Analysis Of Poem Sylvia Plath

The majestic beauty of nature has inspired artists of all media since the beginning of art. From ancient cave paintings to modern songs such as Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song,” the awe-inspiring wonder of nature has captivated artists and led them to express their emotions through their art. The famous poet Sylvia Plath is no different. Her admiration of the perfection of nature is apparent in many of her works, especially in the poems “I Am Vertical” and “Pheasant”. Through the use of strong contrast created by the juxtaposition of life and death, powerful figurative language, and tone, Plath reveals her hopelessness for her life and her desire to be dead. Sylvia Plath’s life helps to explain the depressing topics in her poetry. Sylvia Plath

In her poem, “I Am Vertical,” she expresses her loss of the will to live. She is blunt, stating, “I am vertical/ But I would rather be horizontal,” rather than beating around the bush or hinting at her troubled state. By clearly announcing that she is alive, but would rather be dead, she reveals just how serious she is about wanting to die. She considers nature to be wondrous, revealed by the awe-struck tone of the poem, with “immortal” trees and “daring” flower-heads. She idolizes nature, wishing she could have the best qualities from both trees and flowers. Plath believes that she is useless in life, and she shouldn’t be alive because she does more harm than good. She would be more useful “lying down”—at least then “the trees may touch [her] for once” and “the flowers [will] have time for [her]”. If she were dead, she could at least use her decaying body as fertilizer to nurture these beautiful, useful plants that “gleam into leaf”. This stark contrast of the beauty of life in nature and the desire for death serves to emphasize the magnitude of her emotions. Her tendency to consider trees and plants as better than herself reveals her low self-esteem. There is irony in the fact that she feels she will serve more of a purpose and accomplish more in death than she will in life, and this also reflects her poor opinion of herself. Many metaphors in this poem help to shape the meaning of the poem as

There is a pheasant in her yard, but she pleads, “Do not kill it”. She seems to care more about the pheasant than most people would; even though it can be used for food, she would rather let it live. She does not want to save the bird because she thinks it has a “spirit,” but rather because “it is simply in its element/ That gives it a kingliness, a right”. She can really appreciate the beauty of nature, more so than most people. She even describes the pheasant as kingly and royal, emphasizing her high opinion of nature’s creation. At the end of the poem, the poem shifts to focus on herself with the line, “I trespass stupidly. Let be, let be”. She speaks about herself so cruelly, calling herself stupid, after describing the pheasant as royalty. A tone of awe and wonder emphasizes her feelings towards nature. She considers herself below the bird, which reveals her low self-esteem and her feelings of worthlessness in life. The juxtaposition of life and death again emphasize her emotions and her low self-worth, for she would rather save a pheasant from death, because it represents the beauty of life and nature, than care about herself. She could die, as long as the pheasant survives. This poem seems like a metaphor for her marriage, with the marriage being symbolized in the pheasant. Plath begs her husband not to shoot the pheasant and kill their marriage. She