o feels distant and confused as she tries to adjust to her baby. In the very first line, she compares her baby to a watch.
“Love set you going like a fat gold watch.”
Again, in line 4, 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.
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