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Read and work the poem "Spinster" by Sylvia Plath. Engage in a discussion of the overall symbolism of the poem as well as the imagery and figurative language Plath used.
A spinster is a woman who is still single past the usual age of marrying. The poem "Spinster" by Silvia Plath describes a girl who is afraid to love because it is chaotic and out of control, so she locks her heart away and adapts a frosty countenance.
The poem begins with the girl suddenly being repulsed by spring, "intolerably struck" by the "irregular" "unbalance" "uneven" "disarray" of spring. The birds create a "tumult", the violent noise of a mob. The speaker summarizes the entire disorder of spring with a personification "The whole season, sloven", a sloppy person. This exaggerated depiction of spring to be likened to a chaotic, disorderly, mob reflects the girls feelings of love. She turns looks with disgust not only at nature but also her suitor. She finds them both to represent the passionate romances associate with the season.
The girl "longed for winter then". Winter is "austere", cold, solemn, ordinarily, and strict. There is a sense of control and stabilty, "exact as a snowflake". Winter is a solitary heart, "heart's frosty discipline" it suffers none of the fluctuation of spring.
The usual beauty of spring is depicted through the eyes of the girl as repulsive, "volgur motley", a diversity of elements. She sees those who indulge in the romances of spring as "idiots" who "reel in bedlam spring". Spring is grotesque, it is a bedlam, a wild uproar. The girl turns away from spring, "neatly" withdrawing from the usual ceremonies. She "barricades" herself "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break" against "mutinous weather". Love is mutinous because her heart leads her against her mind, and so to protect herself from such vulnerability the girl locks her heart away from spring which is love. The girl fears falling in love because she fears loosing control, she is disgusted the chaos and commotion of passion when the heart takes over and the mind looses reason. She is threatened by the thought of disorder and would rather be alone that risk loosing her composure. So she become a spinster.
Like Krista said, a spinster is a woman who is single and beyond the usual age of marrying. The speaker in the poem ‘Spinster’ describes a girl who is frightened by love because of its potential for chaos and lack of control. So, instead of letting go and allowing such love to exist, the girl instead barricades her heart from love and allows her heart to become cold like ice in winter.
The speaker in the poem starts out by discussing how the girl suddenly is disgusted by spring by describing it with less then admiration: ‘the birds’ irregular babel’, ‘the leaves litter’, ‘rank wilderness’, ‘petals in disarray’, and ‘the whole season sloven’. The girl goes on to not just be disgusted by spring but by her ‘latest suitor’ as well. The man is described as her seeing his ‘gestures unbalanced’ and ‘his gait stray uneven’. The speaker is saying how the girl is seeing spring and love as nothing more than chaos with nothing in order. So, to keep everything in order, she freezes her heart as winter, since that is the season when everything is apparently in order.
The diction and imagery in this poem I found to be quite impressive. The way in which the speaker describes spring makes one see the chaos it brings. To say ‘bedlam spring’ really shows just how little control there is. Another interesting choice of diction I noticed was of the ‘insurgent man’. A insurgent is basically a person who rises in forcible opposition, possibly armed resistance. So to say that ‘no mere insurgent man could hope to break’ past the ice over her heart, shows just how against (or afraid of) love and the chaos it brings the girl was.
I think the two biggest items of symbolism in this poem are Plath’s use of winter and spring. Winter comes first and here Plath refers to winter as both what it is, the season, and what it represents, which is an absence of life and love; an un-chaotic, meticulously precise, completely predictable season. As Krista mentioned, a spinster is someone who is single and past the typical age when someone should be married. And Plath’s spinster has probably had her heart broken enough time to know that it is not fun, it is not necessarily predictable, and that the absence of love for an eternity might be more desirable than a love that doesn’t last. Just like winter, a lack of love is black and white, either you have a relationship/love or you don’t, and it is predictable. Spring on the other hand is new, fun, and full of excitement. But when it ends, as inevitably does, there is a feeling of something missing. Spring in the poem “Spinster” represents the season, just like winter does, but also represents love. Love is unpredictable; love feels great; losing love is horrible. Plath does an excellent job at using the seasons of spring and winter to convey literal meanings, as well as representing the spinster’s feelings about life and love.
