i s c ip l i ne , while h is deepproblems simply cannot be glimpsed or unders tood byr s y c h i a t r i s t s and nurs ing s t a f f whose aim must of neces

s i t y be to g e t him wel l quickly .6

6Guntr ip , Schizoid Phenomena, p . 318.



145

Sylv ia Pla th c lea r ly needed someone ' t o b e ' fo r her t ha t

she might exper ience a guided reg re s s ion , reso lv ing s pe c i f i c con-

f l i c t s -and perhaps enjoying a fundamental regrowing of the bas ic

ego. It was a s p i r i t u a l , authen t ic and human response t h a t she

sought in other s ; ye t she experienced only the mechanis t ic ,

specious and inhuman techniques of convent ional psychia t ry . The

Bel l Ja r records th e poe t ' s impress ion t ha t there was no one who

l i s t e ne d and no one who helped. Ins tead , Esther meets only the

uncomprehending s t a r e s of those who should have been able to

render ass i s tance : Dr. Gordon who doe s n ' t l i s t e n and asks l ike

some macaw ,.,hat col lege she at tended; the cus t od i a l ills of

mental i n s t i t u t i o n s where pa t i e n t s become "shop dummies, pa in ted

to resemble people and propped up in a t t i t udes counte r fe i t ing

l i f e " ; the reproachfu l mother who regards her daughte r ' s i l l n e s s

as some kind of mal ic ious juveni le prank. The i rony behind the

whole force o f the novel i s t h a t the one person who b e s t under-

s tood was Esther he r se l f . The pr i ce Sylv ia Pla th pa id though

near ly cos t her her l i f e , while the "s ix month crash" t ha t fo l

lowed she described l a t e r as

A t ime of darkness , despa i r , d i s i l l u s i on - - so black onlyas the in fe rno of the human mind can be--symbol ic dea th ,

the numb shock, then the pa infu l agony of slow r e b i r t hand psychic regenera t ion . 7

I bel ieve however a t the t ime of wri t ing her novel Sylv ia

pla th s t rongly quest ioned whether the re had been a ' r e b i r t h and

psychic r egenera t ion ' a decade before . Was the ' c u r e ' she had

7Quoted by Ames, "Notes Toward a Biography" , p. 163.



146

experienced anything o t he r than the consc ious r e - adop t ion o f

' f a l s e s e l f ' conformity?

I had hoped, a t my depa r tu re , I would f ee l sure andknowledgeable about every th ing t h a t lay ahead - - a f t e r

a l l , I had been ' a na l yzed ' . I n s t ead , a l l I could see

were ques t ion marks . (p. 257) .

Ser ious doubts a re ra i sed a t the conclus ion o f the B e l l Ja r . In

the a c t of wr i t ing it Sylv ia Pla th must have been conscious o f

t ha t hovering f l u t e ~ shape above her head aga i n , soon to i so l a t e

her i r revocably from a l i f e in which t he re appears n o t to have

been anyone who was capable and percep t ive enough to he lp . What

comes through in t h i s nove l i s the l uc id c r i t i c i sm o f the

sane world by one diagnosed as 'menta l ly ill'. Even now, more than

a decade a f t e r he r dea th , th e i n s igh t s Sy lv ia Pla th provided as

to the reasons fo r her su ic ide have still l a rge ly been ignored .

In s tead , h er i n t e rna l despa i r has been j u s t i f i e d by Ei leen Aird

as th e s pec i a l v i s i on o f th e a r t i s t who s t r ugg l e s to reconc i le

" the di f fe rences between th e ex t e r na l world and t h a t revea led by

the c r ea t i ve i n s i g h t .II8

A. Alvarez ,on th e o th e r hand, argues

t h a t she gave he r se l f o v ~ r to h er de s t ruc t ive impulses IIfor the

9sake of th e range and i n t e ns i t y o f IherJ a r t " , and concludes

t h a t " the achievement o f her f i na l s t y l e i s to make poet ry and

death inseparab le ." lO In each case t h i s l i t e r a ry roman t ic iza t ion

o f su ic ide ignores Sylv ia p l a t h ' s r e a l emot iona l r rob lems.

Elizabe th Hardwick in he r essay on the poe t desc r ibes

8Aird , Sylv ia P l a t h , p . 92.

9

Alvarez , Under Pres su re , p. 185.

10____ "Sy lv ia P la th" , p. 67.



147

those who s u f f e r such ego dis in tegra t ion and s t i f l i n g se1f-

enc losure as s u r v i v i ng" t he i r own torments only by an eras ing

detachment"c11

The Bel l J a r was wri t t en from t h i s pe rspec t ive

a decade a f t e r the exper ience. Having survived by th e conscious

re -adopt ion of th e sch izo id ' s fa l se , t r ag ic modes o f ex i s t ence ,

Sylv ia Pla th advocates in t h i s novel the inver ted moral of

des t ruc t ion to he r s e l f and other s . This accounts fo r th e examples

of d i s t o r t e d pleasure and de l ibe ra te seeking of pa in in the l a t e

poems and in The Bel l J a r . Hardwick notes of th e novel t h a t Pla th

th inks o f s l a sh ing her wris t s in the tub and imagines th e water

"gaudy as poppies"- -one o f those b r i l l i a n t , bloody images t h a t

s tud th e f i n a l poems. Unable to do the deed , she still wants to

" s p i l l a little blood" fo r pra c t i c e :

Then I f e l t a smal l , deep t h r i l l , and a b r i g h t seamo f red wel led up a t th e l ip of the s l ash . . The bloodgathered da rk ly , l i ke f r u i t , and ro l l e d down my anklein to the cup of my black pa t en t l e a the r shoe. (p. 156)

This f asc ina t ion with pa in in orde r to f e e l ' r e a l ' poin t s to

Sylv ia P l a t h ' s in tense l i b i d i n a l a t tachment to s e l f ~ d e s t r u c t i o nand to her a r t i s t i c express ion of de a t h -c i r c u i t ecs t asy .

The Bel l ·Jar i s a remarkable record o f psychic d i s i n t ~ g r a " "t i on . The suf fe r ing Sylv ia Pla th records was. genuine. At the

same t ime , t he re i s danger in such p.sychotic a r t t h a t would have

us suppor t i t s author in h er sch izo id de a t h -c i r c u i t s , t ha t we

might conf i rm an inner i de n t i t y she appears not to have possessed

in l i f e .

l lE l i z a be th Hardwick, "Sy lv ia P la th" in Sedu·c·t·i·on· ·and

Betraya l (New York: Random House, 1974) , p. 108.



