Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath – Poetry Analysis Essay Example

read aloud, clearly follow an unstressed to stressed pattern: "A sort of walking miracle, my skin".

However, this metre is not completely accurate throughout the poem. This adds to the irregularity of the poem and makes the reader sound less robotic and fixed to one metre throughout. Irregularity can also be seen in the rhyme scheme of this poem. There is no clear rhyme scheme, making it irregular. Moreover, there are some half rhymes: "I do it so it feels like hell/I do it so it feels real. " Overall, the structure of this poem was constructed by Plath in an irregular way.

I believe she did this to enhance to shock of this poem, as if to say that, by examining the irregular structure, one can tell that the poem is unusual and disturbing. On the first read of 'Lady Lazarus', a literal meaning becomes apparent: this poem is about attempting suicide. Plath gives the reader clues to this: "The first time it happened I was ten... Dying/Is an art, like everything else. " Sylvia attempted suicide herself at least once (one attempted suicide was documented but Sylvia could have tried many more times privately), so this poem is drawing from real life experience.

In fact, Plath did almost die when she "was ten " in a swimming "accident. " However, she is not simply documenting what actually happened to her: there is a fictional element to this poem, which is where one can see the deeper, figurative meaning. Plath takes on the persona of 'Lady Lazarus', drawn from the biblical character Lazarus of Bethany, who died and was resurrected by

Jesus, which is why Plath included the line "'A miracle! '" However, she follows on with "That knocks me out. The raising of Lazarus was what began the chain of events that led to Jesus' crucifixion. Therefore, the figurative meaning of "Lady Lazarus' is that when others see resurrecting as "'A miracle! '", Plath knows that, in fact, it leads to worse things. In her case, surviving a suicide attempt meant that she would continue to suffer from depression, the reason why she curses those who save her: "So, so, Herr Doktor. /So, Herr Enemy. " The use of "Herr" is most likely to refer to Hitler and the Nazis, a prominent theme of this poem.

There are a number of themes brought up in 'Lady Lazarus'. One theme is the holocaust. In the 2nd stanza, Plath mentions a "Nazi lampshade". This refers to the myth that the Nazis used Jewish skin from the victims of the holocaust to make pieces of furniture such as "lampshade" and "paperweight". This idea adds to the disturbance of the poem whilst illustrating the main theme of death. Another theme is the phoenix. This is a mythical, red haired bird that burns when it dies and resurrects out of the ash.

Plath describes this process in her poem: "I turn and burn... Out of the ash/I rise with my red hair". The idea of the phoenix resurrecting gives the reader powerful imagery whilst reinforcing the fact that Sylvia Plath wants to die but keeps coming back to life, like a phoenix. However, she sees this as a negative, which relates to, in my opinion, the most important

aspect of this poem: the demonic tone. Plath uses carnival imagery to convey the image of her death being like a show, where people come to watch: "The Peanut-crunching crowd/Shoves in to see".

This idea is disturbing and adds to the demonic tone of the poem. Also, she refers to Satan in the 27th stanza: "Herr God, Herr Lucifer"; she is also demonising God in this quote, which is blasphemous and some might say evil. Finally, the image of a fire doesn't just relate to a phoenix burning but also the fires of "hell": "... melts to a shriek. /I turn and burn... Ash, ash---". In my opinion, this poem almost seems like a demonic chant by the narrator, Lady Lazarus, who has been resurrected and is spiteful for it as she truly wants to die.

These themes seem to point to this figurative meaning. To conclude, I believe that this poem uses structure, literary devices and themes in order to convey a demonic tone when reading 'Lady Lazarus'. I also think the themes Plath chose to write about are disturbing and twisted because she is trying to get the message across to the reader that attempted suicide cannot be glossed over: it is horrible and disturbing that Plath wants to kill herself but she is trying to tell us that she wants "Doktor[s]" to not help her and to let her die.

Perhaps the way that this poem is almost a satanic chant may suggest that Lady Lazarus, the narrator, is possessed and Plath is comparing that to her being possessed with the horror of depression. Sylvia Plath wrote 'Lady Lazarus'

in 1962, less than a year before her successful suicide attempt on February 11th 1963.