I agree with the three comments before of the use of symbolism of spring and winter. Another point of symbolism I found was in the house which also represents the girl's own heart which she "set such a barricade" to protect it and herself from being hurt by the instabilities of love (spring). The house could also have a literal interpretation meaning she protects herself from unwanted suitors. Some uses of imagery that I liked were "birds' irregular babel--also an allusion perhaps to the confusion of languages in the Biblical Tower of Babel, "rank wilderness of fern and flower"--visual and I imagine something overly pungent at the word rank, and "heart's frosty discipline exact as a snowflake"--tactile and also a simile. I'm just making a guess but is saying the season is sloven personification along with symbolism? A sloven is usually a person by definition in that it could refer to her unwanted suitor or the unfavorable sentiment love who are negligent of neatness. My other question is does anyone understand the fourth stanza (19-24) well and would like to help explain it
As others have said, the spinster of the poem's title seems to fear love, seeing in it nothing but disorder and trouble, an idea represented by her fear of spring and her preference for winter and its "scrupulously austere" order. She sees herself as above such rash foolishness, as above such naivete, allowing other "idiots" to "reel giddy in bedlam spring" and taking solace in the simplicity and predicability of winter, which I felt represented her loneliness. She seems happiest on her own, when safe behind that "barricade of barb and check" of hers that keeps out "mutinous weather" and the "insurgent man", when free of love, for I imagine if she were to experience the emotion herself she might not quite know what to do with it. I cannot say why she might feel as she does about love, as I do not know what happened to her previously, yet I see already the direction in which she is headed, the place where she shall soon be. I feel that, despite her lack of appreciation for springtime, she is the sort of individual who has a particularly keen aesthetic sense - she knows what true beauty entails, what it encompasses, and therefore she is not quick to bestow its compliment upon ordinary sights and trivial things, as others might. She is not swayed by that "vulgar motley" that might capture any of our hearts, that we might call beautiful, for she knows better than we do and she knows that we know it yet will not admit it. I felt sorry for her as I read the poem, yet, at the same time, I envied her a bit, knowing she could see and understand things that I could not and wishing that I saw beauty in simplicity, just as she did, rather than feeling bored by it.
Also, did anyone else take notice of Plath's description of the girl's "latest suitor"? I'm almost certain it's a dog, with its "gait stray uneven", and I'm absolutely certain she's taking him out for a walk.
The word “spinster” automatically invokes a connotation of a wizened old woman with a dissatisfied and pessimistic attitude towards both love and life. The word brings to mind a particular picture for me, that of an elderly woman with a craggy face and a malevolent attitude. Perhaps that mental image is more in line with my childhood, “Disney-influenced” image of a witch, yet, the point is, Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Spinster”, describes a spinster more clearly than I ever could. Through the use of particular and distinct diction, as well as symbols of seasons and houses, Plath paints a portrait of a woman who has firmly and resoundingly closed off her heart.
Prominent in the first two stanzas is the symbol of spring, which refers to and stands for the overwhelming feeling of love. The first stanza of the poem describes how, “during a ceremonious April walk,” the young girl “found herself, of a sudden, intolerably stuck/by the birds’ irregular babel/and the leaves’ litter” (2-6). Words that are particularly significant include “ceremonious”, “irregular babel”, and “leaves’ litter”. Already in the second line, the reader is given a hint of this particular girl’s attitude as she views an April walk as “ceremonious”, instead of a light, relaxing, and uplifting jaunt. Her view of this walk as a solemn and stately promenade highlights her inability to appreciate lightness, giddiness, or love in her life. Thus, it was no surprise that she was intolerably and horrifyingly struck by the bird’s “babel” and the leaves’ “litter”. Such words convey a negative connotation. Rarely does one describe bird song as an overwhelming and confusing tumble of noise, or piles of leaves’ as litter, unnatural within the spring’s landscape. Her view of spring and its associated emotions of love, giddiness, and optimism is dismal at best. Thus, it is no wonder that such an inappreciation of spring directly translates into a dismissal of love. As spring and love are irrevocably linked, her absolute rejection of spring means that she too rejects love. Through this tint of pessimism and moodiness, she “observed [that] her lover’s gestures unbalance the air/[and that] his gait stray uneven” (8-9). Perhaps what bothers her most about spring and love is her inability to control such emotions. She cannot reel in the uncontrollable giddiness of “bedlam spring”, thus she rejects it (23). She dismisses love as absurd because it is slovenly, overwhelming and uncontrollable.