148

The novel i s t r i - p a r t i t e in s t ruc t u r e . The scene i s s e t

in the f i r s t nine chap t e r s , the main charac te r s are in t roduced ,

and episodes from E s t he r ' s pa s t give shape and dimension to the

ensuing con f l i c t . E s t he r ' s t r i p to New York i s descr ibed and,

in the kinds of demands placed on he r , pre c i p i t a t e s th e break

down foreshadowed in the memorable balcony scene in which she

abandons h e r c lo th ing and her sense o f i de n t i t y to the dark c i ty

nigh t . This epi sode i s both the l og i c a l cen t re o f th e novel and

th e de f in ing ges tu re o f E s the r ' s growing i n a b i l i t y to func t ion in

da i ly l i f e . The -remaining eleven chapte rs t ake place l a r ge l y

in the na r ra t i ve pr e s en t once the b e l l j a r o f the mind descends .

They inc lude sec t ion I I , chapte rs t en to t h i r t e e n , to th e po i n t

of E s the r ' s unsuccess fu l su ic ide a t tempt ; and sec t ion I I I , chap

t e r s four teen to twenty , he r menta l hos p i t a l exper iences and

ques t ionable recovery.

SECTION I

J u s t as Sylv ia Pla th had won th e M a d e m o i s ~ l l e c on te s t to

represen t h er co l lege in New York C i ty , so Esther Greenwood in

the novel j o ins twelve o the r contes t an t s on a New York fash ion

m ~ g a z i n e fo r a month. There they a re , with t h e i r pa te n t l e a the r

shoes and matching handbags and t h e i r ptomaine f e a s t s of cav ia r

and avacado and crabmeat s a l ad , squi red about in a soc i a l whir l

which becomes i nc reas ing ly meaningless to Es the r . The c on t r a s t

between t h i s American g i r l ' s dream and its r e a l i t y fo r Es the r

i s immediately apparen t :



149

Only I w a s n ' t s tee r ing anyth ing , no t even myse l f .

I j u s t bumped from my ho te l to work and to p a r t i e s

and from pa r t i e s to my h o t e l and back to work l i ke anumb t r o l l e y -b u s . I guess I should have been exc i t ed

th e way most o f th e o the r g i r l s were, b u t I c o u ld n ' tg e t mysel f to r eac t . · I f e l t very still and very empty,th e way th e eye o f a tornado must f e e l , moving du l ly

along in th e middle of the sur rounding hu l l aba l oo .

(pp. 2-3) (my emphasis)

This sch izo id sense o f hol lowness o f being adds to E s t he r ' s

f ee l ings o f being c u t a d r i f t in a wel t e r o f s t r ange c i rcumstances .

In an e f f o r t to prov ide th e i den t i t y she l a cks , she i s a t t r a c t e d

t o t h ree female c h a ra c t e r s , Doreen and Betsy , two o the r co l l ege

g i r l s on t h i s t r i p ; and Jay Cee, the l i t e r a r y ed i t o r of t he maga-

z ine . But in each i n s t ance they a re deemed d e f i c i e n t as appro-

p r i a t e models. Es the r admires Doreen fo r h er s o p h i s t i c a t i o n ,

h er i n t u i t i o n , h e r humour, th e oppor tuni ty she provides to ga in

s o c i a l exper ience . However, th e un i n t e l l e c t ua l , purpose less

s o c i a l ex i s t ence she l eads quickly l im i t s h er i n f l uence on Es the r ,

j u s t as Betsy ' s equa l l y un i n t e l l e c t ua l , pass i ve accep tance o f

th e world r e s t r i c t s he r , though Es the r admires her gen t le kindness

and l a t e r r ecogn i t ion as a c o v e r -g i r l . Unl ike th e co l l ege g i r l s ,

Jay Cee i s a much more formidable be ing and i s r e spec t ed fo r her

~ n t e l l i g e n c e and her success . At th e same t ime Esther f i nds

~ t d i f f i c u l t to imagine any kind o f phys ica l , sexua l being behind

the e f f i c i e n t pub l i c face .

In a d i s tu rb ing in te rv iew with Jay Cee in which Esther i s

admonished to t ake f u l l advantage of t he work o p p o r t u n i t i e s t h i s

t r i p has a f forded he r , she i s nunmasked l lo f h e r ' f a l s e s e l f '

ex i s t ence . Forced to admi t " a l l th e uncomfor table susp ic ions"



150

about a profound lack of meaningful di rec t ion in her l i f e , she

suddenly rea l i zes t h a t a l l he r f a c i l e plans fo r the fu ture are

without substance. The academic world , which had prev ious ly

given h er a sense of i de n t i t y and s uc c e s s - - " f i f t e e n years of

s t r a i g h t A's"--was now coming to an end, and was a t any r a t e qui t e

divorced from th e working universe . There i s sardonic humour in

the observa t ion t h a t she would spend her whole honours year

"wr i t ing on some obscure theme"-- twin images- -" in th e works

of James Joyce" . The s oc i a l i so l a t i on exper ienced a t col lege went

hand in hand with academic pur s u i t s . It also overemphasized

a bs t r a c t i n t e l l e c t u a l a c t i v i t y a t th e expense of human, emot iona l

r e l a t i ons h ips : a c ha ra c t e r i s t i c of the sch izo id i nd iv idua l .

This in te rv iew with Jay Cee also serves to revea l th e

acute i so l a t i on and detachment Esther exper iences with regard

to he r family and Boston ambience. She wishes she had a mother

l i ke Jay Cee: "Then I 'd know what to do" . The l ack o f an appro

pr i a t e female model in h er development has been pa infu l ly f e l t .

As it i s her own mother , , desp i te her daughte r ' s obvious i n t e l l e c

t ua l a b i l i t i e s , i s fo reve r a f t e r her to l ea rn shor thand , c l e a r ly

accept ing and endors ing an i n fe r io r ro le in l i f e fo r a woman.

Insens i t ive to h er daughter in the pr e s en t , she a l so defaces the

va s t by ha t ing the f a the r whom the ch i ld loved , fo r dying and

l eav ing no money. This l a rge ly imaginary f a the r appears to have

been what the l i v ing mother imp l i c i t l y was no t : a l ov ing ,

i n t u i t i v e , guiding f i gu r e . As Es the r suddenly r e a l i z e s in th e

pleasurab le company of Cons tan t in :



151

I thought how s t range it had never occurred to mebefore t ha t I was only purely happy u n t i l I was nineyears o ld . • • l had never been rea l ly happy again . (p.78)

Although very unsure of her fu ture ro l e in l i f e , Esther

~ s adamantly opposed to marr iage . The examples she knows have

graph ica l ly no t recommended it. Both her own mother and Mrs.

Wil la rd , desp i te t h e i r univer s i ty degrees and professor husbands,

b e c a ~ e mere domest ic drudges upon marrying and bear ing chi ld ren .

