Resurrection in the Midst of Death

Both the poems, and the life of Sylvia Plath, are often associated with themes such as depression, suicide, and death. Although such subjects are important characteristics of her poems, some poems are also about healing and rebirth - themes that serve as a ray of hope in what many believe to be thoroughly depressing poetry. The tension between death and rebirth/life is prominent in poems such as "Lady Lazarus," "Poppies in October," and "Tulips," among others.

Even the title of "Lady Lazarus" refers to rebirth. According to biblical stories, Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus, after having been in a tomb for four days. By calling it "Lady Lazarus," Plath foreshadows the subject of the poem - a woman who is brought back from the dead. Throughout the poem Plath makes references to failed suicide attempts, which can be interpreted as resurrection since, in a way, the doctors bring the narrator, who the reader cannot help but assume is Plath - taking into account Plath's own life - back from the dead.

Like Lazarus, it seems that, in her second suicide attempt, the narrator had been nearly dead for some time. She states that "They had to call and call / And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls" (lines 41-42). Generally, worms are associated with corpses that have been dead for some time, not with the freshly dead. In the final lines of the poem the narrator says, "Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair," again drawing on a comparison to Lazarus to imply resurrection. Rising from ash implies that she was completely dead, as ash means that life had burned out.

The narrator calls dying "an art" (line 43), stating that she does it "exceptionally well" (line 45). Such sentiment from the narrator implies that she has had practice perfecting her "art" and, perhaps, that it has yet to be perfected. It seems that she will only be a master of dying when she actually succeeds in doing so. Being brought back to life seems to be a harsh reminder that she only dies "exceptionally well," not perfectly. Even though she seems to regret being resurrected, there is also an element of her that is proud of her ability to snap back to life even after "death." She calls her resurrection "...the theatrical / Comeback in broad day" (lines 51-52), again tying in the idea that death is an art, like theater, and implying that she is the actress rehearsing death over and over. She is proud of her ability to come back to life so that she can "die" once more. She says, "It's easy enough to do it and stay put" (line 50), meaning that she is much more talented than somebody who commits suicide on the first try, because that is "easy." What is difficult is the ability to die and then come back to life.

"Lady Lazarus" begins with the line "I have done it again," meaning that she has attempted suicide again, for the third time in her life: "This is Number Three" (line 22). Each time she attempts suicide she is saved by doctors, and it is deemed "a miracle" (line 55) that she does not die. However, it seems that the narrator means to attempt suicide again, and Plath employs a simile to compare the suicidal narrator to a cat: "And like a cat I have nine times to die" (line 21). The superstition that a cat has nine lives is one that has lasted to the present day, even after many other superstitions have died out. By comparing herself to a cat, the narrator implies that she can only be brought back to life by the doctors eight times, and the ninth suicide attempt will finally bring death. However, being brought back to life eight times involves repeated vacillation between life and death, which is not something that most humans are able to experience. This repeated motion between life and death is the main theme of "Lady Lazarus," and helps to illustrate the importance of rebirth in Plath's poetry.

The poems "Tulips" and "Poppies in October" are also important to the life/death antithesis that is so much a part of Plath. For one thing, both titles involve flowers, which are commonly associated with rebirth and renewal, as they seem to die away in the fall and are resurrected in the spring, which is itself a common symbol of rebirth. Although both poems deal with sickness and death, they also deal with resurrection.

The title "Poppies in October" is important because, like "Lady Lazarus" it refers to resurrection. Unlike most flowers, poppies do not just bloom in the spring/summer. They bloom once in late spring and then once again in the fall, seeming to be dead or barren throughout the summer. So, if one suggests that the poppies are "dead" after they are done blooming in the summer, it seems that they a reborn in the fall to bloom again. The cycle of life and death occurs more often for poppies than for other flowers, because they will "die" twice a year (in summer and fall) and come back to life twice a year, whereas other flowers only die in the winter and are only renewed in the spring. And so, like Lady Lazarus, the poppies have more opportunities to perfect the "art of dying."

The narrator of "Poppies in October" tells of a "woman in the ambulance / Whose red heart blooms through her coat so astoundingly - " (lines 2-3). It sounds as if the woman is drawing nearer to death as the blood spreads through the fabric of her coat. And then, in the last line of the poem, the narrator speaks of "a forest of frost" and a "dawn of cornflowers," which hints at the tension between winter and spring, and hence, death and rebirth respectively. In poetry, forests are generally symbols of death, just as the frost implies that it is wintertime - the season of death. A forest of frost, therefore is doubly referring to death and lifelessness.

On the other hand, dawn, like spring, is a symbol of rebirth. Symbolically, one dies at night and is reborn upon waking in the morning, one reason that death and sleep are symbolically related to one another. Cornflowers also symbolize life and renewal, being flowers. However, cornflowers are annuals, so when they die for the winter they do not come back in the spring, but they reseed themselves so that the seeds are a kind of regeneration, even though the plants only live for one year. And so, a parallel antithesis evolves from Plath's "In a forest of frost, in a dawn of cornflowers." Once again a continuous cycle of life and death proves to be an important theme in Plath's poetry.

Although "Tulips" is also about life and death, the tone seems to be slightly different from that of "Lady Lazarus" and "Poppies in October." In the latter two poems, the narrator seems to be content to go through the life and death cycle. In "Lady Lazarus" she is proud of her "art of dying," and in "Poppies in October" she makes several references to death and renewal, showing that she does not want to die completely and that the act of resurrection is important.

However, in "Tulips" the narrator seems less satisfied with the idea of rebirth. As with the other flowers, tulips are symbols of life. In this poem, the narrator rejects the tulips. She is in the hospital, and implies that she is there recovering from a suicide attempt. She says, "it is winter here" (line 1) meaning that there is no room for such life. Like most other plants, tulips do not belong in the winter, they are springtime flowers and in the winter (a symbol of death) such symbols of life and renewal are not welcome. Ironically, the tulips that were meant to help heal the sick narrator seem to be sucking away what little bit of life she has: "The vivid tulips eat my oxygen" (line 49); and "The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me" (line 36). She also says, "The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals" (line 58). Such lines imply that the narrator wishes she had not been saved this time, because it would seem odd for someone who is enthusiastic about being renewed to staunchly reject the very things that are supposed to be a sort of "get well" gift.

Line nine also implies that the narrator wishes she had not been saved: "Like an eye between two lids that will not shut." The two "lids" are her pillow and her sheet, and if they close that means that either the sheet, or the pillow, is covering her head. If it is the pillow that means that she is suffocated, which goes along with her comment that the tulips take away her oxygen. And if the sheet is pulled over her head, which means that she has already died. Since the tone of the narrator implies that she wishes the two lids would shut, she seems to be totally rejecting her resurrection.

Although these three poems are not identical in tone, they all deal with the theme of life, death, and rebirth, which all played an important role in Sylvia Plath's life. Being caught up in the flux of life and death, it is no wonder that her poems resonate of such experiences, as if she was consumed with such thoughts. Despite the role of death in her life and in her poems, the theme of being renewed is just as important as that of death, if not more so. Without renewal, death would be too final.

Work Cited

Plath, Sylvia. Ariel. Perennial Classics: New York, 1999.