Within the third stanza, the symbol of winter appears. Having rejected the slovenly and bedlam nature of love, she yearns for the “…scrupulously austere….winter” (13-14). Winter, which is a time of “ice and rock,” perfectly symbolizes her ever hardening heart (16). It is only when she closes her heart off from the warming and passionate effects of spring and love, that it hardens and become ice. She relishes her “…heart’s frosty discipline” as it keeps “…each sentiment within border” and is a protection against the wild and slovenly nature of love. Again, such diction as “discipline” and “border” reflect her obsession with order and uniformity. The third significant symbol that occurs within this poem is that of a house, which refers to her heart, or house of love. Naturally, out of her absolute abhorrence and rejection of the wild ways of love, she withdraws, and surrounds her house with “…a barricade of barb and check” (26). Here, the word “house” can be taken literally and metaphorically. I imagine that, in becoming a spinster, she has closed off both her house and heart. Her “barricade of barb and check” keeps out unwanted intrusions into her heart. Within this line, through the use of the words “barricade” and “barb”, I received a mental image of a prison. Her house and heart are fortified with fence and barb wire. “No mere insurgent man could hope to break/with curse/fist/threat/or love, either” (28-30). I absolutely love this comparison of love with curses, fists, and threats because it utterly conveys the potency of love. Unfortunately, even such potent love fails to penetrate this spinster’s defenses.
The major symbols I see in this poem are the seasons of spring and winter. These symbols are then used to play around with the concept of intimacy or isolation. Spring is meant to stand for love and its many irregularities. She describes spring by noticing “the bird’s irregular babel” and “the leaves’ litter.” Then the speaker connects this with the irregularities in her suitor, the person she is intimate with. He has an uneven gait and “her lover’s gestures unbalance the air.” Thus it is implied that spring not only stands for irregularities but more specifically the irregularities that spawn from love. Winter on the other hand stands for the regularities of isolation. She describes winter as “scrupulously austere in its order of white and black” and how the season is disciplined. Then to show that winter is supposed to stand for isolation she explains how people who love spring time (and therefore love) are idiots. She says “Let idiots reel giddy in bedlam spring.” And so by process of elimination it can be concluded that winter stands for order and isolation because it can’t stand for irregularities and intimacy.
In the final stanza the speaker is alone—she has her coveted isolation—but is being bombarded by the spring weather. By putting up “a barricade of barb and check” she symbolically sets up walls between herself and love. Then she justifies this action with the claim in the last three lines. She feels that no man, complete with all his irregularities, can bring the regularities she seeks for in love.
The title, "Spinster," enables us to immediately understand the inner conflict that the woman goes through. The denotation of a spinster is an unmarried woman past the common age for marrying so, Plath describes the thoughts of a woman who is skeptical of love because of its often ulterior motives and unpredictability. Thus, setting "a barricade of barb" around her heart to prevent love from reaching it. We are able to assume this through the speaker's frequent reference to spring as "irregular," "litter," and "unbalanced." She finds that the spring atmosphere that love can be associated with is intolerable and that she prefers the winter and how it is "scrupulously austere in its order." Plath uses very vivid diction to describe winter and its association to the girl's emotions. And in contrast , the discomfort that spring reminds the girl. Instead, by setting up barricades and keeping to herself, she can prevent the unknown from dictating her life.
My copy of Sound and Sense finally made it here from Florida! Took it long enough, jeez... Ah, but I should get around to actually opening it now and reading the poem. I'll get right on that.
