"Poppies in October" is a short poem written by American poet Sylvia Plath, focusing on the contrast between urban and rural life and on the world's capacity to produce unexpected beauty. The poem was published in Plath's 1965 poetry collection Ariel, released posthumously, but it was likely written several years prior, during the same early-1960s period in which Plath penned a number of her most famous poems.
The poem describes an unidentified individual struck by the beauty of unseasonal poppies, which both contrast with the dullness of the surrounding city and draw the speaker's attention to otherwise unnoticed instances of beauty. The poppies become a symbolic means through which to discuss the nature of beauty and its relationship to death and pain. Though less intensely musical than much of Plath's work, "Poppies in October" nonetheless relies upon sophisticated use of various sound devices, and employs a good deal of figurative language.