To Esther the whole f r igh ten ing prospec t "was l ike being bra in-

washed, and af te rwards you went about numb as a s lave in some

pr iva t e , t o t a l i t a r i a n s t a t e " . Her boyfr iend , Buddy Wil la rd , con-

f i rms t h i s impress ion in the presen t in h is u t t e r ly i n s ens i t i ve

a t t i t ude to the s ign i f i cance of poet ry in her l i f e - - "a poem i s ...

A piece of dus t " - - and h is s in i s t e r assurance t h a t with marr iage

and ch i ld ren she would n o t be in te res ted in wr i t ing poems any

more. Esther f ee l s he r s e l f in r e vo l t aga ins t the narrow ex i s -

t ence her environment of fe r s he r , one in which her crea t ive

ambit ions and motherhood seem mutual ly exc lus ive :

The l a s t th ing I ~ a n t e d was i n f i n i t e secur i ty and to bethe place an arrow shoots o ff from. I wanted change and.exc i tement and to shoot o ff in a l l di rec t ions mysel f ,l ike the coloured arrmvs from a Fourth of Ju ly r o c k e t . { p . 87)

The sexua l mores o f t h i s middle c l a s s mil ieu are equa l ly rep re s -

s ive : the ' double s t anda rd ' fo r men i s fu l ly accepted; and

whi le "pureness was the gr ea t i s s ue" , as Es t he r r i gh t ly perce ives

o;f the Reader ' s Diges t a r t i c l e sen t by her mother , the re was "no

cons idera t ion how a g i r l f e l t " . Thus, given t h i s background,

Esther j u s t i f i ab ly s u f f e r s ' c u l t u r a l shock ' during her month in

New York. But the i n t e ns i t y of her i s o l a t i on and detachment from



152

those around her i s of an extreme na tu re , as captured b r i l l i a n t -

ly in the s imi le she uses of -an express t r a i n l eav ing Par i s :

••• every second th e c i ty ge ts smal le r and smal le r ,only you f ee l it's r e a l l y you ge t t ing smal le r andsmal le r and l one l i e r and l one l i e r , rush ing away froma l l those l i gh t s and t h a t exc i tement a t about a mil l ion

miles an hour . (p. 17)

This c ha ra c t e r i s t i c sch izo id reac t ion seems to po in t to an even

grea te r ' f a i l u r e of envi ronmenta l pr ov i s i on ' .

The ' f a l se s e l f ' veneer cracks not iceab ly th e day the photo-

grapher a r r i ve s as Es t he r breaks down and c r i e s , re l i eved " to be

f ree of the animal" in s ide fo r awhi le . Decis ions to do anything

become inc reas ing ly d i f f i c u l t dur ing the f i n a l days in New York.

Her growing i s o l a t i on and sense of f u t i l i t y i s brought to a c l i -

max on her l a s t n igh t in th e c i t y , when she i s persuaded by Doreen

to a t t end a d isa s t rous count ry club dance where, l i ke a play ing

ca rd , she i s d e a l t ou t to Marco the-woman-hater. Her de f i a n t

ac t ion in s t r i k ing him and the subsequent t e a r s a re a r e l i e f , bu t

a dramat ic ges tu re o f reg re s s ive withdrawal from l i f e fol lows

immediately. In a powerfu l scene which s igna l s E s t he r ' s own

s p i r i t u a l death , on re turn ing to th e ho te l she drops a l l her c lo thes ,

one by one, over th e balcony to f l o a t i de n t i t y l e s s as she he r s e l f

f e e l s , i n to the dark hea r t of the c i t y . Images o f death and

darkness pervade t h i s scene in its key phrases : ubui ld ings

blackened as if fo r a fune ra l " , " fa i l e d" , "ba t l i ke shadow sank" ,

"a loved-one ' s ashes" , "grey sc raps" , "dark hea r t " . As the

wind f a i l s to ca rry th e c lo th ing up, so Es t he r can no longer pre -

vent the s p i r a l l i ng descen t of h er own darkening psyche .



153

This i s the most dominant express ion of dea th imagery in

the f i r s t sec t ion of The Bel l Ja r , y e t on c l os e r examinat ion i s

seen to permeate the whole. While pick led foe tuses gleam

th rough-out , mention of the Rosenberg e lec t rocu t ions bracke t t h i s

sec t ion and hera ld E s t he r ' s own menta l hos p i t a l exper iences . Her

ear ly c u r io s i t y , about "what it would be l i ke , being burned a l ive

a l l along your nerves" , foreshadows her l a t e r shock t rea tments :

Then something ben t down and took hold of me and shookme l i ke the end of the world. Whee-ee-ee-ee, it s h r i l l e d ,

through an a i r crack l ing with blue l i g h t , and with eachf l a sh a gr ea t j o l t drubbed me till I thought my boneswould break and the sap f ly ou t o f me l ike a s p l i t p l an t .

I wondered what t e r r i b l e th ing it was t ha t I had done. (p . lS l )

Death f asc ina tes Es the r , and none more so than her own, as the

sk i ing episode a t Mt. Pisgah with Buddy makes c l e a r . As she

shusses down a s lope , the happiness with which she gree t s the

poss i b i l i t y of death i s reminiscen t o f a s i mi l a r happiness enjoyed

in her f a the r ' s company as a ch i ld . Her exper ience of the run

was l i ke rewinding a camera r e e l , "through yea r a f t e r yea r of

doubleness and smi les and compromise", yea r s o f ' f a l s e s e l f t

exis tence i n to the p a s t and beyond. Death i s longed fo r because

the need to be reborn , to f ind the ' t r ue s e l f ' i s so. gr ea t .

Hence, as though f lash ing through a dark tunne l , Esther

hur t l ed on to the still, b r i g h t p o in t a t th e end of it,

the pebble a t the bottom of· the w el l , th e whi te sweetbaby crad led in i t s mothe r ' s be l ly . (p. 102) .

E s t he r ' s manifes ta t ion of the sch izo id des i r e to ' c rawl

back i n s i de ' i s of ten c l e a r ly expressed in t h i s f i r s t sec t ion ,

fo re t e l l i ng the at tempted su ic ide in the dark c e l l a r . There i s



154

the s to ry of the f ig t ree i n Es the r ' s Ladies ' Day book promp-

t ing her des i re " to crawl in between those black l i nes . of p r i n t

1

the way you crawl through. a fence , and go to s leep under t ha t

beau t i f u l big green f i g - t r e e " . Likewise , she wishes she could

"crawl in to" th e female Russian i n t e r p r e t e r she sees wi th

Constan t in . More of ten t h i s regress ive i n t e n t emerges, appro-

pr i a t e l y , through the imagery o f babies . The day Es t he r d i s -

covers Buddy to be a hypocr i t e and th e ser iousness with which she

regards t h i s , cente rs on t h e i r mutual exper ience of · seeing a ch i ld

being born . The impl ica t ion i s t h a t , a t l e a s t in E s the r ' s mind,

the innocence and pur i ty o f the womb exis tence i s pre fe rab le in

our de c e i t fu l world . More s pe c i f i c a l l y , she he r s e l f f e l t "pure

and sweet aSEt new baby" when emerging from the ho t ba th , while

Doreen 's mother ly t enderness and th e soup bro th a f t e r the ptomaine

poisoning l e f t her "purged and holy arid ready fo r a new l i f e " .