Alright, I've read through it a few times now, and, I'm having some trouble finding the symbolism just reading it, so, I'm going to kind of pick it apart. In the first stanza, the spinsters walk is "ceremonious." To me this says she does not, or at least no longer walks for the pleasure of it. She walks only because it's part of her routine. However, she is "...intolerably struck / By the bird' irregular babel." The songs of the birds in spring doesn't just annoy her; it's intolerable! The first line of the second stanza, "By this tumult afflicted," you would think it is the cacophony of "irregular babel" assaulting her ears which causes the tumult, and while that is certainly true, I think that the second meaning of tumult also applies here; that of emotional upheaval. It seems to me that spring may hold memories of a love the spinster once had. She now finds spring ridiculous, "...a rank wilderness of fern and flower. / She judged petals in disarray, / The whole season, sloven." To her, spring is a chaotic season, overwhelmed by disorder. In the third stanza she expressed her longing for winter, and provides a contrast to spring. I think the last two lines are the most significant in this stanza, "And heart's frosty discipline / Exact as a snowflake." Discipline can mean a lot of different things; a practice or teaching, order, calm controlled behavior, or conscious control over a lifestyle. And then there is the next line, marking the discipline as "exact as a snowflake." Just how is a snowflake exact? I associate snowflakes with uniqueness and intricacy. I feel like I'm stating the obvious when I say that these two lines suggest she has trained her heart to be cold. Oh, actually, looking at the line before, "Ice and rock, each sentiment within boarder," ice and rock are referred to as sentiments. And people often call an uncaring person cold-hearted or say they have a heart of stone. So could the sentiments of ice and rock be symbolizing the condition of her heart, not just the environment of winter? The fourth stanza coems back to looking at where the spinster is at the moment, in spring, which is "unruly enough to pitch her five queenly wits." I thought wits was an interesting word choice here. Instead of saying "her five senses" it is her wits. I think this points further at a detachment of feeling. The word "borne" also stands out, but, I can't pin down just why it stands out. Oh well. The end of the stanza has our spinster removing herself from this vulgar environment. Now, back at home, she has surrounded herself with "barb and check." I really liked the diction here, because at first it doesn't seem to make sense. "Barricade yourself with check? Huh?" But then, I realized, the meaning of check in this contect is probably that of checking yourself, as in, catching yourself before makign some mistake. She has not only guarded herself from the outside world with barb, she is guarding herself with "check." "Against mutinous weather" I assume is referring back to spring. The finally few lines I found the be most poignant in the poem, "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break / With curse, fist, threat." The use of "insurgent" along with cursing, threats, fists, and breaking, summon a very negative image of the world she is keeping out. And then there is the final line, "Or love, either." She denies love to free herself from the cruelty which is also in the world. I just thought that was sad.
Okay, now that I've gone through it and looked at the diction and imagery and such, I think I'm ready to take a stab at the overall symbolism. I feel like the springtime represents love, while the winter represents apathy, or else lack of love. She guards herself against the spring, and revels in the icy chill that winter brings. She is happier in her loveless world. Or at least that's the impression I got from the poem until that final line. I think that shows either the speakers pity for the spinster, or perhaps an underlying unhappiness in the spinster. I'm not too sure on that. Haha, okay, the whole thing about spring being a symbol for love and winter symbolizing lack of love, I'm thinking now that seems too obvious to be the really true symbolism. I'll go read the other blog posts now and see what others found. Phew, alright, it looks like I missed the symbolism behind the house. Jeez, it seems so obvious...but I suppose that's my hindsight bias talking. And Hari, after reading that about the dog, I can't get that image out of my head. It makes total sense though; doesn't the stereotypical spinster own a house full of cats or otherwise a few dogs?
While appearing to simply tire of her walk with her “latest suitor,” the woman in this poem has a lot more to her. Like everyone has said, a spinster is a woman who is still unmarried, beyond the typical age of marriage. This woman becomes annoyed by her “lover’s” movements and at the same time—the season spring. A connotation associated with spring is that it is the season of love, or new beginnings for love. This woman is in the process of courting a suitor and her growing hatred for spring is a symbol for her boredom and annoyance of this suitor. She judges the man she is with and finds imperfections, so she wants out of the relationship. Her love and anticipation for winter is a symbol of her longing for the time in which she is alone and without companionship.
I think that her longing for winter and to be alone is that she is scared of a relationship. She analyzes the relationship and finds things about the guy that bother her so that she can end it. When she is alone it is like her own personal winter—cold and lonely, but also “order[ly]” and “discipline[d]” the way she likes it. She leans away from a relationship because it is in the unknown. (“How she longed for winter then!— / Scrupulously austere in its order,” (13-14).
The word “girl” in the first line implies her immaturity and experience, and the word “ceremonious” in the second line foreshadows the connection to marriage and relationships. When the speaker is describing spring, the combination of words that they choose are a mix of happy connections to spring like “Through a rank wilderness of fern and flower,” (10), and harsh judgmental observations like “She judged petals in disarray, / The whole season, sloven,” (11-12). This contradictory combination gives the poem a sense of confusion, but also puts the reader in the perspective of the ‘girl’ the speaker talks about.
