Stillborn by Slyvia Plath
I
like the poem “Stillborn” by Slyvia Plath because Plath is able to take
something so disturbing like miscarriages and turn it into a beautiful dark
poem. Plath makes it very easy to relate to the struggles a mother faces when she
is told about a stillborn baby taking the reader step by step through the
process. However Plath does this by comparing her own poetry to a stillborn
baby. Plath in known to have had experienced miscarriages in her lifetime
before however, her main concern is her poetry heightening the darkness of the
poem.
The
phrase “they bulged with concentration” is a way Plath is able to use
personification of stillborn babies to reference her poems that attempted to be
well and ended up being unsuccessful. She “cannot understand what happened to
them!” and why they were unsuccessful. She then goes on to use alliteration in
the line “smile and smile and smile and smile at me” in order to increase the
feel of humiliation that Plath receives for her on poetry – they smile at her
in a somewhat mocking way.
“There lungs won’t fill and the
heart won’t start” – in this statement Plath is referring back to her poems
meaning that the lungs will fill, she will begin writing the poem but the
heart, the true meaning and conclusion to the poem just won’t start. Then Plath
goes onto crudely describing the poems she writes to have a “fishy air” which
is just Plath’s way of dehumanizing the stillborn baby.
My favorite thing about the poem is
how Plath decides to end the poem, “they stupidly stare, and do not speak of
her”. This sentence goes back to
how Plath feels her poetry mocks her. The reader is able to easily sympathize for
Plath because she makes it seem as if the poetry is teasing her in some way,
along with the stillborn baby.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI liked what you said about how Plath turns a dark tragedy into a beautiful poem that conveys grief and disappointment. I also agree that Plath uses a substantial amount of literary devices such as personification and alliteration. In fact, I did not even notice until you pointed it out. Good observation. I liked your take on your analysis of the line, “These lungs won’t fill and the heart won’t start” and how it relates on her thought process when writing poems. Overall, you provided great insight and the fact that Plath, herself, had miscarriages in her life shows in this poem because of the strong imagery and emotions portrayed.