http://bit.ly/2eeKq2W
http://bit.ly/2eeKq2W

Sylvia Plath lived her developed days in somber madness, greatly attributing to the at present-famous piece of work she produced in her lifetime. The clinical depression that overtook her life was the driving strength backside her writing, and ultimately her unfortunate demise. SylviaPlath was only thirty years onetime when she took her own life.

Much of Plath's piece of work details her mental health and life troubles, particularly the issues she experienced in her romantic life. I chose to interpret her poem "Mad Girl's Dear Song," as I experience it is an accurate representation of Plath'south state of heed during her troubles with dear. Interestingly enough, this verse form was written years before she split with her married man Ted Hughes, whom she discovered was having an affair with another woman.

"Mad Girl's Love Vocal"

"I shut my eyes and all the earth drops expressionless
 I lift my lids and all is born again.
 (I think I made yous upwards inside my head.)"

The opening of the verse form gives me such an unsettling feeling for some reason, but information technology'southward completely fantastic, as I believe this to be Plath's intention. It'due south every bit if I am thrown into the swirling turmoil of Plath'due south mind, staring out from behind her eyelids, witnessing what she is witnessing. She creates these two worlds, these two distinct places, in the same frame of fourth dimension. One where it is dark and near likely within the confines of her ain mind when she closes her eyes (this is affirmed by the recognition in the parenthesis), and the other of truthful reality in all its color when she opens them.

We are introduced to a struggle betwixt reality and the inner workings of Plath's mind, as well as to an unnamed person these words are directed to: "you." Plath suggests that she made upwards this person in her caput, which I recollect hints to a possible dearest that went incorrect. Right after the finish of a relationship, it tends to experience similar yous're floating in limbo, wondering if it truly existed.

"The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
 And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
 I shut my eyes and all the world drops expressionless."

Though I don't take a inkling every bit to how stars waltzing ties into the poem, I do think that it's interesting that she paints them "in blue and red." In psychology, blue is a symbol of tranquility and wisdom, while ruby-red symbolizes energy and passion. The stark contrast of these meanings is further representation of the two worlds that Plath has created.

Perhaps when her optics are open, her reality keeps her grounded and wise. But when her eyes are closed, she succumbs to the passion of her thoughts and is consumed by them. The action of opening and closing her eyes is also within the images that are created in this stanza. Her eyes are initially open to her colorful reality. Only so she chooses to let her mind slip back into darkness, and she shuts her optics again as if she'southward embracing that darkness. It seems as though Plath is struggling to decide which globe she would rather exist present in — the natural globe or her destructive mind.

http://bit.ly/2dW51Ku
http://bit.ly/2dW51Ku

"I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
 And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
 (I think I made you upwards inside my head.)"

There is a strong sense of delusion in these lines, making me think that her optics are still closed from the previous stanza, meaning she's still within her own caput. While she closes herself off from reality and gives into the darkness in her mind, she fantasizes that her lover has come up dorsum to her. She yearns to be intimate with that person one time again, though she still wonders if that human relationship was fifty-fifty real.

"God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
 Go out seraphim and Satan's men:
 I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead."

In this stanza, "God toppl[ing] from the sky" and "hell's fires fad[ing]" makes for a strong image of her eyes opening upwards to colored reality over again. Unremarkably God is associated as a existence in the sky, a blue sky. And "hell's fires," which are red , is symbolic of the inner turmoil she is experiencing. She uses the colors of blue and red again here, as if to link back to her previous stanza. It'southward every bit if these two worlds are clashing together to become Plath's true reality. "Seraphim" is defined every bit a celestial being — an angel — which I think is supposed to accentuate her colored reality as "Satan's men" similarly accentuate the darkness in her mind.

"I fancied y'all'd return the way yous said,
 But I abound old and I forget your proper name.
 (I think I fabricated you up inside my head.)"

There is a very strong feeling of false promise in the first line established past the passing of time. Plath grows old while she waits for her lover to return to her, but wonders once once more if their dear was real or if she made it upwardly in her head. At this betoken, with the repetition of "(I recall I made you upwards inside my caput)" throughout the verse form, it makes you lot wonder if this person Plath keeps referring to is nothing but a figment of her imagination. Maybe she never was in dearest, but merely imagines that she was, because she wishes she had someone to love. Maybe she has waited her whole life to love and exist loved. Possibly that desire was never fulfilled, ultimately driving her mad.

"I should take loved a thunderbird instead;
 At least when spring comes they roar dorsum again.
 I shut my eyes and all the globe drops dead.
 (I think I made y'all up inside my head.)"

http://bit.ly/2cZJsYu
http://bit.ly/2cZJsYu

I remember "thunderbird" is a metaphor lightning here. Perhaps where she lived, lightning storms just came back in the leap time, manifestly skipping winter. Even though they aren't present every day, they came back seasonally. She compares this to her lover never having come back at all, saying that information technology would accept been easier to love someone who at least returned to her now and so. The poem ends with the familiar repetitions used throughout, as if to prod at the idea that the person this verse form is directed to never actually existed. I call up i of Plath's intentions with this poem was to make her readers question whether or non this was a poem about unrequited or delusional dear.

In any instance, whichever interpretation you feel suits the poem best, in that location's no arguing that Sylvia Plath is a principal of woe. Information technology's unfortunate that her great works derived from her mental illness, but it's important that they live on.

— Bree Scott, Asst. Weblog Editor