Since I am not one of the first posters, I might be repeating what some of you guys have already said. But I'm just going to get all my thoughts down before I forget them :)
As I know most people picked up, the two most obvious uses of metaphors are in the employment of spring and winter. The poem begins in the springtime, when this certain girl is walking along with a potential lover. Suddenly, she's "intolerably struck / By the birds' irregular babble / And the leaves' litter" (4-5). Spring no longer seems beautiful. It's chaotic and messy and out of control. This mirrors the girl's feelings on love. She cannot stand falling in love- it takes her life out of her control and puts her happiness in the hands of another, which she distrusts. Spring is known as the season of love and she does not trust love or her suitor that she is with. She says how his gait is "uneven" and she does not want to be with him. They are walking through a "wilderness" of flowers, which is visual imagery. I pictured a dark, scary forest when I read it. The almost silly comparison reflects the girl's intense feelings of repulsion towards love.
The girl likes the season of winter. This is important because it reflects how the girl is not willing to let go and go with the flow. Control is necessary for her. Winter, with its "austere order," appeals to her because there is no giddy loss of control during that season. She doesn't want to love, so her heart is frozen, as though it were in winter.
One simile that really stood out for me was the last one at the end. She compares a "barricade of barb and wire" to the closing off of her heart. It's a very powerful image and it also describes just how serious she is. She is dead serious in not falling in love. So serious that she is building such a barrier to her heart that nothing a man tries to do with get past it.
Another thing I noticed was how auditory imagery was used to describe spring, but not winter. Spring is described with "birds' babbles," and "tumult". Visual imagery is primarily used in the stanzas relating to winter. The speaker describes winter as, "white and black / Ice and rock, each sentiment within its border".
so, I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said about the poem so far. Obviously the greatest amount of symbolism involves the comparison of the seasons to the speakers attitude toward love. Spring to her represents uncertaintly and chaos. she fels unsettled, or "unbalance" in the air and can't wait for winter. with it's " order" and "discipline" In the third stanza she goes back to describing spring as " vulgar" and "unruly". It also just occured to me that Spring is traditionally considered mating season, at least for animals, and that winter is generally the season when they hibernate. Just like she's hibernating and staying away from love. One word that really stood out to me was " barricade" used in: " such a barricade of barb and check". It's meant to describe the walls she has put up around herself. This kind of symbolism is used a lot in poetry as well as songs. I could probably name at least 10 songs that involve some sort of building or tearing down of emotional barriers, or walls. I'm sure that type of imagery was not as common back in the 1940's but I was able to relate it to it because it's so commonly used. And in reference to Hari's assumption taht she was walking with a dog, I was thinking more that she was unfairly judging the appearance or demeanor of her suitor, and that maybe she was finally fed up with the whole dating thing, and couldn't wait for her life to get back to normal.
I've been thinking about the poem a little more, and, a few more things sort of dawned on me. Oh, before I start, sorry about the last post, I realize there are an abundance of spelling errors.
Back on track...The first thing is the use of the word "babel." I think that this could have some relation to the Tower of Babel. Like the thousands of languages of the tower, there are thousands of different songs coming from the birds. And like the workers of the tower, the spinster can't tolerate so many voices.
Second, I think that in addition to what I said about spring and winter, I think there might be another meaning. The spring represents youth, and the winter age. The spinster, most likely in the winter of her life, is repulsed by spring and the youth it represents. This interpretation is pretty closely related to my first one of spring for love and winter for unlove. Yes, I realize that "unlove" is not a real word. No, I'm not going to change it.
Okay, well, I thought that there was a third thing I thought about, but, I'm thinking and if there was a third, I can't remember it. Oh well.
I thought this poem was distinctive from the start with its title contrasting with the first line of the poem. A spinster is a woman past her prime for marrying, yet Plath describes the spinster as “girl” instead of “woman”. This could mean that the spinster is older in age, but quite naïve in other ways. From the first stanza you can immediately conclude that the girl is irritated by her surroundings as well as her situation. The diction used to describe the usual qualities of an April day has a negative connotation to them. She is at a point in her life where the most beautiful aspects of life seem irritating and aggravating.