These images which focus on the idea of r e b i r t h , of ten through dea t h ,

body fo r th th e pr o t agon i s t ' s profound need to reg re s s to f ind

the roo t s of her be ing . Once t h i s ques t has been es tab l i shed

and· th e b e l l j a r of the mind descends , these image pa t t e r ns occur

much l e s s f requent ly in the remaining two sec t ions .

SECTION I I

The second and s ho r t e s t sec t ion of the novel f inds Es t he r

on the t r a i n re tu rn ing home to Boston. It i s a r e tu rn to what

El izabe th Hardwick descr ibes as the sor t of suffocating, entangling environ

ment t ha t un i te s th e despa i r of place with th e despa i r o f fee l ing .. 12

l2Hardwick, Seduct ion and Betraya l , p. 70.



155

It i s a l so c l ea r ly assoc ia t ed with her own mother, to whom she

i s so a n ta gon i s t i c : " the mother ly brea th of the suburbs" en-

fo lds her , laying " i t s sooth ing hand over every th ing , l ike death" .

Even the family ca r she r i de s in c loses over her head l ike a

"pr i son van" , whi le the town i t s e l f resembles ·"a l a rge bu t escape-

proof cage" . Moreover, the one br i gh t hope in Es the r ' s l i f e ,

the expec ta t ion of a t t end ing a summer wri t ing course , i s smashed

by an immediate announcement to the cont rary by her mother .

(There i s also the imp l i c i t admission t h a t pr ivacy in the home

i s minimal , s ince Es the r ' s mai l i s r ead . ) As breakdown ensues ,

Es the r ' s regress ive r e t r e a t from the world becomes r ad i ca l .

Fee l ing u t t e r ly a l i ena ted from the othe r inha b i t a n t s in t h i s

suburban t eacup, from nosy Mrs. Ockenden, or Dodo Conway who

t ends to excess in the ro le of motherhood, she i s soon crawling

in to the "dark and safe" area between the padded beds tead and

the ma t t r e s s , which f a l l s across her " l i ke a tombstone". Esther

desc r ibes t he psych ica l impasse in her l i f e , beyond which she

cannot go: "n ine teen t e lephone wires , and then the wires dangled

. t ".n 0 space • • . . At t h i s po i n t she i s recommended to Doctor

Gordon,a

p s y c h i a t r i s t .

A ll o f Es the r ' s encounters with psych ia t r i c ass i s tance

prove no t only unhe lpfu l bu t es sen t i a l l y pun i t i ve . In t h i s f i r s t

ins tance the womb-like secur i ty she longs fo r i s sensed in the

windowless wait ing room, bu t Dr. Gordon himse l f i s hardly the

i n t u i t i v e , sympathet ic f igure she i s seeking . There i s gre a t

poignancy in Es the r ' s p le a fo r a human response as she hopes t h a t



156

he could see something I cou ldn ' t , and then I wouldf ind words to t e l l him how I was so scared as if I

were being s tu f fed f a r the r and f a r the r i n to a black ,

a i r l e s s sack with no way ou t ...And t hen , I thought ,

he would help me, s tep by s t e p , to be myself again . (p.136)

In f a c t , Dr. Gordon does nothing of the so r t . Esther cor rec t ly

senses t h a t he presumes her percep t ion o f t he inner t roub le wrong

by v i r tue of her see ing him in the f i r s t place . At $25 an hour

he i s c a l l ous l y , u t t e r l y i n d i f f e r e n t to whatever she may say.

'Only an abs t rac t cu r io s i ty prompts him to ask what co l l ege she

at tended. Once more, it i s Es the r ' s response t h a t i s the accura te

one and the fol lowing week:

... t o ld him aga in , in the same d u l l , f l a t voice ,

only it was a ng r i e r t h i s t ime, because he seemed soslow to unders tand • .• (p.142)

Never theless , a f t e r t h i s second v i s i t and unders tandably f a i l ing

to note any improvement in Es the r , Dr. Gordon recommends shock

t r ea tment s .

Es the r ' s f i r s t impression of psych ia t r i c care i s prophe t i -

ca l ly c o r r e c t : "The f igures around me we re n ' t people , bu t shop

dummies, pa in ted to resemble people and propped up in a t t i t u d e s.counte r fe i t ing l i f e " . The r egressed psyche w i l l no t be reca l l ed to

l i f e through the guiding response of othe rs ; r a t h e r , the body

w i l l be ac ted upon in an inhuman, mechanis t ic fash ion as in some

pagan exorcism. Esther i s n o t prepared psycholog ica l ly fo r the

violence of the ECT she rece ives immediate ly , which ' ben t down

and took hold of me and shook me l ike the end of the world . • . l

wondered what t e r r i b l e th ing it was t h a t I had done ll• She

can re l a t e it only to the chi ldhood exper ience of being shocked by



157

a lamp cord in her f a th e r ' s s tudy . But what once had been an

incomprehensible , f r igh ten ing acc iden t was now a hor r ib l e

r e a l i t y , de l ibe ra te ly and consc ious ly done to he r by a du l t s . As

she emerges from the shock, her exper ience wi th Dr. Gordon who

maddeningly asks again what col lege she a t tended hera lds the

t ru th o f a l a t e r , sardonic observa t ion : "To the person in the b e l l

j a r , blank and s topped as a dead baby, the world i t s e l f i s the

bad dream". Clear ly , the ' i n e xp re s s ib l e empt iness ' has no t been

recognized though the though t processes have been bru t a l l y d is rup -

t ed , l eav ing one "dumb and subdued" fo r a t ime. Nor i s E s the r ' s

mother of any a s s i s t a nc e . As f a r as she i s concerned it's j u s t

a mat te r o f 'dec id ing to be a l l r i g h t a ga i n ' . Esther has been

abandoned to h er own madness:

I h a d n ' t s l e p t fo r twenty-one nigh ts .

