Discuss the treatment of nature in Sylvia Plath’s poems.
Discuss the treatment of nature in Sylvia Plath s poems Sylvia Plath - often uses nature in her poems However she does not always show nature as calm or beautiful Instead nature in her poems reflects deep emotions such as fear sadness and conflict nbsp nbsp Nature as Dark and Mysterious In Crossing the Water two people are crossing a back lake on a boat Everything in the poem is dark the lake the boat the trees and even the people Black lake black boat two black cut-paper people Here Plath s natural setting is not peaceful but strange and haunting The dark water shows inner fear loneliness and sadness Even the stars and lilies at the end look dangerous like sirens Nature becomes a mirror of human uncertainty Nature in Words In Words Plath uses nature images to talk about words writing He compares words to axes that cut
wood and make echoes This metaphor suggests that words have the ability to express deep emotions Just like axes words can hurt both the readers and the writer Again Plath depicts an image of a skull under water being eaten by green plants This natural image shows her fear of death and being forgotten while her words live on Nature in The Rival Plath uses nature in The Rival to show the negative energy of her rival She compares the rival to the moon If the moon smiled she would resemble you The moon is beautiful but it borrows light from the sun Just like this Plath s rival takes attention or glory from others Nature as Comforting In Morning Song Plath compares her newborn baby s breath to nature She compares the breath to the sound of a far sea in her ear It gives us a calm and comforting image of nature In fine Plath does not show only the beauty of nature Her nature can be cruel and fearful Sometimes it gives hope sometimes it deepens fear nbsp