In the second stanza, she sees faults in both her lover and the season of spring. She compares love with spring in this manner to point out her disdain with both subjects. The girl wants winter to arrive, because she wants her surroundings to match how she feels on the inside. Her heart is icy, hence her environment should follow suite. When she is criticizing people who love spring in the fourth stanza, she is also criticizing those who are in love. Love, like spring, is “vulgar” for her jaded heart. Therefore, those who love are, “idiots reel giddy” (line 23). She would rather, “withdrew neatly” than join the “idiots” in their delight with spring and love.
The house described in the last stanza of the poem is symbolic for her heart. She has, “set such a barricade of barb and check” (line 25) to prevent from getting hurt by love. No man can win her heart or break it with any types of actions, “as no mere insurgent man could hope to break with curse, fist, threat, or love, either” (line 28-30). The poem might seem like it is talking about the speaker’s dislike of a season at first, but she is actually talking about her dislike of love and the pains it brings.
Well everyone has mentioned the symbolism of the seasons, and I was wondering if the leaves and petals are things that don't last, as she knows that this suitor won't last. The last stanza to me is like a resolution at the end of an argument. She has grown tired of always failing and never finding a lasting relationship, so she shuts people out. The figurative language here is the metaphor of erecting a wall around her home and using spite and anger to keep all men away.
Michelle: I saw the suitor as being a dog because it seemed appropriate that she should take it out for a stroll on a warm April day. I also thought that it was odd that, if indeed human, her suitor should have no influence on her actions, that he should have as minimal an impact as he has in the poem. Also, the way she described the suitor's manner of walking seemed to me quite dog-like.
I'm open to other suggestions/comments/criticisms though.
As other people have said the main symbolism in this poem is between spring and winter. Spring represents love and being spontaneous and winter represents predictability and coldness.
The first stanza is the girl's surprise that by the bird's "babel" and "littering" of the leaves. These are usually happy, soothing sounds but to the speaker they are ugly and unwanted.
In the second stanza the girl realizes that her lover's gestures are not graceful and smooth, and they disrupt the air around them. All of the nature around her is considered ugly and in disarray.
The third stanza is the girl's want for winter again. Everything is in order and exact. There is no grey area in the winter. Winter is the kind of outlook she has on love. She is cold and predictable. She doesn't give herself away to anything spontaneous or let her heart lead her.
The fourth stanza is her disgust for other girls that allow themselves to be in love. She considers them idiots and retreats to the safety of winter.
In the final stanza she is barricading her heart from love. "And no mere insurgent man could hope to break, with curse, fist, threat, or love either." No rebellious man could break through the walls of her heart with violence or love.
Spinster, by Sylvia Plath, is a magnificent poem that incorporates the use of imagery and figurative language. There are two main symbols in the poem which are winter and spring. Winter represents isolation while Spring represents love.
I like this particular stanza for it's effictiveness in describing winter:
How she longed for winter then! -- Scrupulously austere in its order Of white and black Ice and rock; each sentiment within border, And heart's frosty discipline Exact as a snowflake.
Reading this stanza that is full of figurative language gives the reader an idea of how she feels about winter. It also gives the reference to, as many others have probably noticed as well, the popular winter/christmas movie Jack Frost, where the kid's dead father becomes a snowman and stuff.
I agree with the people who commented earlier about the woman being afraid to love. It is because of the lack of control she would possess if she allowed herself to fall for it. She would rather have greater control of her life in exchange for being alone and emotionally cold, which is symbolized by her longing for winter. The descriptions from stanza II* support this and express the unsatisfactory feeling she gets from spring and the chaos that reigns. In regard to the seasons, spring symbolizes the time when love takes over people. This is what repels her desires for spring and her longing for winter (the opposite).
I liked the way the poem begins with the speaker giving a negative image of springtime. This negativity further extends into her lover, saying "her lover's gestures unbalance the air, his gait stray uneven" (not a very pretty sight on its own), off into some wild area which is quite the opposite of what someone thinks of when "springtime" is brought up. "She judged petals in disarray" may be a metaphor for her lover, or may just be the very wilderness the lover walks into. Either way it gives a sense of chaos, "The whole season sloven". The season, in this case, is her lover's love?
