| Tuesday, April 21, 2009 |
| Since We Haven't Posted Anything in Forever... |
I'm going to put a boring poetry analysis essay on here (poem by Sylvia Plath included of course)! Don't read it. You'll regret your time spent in nerd world.
Fever 103°
by Sylvia Plath
Pure? What does it mean?
The tongues of hell
Are dull, dull as the triple
Tongues of dull, fat Cerberus
Who wheezes at the gate. Incapable
Of licking clean
The aguey tendon, the sin, the sin.
The tinder cries.
The indelible smell
Of a snuffed candle!
Love, love, the low smokes roll
From me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright
One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel,
Such yellow sullen smokes
Make their own element. They will not rise,
But trundle round the globe
Choking the aged and the meek,
The weak
Hothouse baby in its crib,
The ghastly orchid
Hanging its hanging garden in the air,
Devilish leopard!
Radiation turned it white
And killed it in an hour.
Greasing the bodies of adulterers
Like Hiroshima ash and eating in.
The sin. The sin.
Darling, all night
I have been flickering, off, on, off, on.
The sheets grow heavy as a lecher’s kiss.
Three days. Three nights.
Lemon water, chicken
Water, water make me retch.
I am too pure for you or anyone.
Your body
Hurts me as the world hurts God. I am a lantern——
My head a moon
Of Japanese paper, my gold beaten skin
Infinitely delicate and infinitely expensive.
Does not my heat astound you! And my light!
All by myself I am a huge camellia
Glowing and coming and going, flush on flush.
I think I am going up,
I think I may rise——
The beads of hot metal fly, and I love, I
Am a pure acetylene
Virgin
Attended by roses,
By kisses, by cherubim,
By whatever these pink things mean!
Not you, nor him
Nor him, nor him
(My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats)——
To Paradise.
Analysis!
Suffering purifies. The evil that the world inflicts upon its inhabitants ultimately cleanses them of their sin. In Sylvia Plath’s poem “Fever 103°,” the world’s misdeeds sanitize the speaker of her iniquities and grant her heavenly salvation. Earthly suffering brings purification and eternal redemption.
The first half of “Fever 103°” details the worldly evils that have befallen the speaker, and the second half describes her resulting purification. Plath connects a section of suffering to a later section of sanitization by using similar language to describe each. “Darling, all night/ I have been flickering, off, on, off, on./ The sheets grow heavy as a lecher’s kiss.” (lines 28-30) Plath’s imagery evokes not only the horror of the fever, but also tangentially brings into focus adultery and betrayal with the inclusion of “lecher’s kiss,” as she speaks to her “Darling.” However, her cleansing eclipses this suffering. “Does not my heat astound you! And my light!/ All by myself I am a huge camellia/ Glowing and coming and going, flush on flush.” (lines 40-42) She again addresses her “Darling,” but now free and washed. She ceases to flicker on and off, and transforms into an astounding light of purity. She is no longer bedridden and constrained by the heavy sheets of sin, but is a huge, shining camellia. The linguistic similarity between “flickering, off, on, off, on” and “glowing and coming and going, flush on flush” again reinforces her refinement into purity. Enduring evil on Earth washes people of their sins and brings them to salvation.
Plath also uses objects as symbols to connect worldly misery with cleansing and salvation. “The aguey tendon, the sin, the sin./ The tinder cries./ The indelible smell// Of a snuffed candle!” (lines 7-10) The speaker is the snuffed candle. The flame of her love and purity has been extinguished by the world’s sins against her. This affliction grants her redemption, though. “I think I am going up,/ I think I may rise…// I am a pure acetylene/ Virgin/ Attended by roses,// By kisses, by cherubim.” (lines 43-44, lines 46-49) She, the snuffed candle before, is now a pure acetylene. The suffering that she endures purifies her and sanctifies her, for she is now “going up” with cherubim as a newly washed virgin. Earthly anguish sanitizes and redeems those who experience it.
Plath relates worldly torment to divine sanctification with sound repetition as well. “Love, love, the low smokes roll/ From me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright// One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel.” (lines 11-13) The alliteration of “L” and the assonance of “O” throughout the lines add menace to the speaker’s affliction—the world squandering and destroying her love, anchoring her in misery, and holding her back with her struggles and sin. The misery inevitably redeems her. “ [As she rises to Paradise] Not you, nor him// Nor him, nor him/ (My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats)—/ To Paradise.” (lines 51-54) Plath again gives “O” assonance to connect it with the speaker’s previous suffering. The repetition of “not you, nor him” signifies that she is leaving behind all her sin and suffering as she ascends to heaven. The juxtaposition of the catching of the scarf on the wheel versus the shedding of the whorish petticoats also signifies her victory over torment and desolation. Worldly grief washes people’s sin and grants them divine redemption.
Sylvia Plath’s bleak optimism in “Fever 103°” parallels with Anne Sexton’s poem “All My Pretty Ones.” Sexton’s discusses forgiveness of grave offenses, and Plath’s, again, is about the redemptive power of suffering. Plath lived an unbelievably anguished life. Her father died when she was eight, and she suffered from manic depression and mental illness for the rest of her life. Her husband cheated on her and left her. “Fever 103°” encapsulates all of her torments, but it also offers hope to all those who suffer—that the misery people experience will ultimately bring eternal happiness and salvation.
Benjamin! |
posted by Sailing Hippos @ 7:43 PM  |
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Sailing Hippos
Louisville, Ky, United States
Marina-
Marina is kinda cool, it depends on if she is talking or not. She likes writing, and is really good at it, especially poetry. She sees people's auras, which is pretty awesome. However, don't piss her off, because then she can put a Bosnian curse on you. She also plays soccer, and is going pro at some point in her life.
Ben-
Ben is the runt of the Hippos. He's often picked on and abused by his "larger" siblings. He is amazing at everything he does, besides being nice, because he is an arrogant son of a hippo. He has an unquenchable thirst for water, which is good, because we live in water. He doesn't know how to put on eyeliner, but it doesn't matter...because he's a guy. We hope.
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