I Am Vertical Essay

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In the poem, I Am Vertical, Sylvia Plath creates a contrast between the state of nature and the human condition. Plath creates the thematic message that humans are unable to be truly happy because of our ability to think and be conscious. The persona deduces that nature is truly content with its condition, and wants to be a part of nature. The persona believes that the only way to do so is to “lie down” or to die. In this poem, Plath uses several poetic devices to support her thematic message, such as personification, symbolism, and tone. Sylvia Plath uses personification to allow both the speaker and the reader to connect with the aspects of nature presented within in the poem. For example, in the lines, “The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors./ I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.” (S2. L2-3), Plath uses personification to help the reader further comprehend the separation between humanity and nature, by giving the trees and flowers humanlike qualities. The contrast between nature and humanity is greatly enforced by the use of personification. Another way these two lines use personification is to illustrate how the speaker measures her worth in comparison to nature. The persona describes the trees and flowers as “strewing” their beauty, all the while ignoring her presence. This shows how insignificant the persona feels in comparison to nature. Personification helps …show more content…

The poetic devices contribute greatly to the development of the thematic message, which is that one can only be content when one does not have consciousness or thought, which the persona believes to be found in death. To be content is to be unaware, and to be unaware is to be dead, and to be dead is to be horizontal, so even though “I Am Vertical/ …I would rather be horizontal.” (title, S1.

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