compares her baby to a watch Love set you going like a fat gold watch Again in line she calls the baby a new statue These images suggest the mother s sense of detachment from the baby She sees the baby as an object It means she is still unable to connect with the baby emotionally She slowly begins to feel wonder and connection with her child She wakes to listen to the baby s breath She compares the baby's breath to the sound of a far sea in her ear a calm and peaceful sound When the baby cries she quickly gets up and takes care of the baby Plath presents motherhood as strange real and honest not just sweet Darkness Fear Isolation Plath s life was full of depression We find her deep inner struggle in many of her poems In Crossing the Water everything is dark the lake the boat the trees and even the people Black lake black boat two black cut-paper people Plath repeats the word black four times in the first stanza It means her world is really black full of sadness and without hope As the boat moves on the lake a snag dead tree branch lifts a pale hand as if to say goodbye This image makes the atmosphere haunting It shows her fear of death The boat journey on the dark lake becomes a journey into the poet s sad mind Relationships and Emotional Suffering In The Rival Plath expresses the theme of jealousy rivalry and emotional suffering in relationships She speaks about her rival who could be her husband Ted Hughes Their married life was full of tension She portrays the rival as an uncaring and suffocating person She compares the rival to the moon which is beautiful but destructive The moon has no light It borrows from the sun Just like this the rival also takes attention and glory from others The rival s presence makes her life feel empty and full of pain Even his words are like carbon monoxide gas that is suffocating and deadly The speaker can never come out of the influence of the rival As she writes No day is safe from news of you Power and Limitation of Words Plath talks about the power and limitation of words in her poem Words She compares words to Axes Just as axes cut wood words can cut deep into the reader s heart It means words can help writers express deep emotions But Plath also shows the limits of writing Once words are written they go into the world like riderless horses Words dry and riderless The poet cannot control them anymore They may lose their connection to the poet's emotions In fine Sylvia Plath s poetry is full of deep personal emotions Themes like pain sadness fear love death nature and relationships recur in her poems Her poems are personal but they touch the feelings of all readers This is why her poetry is so powerful and unforgettable