The second stanza is riddled with figurative language and metaphors. The speaker wished for winter's simplicity, "of black and white". Everything was do or don't do, no intermediate which became confusing. "Each sentiment within border" meaning no feelings of anything more than what can be taken lightly, i.e. no real love, "and heart's frosty discipline exact as a snowflake" gives rise to the point that the discipline was clear-cut, it was exact, no meddling in chaotic springtime bird-singing love.
"But here -- a burgeoning Unruly enough to pitch her five queenly wits Into vulgar motley" Walking along with her lover, there is something rising which the speaker is not used to, something that throws her completely off balance, something she does not like. The idiots are best suited for such disorderly acts.
"And round her house she set Such a barricade of barb and check" The speaker sets up barb and check around her heart, the heart she wishes to remain wintery, black and white, ice and rock, forever, so that nobody may take it. "Against mutinous weather" refers to those men of bedlam spring who may wish to steal the precious heart. "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break With curse, fist, threat, Or love either." She obviously is not willing to give her heart to any man, be it a man who curses, acts, threatens, or loves.
The speaker's world of black and white winter, where there is no love to create confusion, is much more comforting than the disorder of springtime love, in which leaves litter the ground and birds drone on incessantly.
Plath uses the seasons as her major symbol. The title spinster refers to a woman who has not been been married even after the age that most women maarry by. The two seasons that Plath uses are spring and winter. The girl in the beginning of the poem is disgusted by the chaotic and disheveled spring. "Through a rank wilderness or fern and flower. She judged petals in disarray, The whole season sloven." He description of spring shows us the way the way the girl regards spring with. In the 3rd stanza the author writes "How she longed for winter then!" The girl perfers the coldness and alone nature of winter over love. Plath shows us through the symbolism, the spinster's affinity to be alone.
“During her ceremonious walk, With her latest suitor a girl realizes how dull love is. The author Sylvia Plath uses the word latest suitor making the suitor seem unimportant, as just another person the girl is forced to deal with in life. The girl is then struck with “the bird’s irregular Babel, And the leaves’ litter”, meaning springtime with which love is usually associated with. This springtime is not idealistic and romanticized though, the clutter and mess of spring has dawned on her as unaesthetic and she then notices “her lover’s gestures unbalance the air, His gait stray uneven”, in whole nothing is pretty anymore. Through this “rank wilderness” she realizes how “sloven” the idea of courtship is.
Plath then takes this picture of spring and compares it to winter. Sober winter is the opposite cold and unfeeling “of white and black” with no colors, no emotions. Each feeling is enclosed in ice or rock, hard solid material both of which are hard to penetrate, making love a near impossible idea. Through the “heart’s frosty display” no one is bothered or touched, and feelings go unperceived, the girl wishes to stay in this season where nothing stirs including her heart.
“But here—a burgeoning” this blossom of love is not quite right in the girls idea, and with this realization all her previous ideals are overthrown. With this she leaves this sentimental stage off love, mannerly and “neatly”. I think the use of the word “neatly” connects with sterility, the girl prefers the cold deadness of spinsterhood, clean and unblemished like a sterilized cloth, to a spring full of variety and emotions.
In the last stanza, the use of the word house could be symbolic of the girl establishing a home for herself, standing strong and living a life unaided by others. Around this house, which could also mean her heart, she sets a “barricade of barb and check” with barbs she will keep out any man that continues to pursue her though she is a spinster. The checks will keep the girl within the bounds that she has planned. In a way this fence is like that of a prison, keeping people out and keeping the girl within.
Well. It's been long overdue that I take my part in a Westview blog conversation. I will first do this one and move onto the Barbie Doll and Siren Song.