I thought the most be a u t i fu l th ing in the world mustbe shadow, the mi l l i on moving shapes and cu l -de - sacs

o f shadow. There was shadow in bureau drawers andc lose t s and su i t c a se s , and shadow under houses and t r eesand s tones , and shadow a t the back of people ' s eyes andsmiles , and shadow, miles and mile s and miles o f it, on

the n i gh t s ide of the e a r th . (p. 155).It i s Esther he r se l f who perce ives of her growing pre -

occupat ion with su ic ide t h a t it poin t s to an inner t roub le which

cannot be roo ted ou t by v io lence done to the s e l f , e i t h e r through

a perso"na1 hat red of these weaknesses , or through th e ex t e r na l

~ d o i n g ' of ce r t a in ps yc h ia t r i c p ra c t i c e s :

It was as i f what I wanted to k i l l w as n ' t in t h a t sk in

or the th in blue pu lse t h a t jumped under my thumb, b u t

somewhere e l se , deeper , more se c r e t , and a whole l o tharder to g e t a t . (p. 156)

She longs to be r id of the hollow core and the ' f a l s e s e l f ' mask

which cloaks t h i s def i c i ency , bu t the evidence of her r ecen t ex-



158

per iences and r e l a t i ons h ips has not provided her with avenues

to be otherwise . Given these diminishing a l t e rna t i ve s , she comes

to pa r t i c i pa t e i n a sch izo id j u s t i f i c a t i o n of su ic ide . Afte r

toying with var ious su ic ide a t tempts Es ther decides to "ambush"

her body l e s t it be t rapped in i t s "s tupid cage" forever . In

t h i s sch izo id separa t ion o f mental and phys ica l processes l i e s

th e assumption . tha t the r e a l person might be f reed , the ' t r u e s e l f '

reborn , th rough dea th .

Counterpoin t ing the funera l imagery a t th e conclusion of

Sect ion I f Sect ion I I ends with E s the r ' s c l imac t i c v i s i t to her

f a t h e r ' s graveyard. In the former, the needed r egress ion had been

foreshadowed in th e conscious and symbolic abandonment of a

' f a l se s e l f ' i de n t i t y . In the l a t t e r , with the discovery of her

f a t h e r ' s grave , Es ther f inds the reason fo r h er r egress ion : she

had discovered 'what it was t h a t h u r t ' . The es sen t i a l unre a l i t y

of h is death i s remembered from the po i n t of view of t he n ine -ye a r

o ld c h i ld : he had died i n hos p i t a l and the mother h a d n ' t l e t the

ch i ld ren a t t end h is funera l ; s ince then , h is grave had never been

v i s i t ed . As the poems a t t e s t , the daughter f e l t she had supplan-

ted themother in

thef a t h e r ' s a f fec t ions and now,

"it

seemed

f i t t i n g I should t ake on a mourning my mother had never bothered

with" . Es ther laments the l oss to he r o f a teacher and i n t e l

l e c t ua l companion, and the suggested def ic iency of the mother

in t h i s r espec t . With the discovery of her f a the r ' s graves tone ,

in a ges ture o f emotion the mother never expressed, Esther howls

her l oss " in to the cold s a l t r a in" . It serves as a ca tha r t i c

r e l e a s e , provid ing he r with the knowledge of " j u s t how to go about"



159

her own su ic ide . And so she seeks out her own grave in the

black "hole mouth" o f the c e l l a r breezeway. Sleeping p i l l s

has ten the re tu rn to a watery , pr imal s e c u r i t y as she leaves be-

hind a t roublous l i f e on a shore "bar ing the pebbles and she l l s

and a l l the t a t t y wreckage of my l i f e " .

SECTIONI!I

Discovered and rev ived , E s the r ' s i nner condi t ion , as she

af f i rms , remains " the same". This f i n a l sec t ion recounts her

exper iences in var ious psychia t r i c wards . One i s s t ruck by the

san i ty of her i n s i gh t s , her percep t ion t h a t it i s th e psych ia t r i c

world which i s a . 'bad dream' . She exposes th e hor r i b l e , cramped,

wholly cus tod ia l r e a l i t i e s of the s t a t e medica l hosp i t a l with the

w it o f a s a t i r i s t . Rescued from t h i s pr i son by her pa troness and

taken to a pr iva t e hos p i t a l where, it i s be l i eved , the doc tors

w i l l 'make her w e l l ' , Esther remains i n d i f f e r e n t t o these pro-

ceedings . For they focus on her from withou t , whereas she i s

locked with in an inner r e a l i t y , " s i t t i n g under the same g l a s s.b e l l j a r , s tewing in my own sour a i r " .

Nor i s t h i s condi t ion ever es sen t i a l l y mit iga ted under Dr.

N o l a n ~ s care . However, it comes as a p le a s a n t s u rp r i s e to Esther

t h a t her psych ia t r i s t i s a woman, so conscious a re we a l l of a

dear th of ' success fu l ' women in da i ly a f f a i r s . Sens i t ive to the

;Lmportance of " tenderness" in human r e l a t i onsh i p s , D r. Nolan i s

not .on ly much more sympathet ic to E s t he r ' s pe rcep t ion of he r

di f f i cu l ty than Dr. Gordon ever was, b u t i s p r a c t i c a l and r e a l i s -

t i c in the ass i s tance she does. give . She recognizes qu ick ly the



, 160

antagonism in Esthe r ' s re la t ionsh ip with h e r mother and l imi t s

it i n E s the r ' s favour; recommends a doc tor who w i l l provide

Esther with b i r t h con t r o l ; i n s i s t s on J oa n ' s own re spons ib i l i ty

in her su ic ide ; and whi le she exhib i t s ' f a i t h ' in E s the r ' s

' r ecovery · , blun t ly and hones t ly warns h e r about the wor ld ' s r eac

t ion to one who l eaves a mental hos p i t a l .

What Dr. Nolan does well i s to respond na tu ra l l y in a warm,

human fash ion to Esther . What she does profess iona l lYJ however ,

i s to sub jec t Esther once more to the puni t ive charac te r of

convent ional psychia t ry : i nsu l in t r e a tmen ts and shock therapy .

Such di s rup t ion of the phys ica l and menta l processes w i l l i nev i t ab

ly e f f e c t some ex te rna l change, bu t by i n fe rence Esther c a l l s

in to se r ious ques t ion both the qua l i ty of th e change and i t s

permanence. On t h ree - insul in i n j e c t i ons p e r day the weight gain

makes her appear pregnant . The r eac t ion t h a t fo l lows , though it

l eaves her " l i g h t and a i ry" , reduces her i n i t i a l l y to a s t a t e of

near i n f a n t i l e dependence: when g'iven ho t milk she t a s t e s it

" luxur ious ly , the way a baby t a s t e s i t s m o t h e r " ~ La te r she

admits she f e l t b e t t e r fo r awhi le , bu t , "Now I 'm the same aga in ."

