Key Facts

• Title: Crossing the Water
• Poet: Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
• Written Date: Around 1960–1961
• Publication Date: It was published after her death in her 1971 collection Crossing the Water.
• Form: Plath wrote this poem in four tercets. Tercets are three-line stanzas. So, the poem has 12 lines.
• Meter and Rhyme Scheme: It is written in free verse, so there is no fixed rhythm scheme or meter.
• Tone: Dark, fearful, mysterious