Question for Sylvia Plath: Poems

This is Sylvia Plath's last poem, written mere days before she committed suicide. It is a short, bleak, and brutal piece that reflects the depth of her depression.

As is the case with many of her poems, the theme of death is quite conspicuous. There is a sense of finality and defeat; hope has fled. In fact, the woman is considered "perfected" rather than compromised, suggesting that her suicide was a mark of bravery and vision, not cowardice. Plath creates an eerie, somber mood through the lack of color and the repeated words that emphasize whiteness, blankness, and cold – "bare," "white serpents," "milk," and "hood of bone" are some examples. There are also allusions to Medea ("the illusion of a Greek necessity"), who in the Greek myths avenged her husband's betrayal by killing their two children. This allusion furthers the sense of suicidal feelings, especially when one remembers that the Greeks did not believe that suicide was unequivocally bad; in many cases, it was perceived as honorable.