The shock therapy i s o f a more r a d i c a l na ture , fo r it also

involves a ques t ion of s t ra ined t r u s t . Although the poss ib i l i t y

of t rea tments had been l e f t open, Dr. Nolan had promised to warn

Esther about it beforehand. Esther had a l ready begun to suspec t

t ha t , l i ke Dr. Gordon, Dr. Nolan would reason ta lack of improve-

ment ' and presc r ibe EeT when she i s moved suddent ly to Bels i ze ,

the b e s t house from which people re turned to the community and



161

where shock t rea tments were much l e s s common. Esther wonders

why because she knows no psychic regenera t ion has taken place .

She remembers too having wryly suspected Dr. Nolan 's calm assu-

rance t h a t one went to s leep during a shock t rea tment if she had

never ac tua l ly experienced it he r s e l f . Thus, when Dr. Nolan does

no t in f a c t give much advance warning, Esther panics a t the

t reachery of the broken promise. Her exper ience of e lec t ro the rapy

i s t h a t · o f a s a c r i f i c i a l vic t im acted upon by masked, i de n t i t y -

l e ss a t t endant s . She emerges to Dr. Nolan 's presence and as in

the i nsu l in reac t ion , does f e e l be t t e r i n i t i a l l y :

All the hea t and f ea r had purged i t s e l f . I f e l tsurpr i s ing ly a t peace. The b e l l j a r hung, suspended,a few f e e t above my head. I was open to the c i r c u l a t i nga i r . (p. 227) .

However, as the nove l ' s concluding chapte r makes c l ea r , t h i s

spec ious change i s no t o f a permanent na tu re . Since th e fundamen

t a l weakness still remains, so does the ominous t h r e a t of imminent

b e l l ja r consciousness . Eather fee l s no more "sure and knowled-

geab1e" about her l i f e on leaving than she did on en te r ing the

hos p i t a l . And t he re i s b i t t e r i rony in having been "analysed"

qnd y e t seeing only ques t ion marks ahead. One th ing she i s sure

of though are the demands of a f a l se soc i a l i s a t i on forc ing he r

re tu rn to ' s a n i t y ' :

I f e l t the nurse had been ins t ruc ted to show me mya l t e rna t i ve s . Ei ther I got b e t t e r , or I f e l l down,

down, l ike a burning, then burn t -ou t s t a r , fromBels ize , to Caplan , to Wymark and f ina l ly , a f t e r DoctorNolan and Mrs. Guinea had given me up , to the s t a t e

place next -door (p. 221)

E s the r ' s ea r ly con tac t s with the ' s ane ' world a re so

f raught with 'bad dream' qua l i t i e s t h a t surv iva l i t s e l f appears



162

to demand a conscious re -adopt ion of fa l se se l f modes of ex is

t ence . There i s Joan, chi ldhood acquaintance and fe l low mental

hos p i t a l pa t i e n t who i n t e r e s t s Esther asa

"wry black image" of

what she he r se l f had been and gone through. Yet there i s no

persona l g iv ing of herse l f in E s the r ' s r e l a t i ons h ip with Joan,

unl ike the l a t t e r who responds so deeply to E s the r ' s haemorr-

haging as to take her own l i f e shor t ly t he r e a f t e r . At Joan ' s

funera l , Esther i s very conscious of her own surv iva l , v i r tua l ly

salvaged a t the expense of anothe r ' s . In the case of I rwin , t h a t

"pa le , ha i r l e s s mathematics professor" , Esther dec ides " to

pra c t i c e [her] new, normal pe rsona l i ty " in a c l i n i c a l , u t t e r l y

emot ionless fash ion . Determining beforehand to have no fu r the r

contac t with him, she ' s educes ' Irwin and loses her v i rg in i ty .

Yet the ' p e r f e c t freedom' she enjoys has disas t rous impl i ca t ions ,

inc lud ing her own poss ib le dea th as she begins to haemorrhage

uncon t ro l l ab ly . There has been no deepening of E s t he r ' s emot ional

bonds with other s . Indeed, she br ings to her r e l a t i ons h ips with

Jooan and I ~ i n a f r igh ten ing , inhuman detachment which i s of a

more profound na ture than the i so l a t i on exper ienced before the

breakdown, because now it i s consciously chosen. She i s a sur

v ivo r of her pas t , i n the same way as "Lady Lazarus" desc r ibes

~ t s author as a th ree - t ime surv ivor in l i f e . Later , Es the r

wonders if "Haybe fo rge t fu lness , l ike a kina snow, should numb

and cover" these memories ... "But they were p a r t of me. They were

my landscape" .

The Bel l J a r concludes with Es ther about to go before the

pane l of doc tors who w i l l pronounce her ready to l eave the hosp i -

l



163

t a l . Thei r judgement i s supposed to confirm psychic regenera -

t i on , and accounts fo r her own g r e a ~ concern with the s ign i f i cance

of t h i s pa r t i c u l a r r i t e of passage: .. There ought , I thought , to

be a r i t u a l fo r being born twice-- -pa tched , re t readed and approved

fo r the road l l• The i rony of t h i s garage-mechanic imagery be l i e s

any genuine cure . Es ther has only been 'worked on' by th e mechanis-

t i c techniques of psych ia t r i c prac t ices la rge ly divorced from

human considera t ions . Given th e evidence of the novel t he re has

been no r e b i r t h , fo r no oppor tun i t i e s were provided fo r the

' t rue s e l f ' to come in to being . Hence, when only ' f a l s e s e l f '

modes of surv iva l can f ind express ion , Esther , l i ke Theseus, must

be guided by the "magical th read ll of o the r people ' s impress ions

of what it means ' t o b e ' .

As a record of psychic d i s in t e g ra t i on and the probable

or ig in of t h i s suf fe r ing in an ear ly ' f a i lu re of envi ronmental p r i

v i s i o n ' , through the premature l oss of a beloved f a the r and a

mother who appears no t to have been adequate , The Bel l J a r i s

remarkably i n s i gh t fu l . It i s ' a l s o very much an extended s tudy of.breakdown, not o f recovery. The sp i ra l l i ng descent i s no t counte r-

P9inted by the forces of regenera t ion , desp i t e a l l the puni t ive

e f f o r t s of psychia t ry . I sugges t t ha t in p r o b i ~ g the events o f

· a decade before , Sy lv ia Pla th re leased to pr e s en t consc iousness

much repressed mater i a l . Involved once again in the ' f a n t a s t i c

r i sk s ' of which Winnico t t speaks in fac ing her own weaknesses,

the appa l l ing s t a t e of mental suf fe r ing was r e l i ve d . But she

would have known t h i s t ime t h a t her need of "an a c tua l breakdown



164

13in to severe i l l n e s s before tu rn ing the Corner and ge t t ing wel l

could no t be r e a l i z e d . She d id not have recourse to psycho-

therapy , while the novel a t t e s t s fu l ly t h a t both the environment

and convent ional psychia t ry were inadequate to sus ta in her in

convalescence. Thus, ea r ly in 1963 she saw no way o u t o f t ha t

"black sack" , t h a t hblackout of knives" , except th rough d e a ~ h .Never the less , there i s the cons idera t ion t h a t as readers we are

inv i ted to i de n t i fy with the pro tagoni s t , t o condone he r s u i c ida l

ambi t ions as a pathway to r eb i r th , and t ha t f a i l i ng , to acquiesce

in the masquerade ' f a l s e s e l f ' exis tence chosen as a s t ra tegy

of surv iva l . We must di sce rn t h a t these a re the t r ag ic modes

of the schizoid i nd iv idua l who has a ' s pe c i a l need to conf ront

the problems of ex i s t ence ' . To endorse Sylv ia P l a t h ' s dea th-

c i r c u i t th ink ing because she found no avenues to r eb i r th in l i f e

i s to overlook the genuine ins igh ts she does provide in The Bel l

J a r , and to romant ic ize the sUffer ing human being behind the

mask of the a r t i s t .

13 .Guntr ip , ~ c h i z o i d Phenomena, p. 318.



CHAPTER VIII

CONCLUSIONS

This developmental study has explored t he inc reas ing ly

sch izo id perspect ive evidenced in the work of Sylv ia Pla th . Her

s ho r t l i f e was marked throughout by mental i n s t a b i l i t y perhaps

b e s t described by W.R.D. F a i rba i rn as ' t r ans i to ry sch izo id

ep isodes ' . We have examined t he wr i t ings o f o the r ego-psycholo-

. g i s t s which sugges t t h a t an ea r ly environmental def i c i ency , in

par t i cu l a r , some breakdown in the primary re l a t ionsh ip with the

mother , may have been the or i g i n of the l a t e r di sorder . Sylv ia

P la th - s a r t appears to confirm t h i s . With remarkable i n s i g h t

she sought to unders tand her suf fe r ing , s t r iv ing to convey and

so 'manipula te ' - - immunize- - i t in her poe t ry . She does no t engage

in se l f - p i t y ; bu t ne i the r can she accept her own weaknesses .

She came to j ee r a t her s u f f e r ing with a gal lows humour and then ,

as th e darkness sp i ra l l ed in , turned with a vio lence except iona l

~ n a r t ~ g a i n s t he r se l f and anyone she might have loved. The web

of menace, envis ioned f i r s t in th e ex te rna l world o f The Co·lossus

ends with th e cons t r i c t ing ' b l ack sack- of Arie l . Like many d i s

tu rbed people , she turned with f i e rce dedica t ion to her a r t ,

hoping to f ind re lease the re . El izabeth Hardwick wri tes t ha tUth i s

hope r e s t s upon the canny observa t ion , c l e a r even t o the derap9'ed

165

i--_



166

and seques te red , t h a t a r t i s t s "do no t requ i re the conf idence o f

1soc ie ty to the same degree as o the r workers l l • Never the l e s s ,

1I

the re must be sus ta in ing va l ues somewhere if l i f e i s to con t i nue .

In Sylv ia P l a t h ' s case the re appears no t to have been any

i n t egra t ed cen t re dur ing those l a s t few months. The ex t e r na l

props o f h er l i f e were f a s t crumbling. A r ie l r eco rds t he p ro -

found i so l a t i on exper ienced-- - f rom f r i ends , ch i l d r en , husband,

a l l - - - w h i l e th e marr iage i t s e l f was mor ta l ly d i seased by i n f i -

d e l i t y on one s ide and th e imposs ib le demand fo r a co l os s a l , su r -

roga te f a t he r on th e o th e r . Nor were the re any re se rves from

th e p a s t on which to draw. As a mel t ing -po t American she was c u t

a d r i f t from the c u l t u r a l he r i t age o f her European pa ren t s . Unfai r

anyway to both o f them--as The Bel l J a r a t t e s t s - - - s h e r e j e c t s

h er mother in the p re s e n t while longing to jo in th e long-dead

f a t he r who beckons from he r chi ldhood memories o f th e sea . More-

over , the e a r l i e r exper ience of ps ych i a t r i c care had hard ly

engendered enthus iasm fo r any f u r t he r con tac t . Even h er a r t ,

which prev ious ly had g i v e n p u rp ose and des ign in h e r l i f e ,

now came l i ke l ava from th e volcano wi th in as much r ep re s sed

mat e r i a l was re lea sed to consc iousness : liThe blood j e t i s p o e t r y , /

There is no stopping it.1I

The needs of the weak ego demanded a t t e n t i o n . But 'Sy lv i a

Pla th could no t f ind in he r l i f e , o r in th e e thos o f th e l i t e r a r y

a v a n t ~ g a r d e , o r i n r e l a t i ons h ip with anyone, ways in which t h i s

necessary , guided reg re s s ion might t ake p lace . Her q u e s t fo r

th e ' t r u e " s e l f ' , h er pass iona te need to be reborn , cen te red in s tead

on a sch izo id j u s t i f i c a t i o n o f s u i c i de . She desc r ibes he r ' dea th-

lHarc1wick, Seduction and Betrayal, p. 95.



167

impulse ' throughout her a r t as wish to become a ch i ld aga in ,

to re tu rn to a pr imary i de n t i f i c a t i on with the mother. We r e c a l l

one of Gunt r ip ' s pa t i en t s using the image of the gas oven to

descr ibe a P1athian ' l i f e - t i r ed n es s ' , a 'needing to s top l iv ing

b u t not wishing to d ie l :

' I ' v e of t en f e l t it would be love ly to pu t my head in

the gas oven and go unconscious . But I c ou ldn ' t do it,

because I c ou ldn ' t be sure of being able to turn the

gas o f f a t the r igh t t ime, before it k i l l ed me. 2

The evidence of Sylv ia P l a t h ' s suic ide in London, the knowledge

t h a t an au-pa i r g i r l was to come ea r ly in the morning to help with

th e ch i ld ren , the awareness · tha t the neighbour below awakened e a r ly ,

the sc r ibb led note to c a l l her doc tor and h is phone number: these

c i rcumstances prompt Alvarez and other s to ques t ion the genuine

se r iousness o f the poe t ' s wish to die . It i s a l so much more than

having ' r i sked ' death and l o s t . To d ie was to be reborn . The

phoenix image becomes P l a t h ' s own in the f i n a l months, as th e

r e a l i t i e s of l i f e and dea th a re f r igh ten ing ly d i s t o r t e d in an

ha l luc ina t ing imaginat ion. But the ' i nexpress ib le empt iness '

could not-be remedied by 'des t ruc t ion of the s e l f or vio lence

di rec ted aga ins t other s .

Her l a t e work ga lvan izes our senses i n i t s love of v i o l e n t

sensa t ion and longing fo r dea th . In the end it i s no t our pi ty

or sympathy t ha t was important bu t ra the r our conf i rmat ion of

her dec is ion to d ie . It a l so involves our pa r t i c i pa t i on i n the

dea th-c i rcu i t s o f one who could no longer confron t the problems

of human ex i s t ence . Sylv ia P l a t h ' s s u i c ida l longings were in

2Guntr ip , Schizoid Phenomena, p. 217.

L



l68

f a c t despera te c r i e s fo r help . However, she , and l a t e r most o f her

c r i t i c s , j u s t i f i ed her dea th as the l og i ca l completion of s e l f .

iS t i l l , when l i f e had s l id from her s ide , th e a r t remained as a

pure g i f t :

... am no t worr ied t h a t poems reach r e l a t i ve ly fewpeople . As it i s , they go surpr i s ing ly far--amongs t rangers , around th e world even. Far the r than the

words of a classroom teacher or th e presc r ip t ions of

a doctor ; i f they are very lucky, f a r t he r than a

l i f e t ime .

from "Context I

l-



169

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I SYLVIA PLATH

1. Publ i shed Works

Arie l . London: Faber and Faber , 1965; New York: Harper Bros . ,1966 .

Cross ing th a Water . London: Faber and Faber , 1971.

The Bel l Ja r . By ' V i c t o r i a Lucas ' , London: Heinemann, 1963.

The Bel l J a r . By Sylv ia P l a t h , London: Faber and Faber , 1966.

The Colossus . London: Heinemann, 1960; New York: Alfred Knopt ,1962; London: Faber and Faber , 1967.

Three Women. Turre t P re s s , 1968. Limited ed i t i on o f 150 copies .

Uncol l ec ted Poems. Turre t P re s s , 1965. Limited e d i t i on o f 150copies .

Winter Trees . London: Faber and Faber , 1971.

2. Prose i n Per iod ica l s

I 'Context" , in London Magazine, 2 ( n . s . ) , February 1962, pp,; 45-6 .

"Ocean l2 l2-W", in The L i s t ene r , 29 August 1963, pp. 312-13.

I I BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS

Aird , Eileen . Sylv ia Pla th . Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1973 •.A1varaz, A. Beyond A ll This Fidd le . London: Penguin, 1968.

- - - - - - - - - - - . The Savage God. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971.

- - - - - - . Under Pres su re . Balt imore: Penguin, 1965.

Bowlby, John. Chi ld Care and the Growth ·o f Love. Harmondsworth;Penguin, 1953.

------- . Maternal Care· and Mental Heal th . Geneva; World Heal thOrganiza t ion , P a l a i s des Nat ions , 1952.

--------. Pe·rsonal i ty and Menta·l Tll·n·e·ss:· An Es·say ·in' ,Psychiatr"ic Diagno·sis. New York: Emerson Books, 1942.

Ches le r , Phy l l i s . Women and Madness. New York: Doubleday, 1972.

i-



170

Fai rba i rn , W.R.D. " Psychoana ly t ic -Studies of the Persona l i ty .

London: Tavis tock Publ i ca t ions , 1952.

Frankl , Viktor E. From Death-Camp to Exis t en t i a l i sm. Trans la ted

by l I s e Lasch; preface by Gordon W. Allpor t . Boston: Beacon

Press , 1959.

Man's Search fo r Meaning. Trans la ted by I l s e Lasch;preface by Gordon W. A l l po r t . New York: Beacon Press , 1959.

Guntr ip , Harry , Schizoid Phenome"na": Objec t Rel"atio"ns and the S e l f .

London: Hogarth Press , 1968.

Hardwick, El izabe th . Seduct ion and Bet raya l : Women and Li te ra tu re .

New York: Random House, 1974.

Holbrook, David. Human Hope and the Death I n s t i n c t . New York:

Pergamon Press , 1971.

The Masks of Hate. New York: Pergamon P re s s , 19J2.

Laing, Ronald D. The DiVided S e l f . Harmondsworth: Pe!lguin, 1960.

The P o l i t i c s of Experience and The Bird of Parad ise .

HarmondsvlOrthi Penguin, 1967.

Newman, Char les , ed. The A rt of Sylv ia Pl a t h : A Symposium. London:Indiana Univers i ty Press , 1971.

Orr , P e te r , ed. The Poe t Speaks. London: R o u t l e ~ g e and Kegan

Paul , 1966.

Rosenthal , M. L. The New Poets : American and Br i t i sh Poet ry SinceWorld War 2, New York: Oxford Unive rs i ty Press , 1967.

Ste ine r , Nancy Hunter . A Closer Look a t Ar ie l : A Memory of Sylv ia

Pla th . Afterword by George Stade . London: Faber and Faber , 1974.

Winnicot t , D.W. The Child and the Family:" First" Rela t ionsh ips .

New York: "Basic Books, 1957.

- - - - - - . The Family and Ind iv idua l Development. London:Tavis tock publ ica t ions , 1965.

The Matura t iona l Process and the F a c i l i t a t i n gEnvironment . New York: In t e rna t iona l Un ive r s i t i e s Press ,

1965.



171

I I I ARTICLES

Alvarez , A. liThe New Poetry or Beyond the G e n t i l i t y P r i n c i p l e " ,

The New Poe t rx . Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1962, pp. 21-32.

Brink, Andrew. liOn the Psychological Sources of Creat ive Imaginat ion" ,Queen 's Quar te r ly , Vol. LXXXI, No. I , 1974, pp. 1-19.

IISylvia Pla th and the Ar t o f Redemption ll, Alphabe t ,

No. 15, December, 1968, pp. 48-69.

Cox, C.B. and Jones , A.R. "After the Tranqui l ized F i f t i e s " ,C r i t i c a l Quar te r ly , 6, 1964, pp. 107-22.

Drexler , Rosalyn. "Her Poet ry , Not Her Death, I s Her Triumph",New York Times, Sunday, January 13, 1974, D, p .3 .

Hamil ton, Ian . IISylvia Pla th" , London Magazine, 3 ( n . s . ) , 1963,pp. 54-6.

Holbrook, David. "Out of the Ash", The Human World, N o . 5 , Nov. ,1971, pp. 22-39.

i

A Developmental Study of the Art of Sylvia Plath

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