When I first read this poem, there were certain words that struck me. I know this is a figurative language analysis and not AP Lang analysis full of diction and imagery, but bear with me for a few minutes. In the first stanza where this speaker gives a view of a girl and her "ceremonious April walk" and the "birds' irregular babel". The words 'ceremonious' and 'babel' really made me think about what other things they could represent. I view a ceremonious walk to be a walk down the aisle, that she is getting ready to get married. This girl first began to realize that she was not suited for love as she was about to get married? Wow, bad timing. Her realization of apathy towards the love emotion makes its entrance when the speaker mentions "the birds' irregular babel / And the leaves' litter." I thought her choice of diction, using babel and litter gives reading a tone of disgust. Sylvia Plath could have used words such as sung or chirped to give the birds a more pleasant feel, however she uses the word babel. I think a few others have mentioned before me, that babel is referring to the Tower of Babel, I thought the same thing when I first read it. The different language that the bird is using frustrates this maiden (in this moment, it seems as if she is a maiden, however the title of the poem does make me believe that she is an old hag at this point), and makes her despise spring. Well, maybe not despise spring, but have a distaste for it. The Spring is in both the literal terms as well as in its symbolic form. Spring is usually depicted as a time of budding flowers, and what more blooms more than the "bird and the bees?" eh eh? In my opinion, I think the girl in the poem is tired of this physical aspect of love, because Plath just mentions the appearance of Spring with the "petals in disarray" and the season as a whole, slovenly. She personifies Spring into what I imagine to be a grossly dressed man, only enjoying the woman for her image. Another evidence of the physical love is when Plath points out the "idiots / Reel giddy in bedlam spring" (line 22-23), if read outloud, the homonym of "real" and "reel" makes no difference. Couples can feel really giddy to get in bed with one another, but also Spring (love supposedly) can reel in couples into bed. Maybe what the girl in this poem is trying to make a point of how so many people see that sex is a must have in love. Which is not true, because people can love without sex right? I think so.
I like this third stanza. Winter can be symbolized as the want to be isolated, and to not want love. The contrast between "white and black" and the similarities of "ice and rock" is how Plath describes Winter to be. There is only two ways to love, either you want it, or you don't. There isn't an inbetween, hence the black and white. To make it clear, this girl in the poem would rather have no love than be in love because a heart that is cold and hard, I would think it would be kind of hard to get some love into. I mean, I could barely make a hole in any ice using a straw to blow into it but eventually it would go through right? But when adding rock to the equation, this girl really does not want to be in love. She's determined to not fall in love again, "And heart's frosty discipline / Exact as a snowflake" (line 17-18) a snowflake, a full snowflake is perfect and no two are ever alike. This gives the sense that she is perfectly happy with her coldness, and likes being alone. She is unique in her own sense and does not mind snubbing others. I think.
The last stanza makes sense, that she's built a barrier around her heart so that no love would ever get in. The house is her heart, and the "barricade of barb" is the defenses that she uses to hold off potential suitors. The last stanza is pretty straightforward, but what I don't understand is the 5th stanza. From lines 19-21. What are the five queenly wits? What does Plath mean by vulgar motley? Maybe if I read some of my fellow classmates posts, I will get an answer? Hopefully.
With the title, "Spinster," the reader instantly gets a picture of the inner conflict that the woman goes through. The denotation of a spinster is an unmarried woman past the common age for marrying.
Plath describes the woman as skeptical of love because of her past experiences and of loves' unknown. This woman's personal feeling towards love sets "a barricade of barb" around her heart to protect her from the uncertainty.
The speaker's frequent reference to spring as "irregular," "litter," and "unbalanced" show how love and spring are synonmus. Thus she prefers the winter and how it is "scrupulously austere in its order."
Plath uses very vivid diction to describe winter and its association to the girl's emotions. In contrast however, spring brings the girl uneasiness.
She copes with this feeling by setting up barricades and keeping to herself. Through this she can prevent the unpredictability of love from destroying her life.
26 comments:
A spinster is a woman who is still single past the usual age of marrying. The poem "Spinster" by Silvia Plath describes a girl who is afraid to love because it is chaotic and out of control, so she locks her heart away and adapts a frosty countenance.
The poem begins with the girl suddenly being repulsed by spring, "intolerably struck" by the "irregular" "unbalance" "uneven" "disarray" of spring. The birds create a "tumult", the violent noise of a mob. The speaker summarizes the entire disorder of spring with a personification "The whole season, sloven", a sloppy person. This exaggerated depiction of spring to be likened to a chaotic, disorderly, mob reflects the girls feelings of love. She turns looks with disgust not only at nature but also her suitor. She finds them both to represent the passionate romances associate with the season.
The girl "longed for winter then". Winter is "austere", cold, solemn, ordinarily, and strict. There is a sense of control and stabilty, "exact as a snowflake". Winter is a solitary heart, "heart's frosty discipline" it suffers none of the fluctuation of spring.
The usual beauty of spring is depicted through the eyes of the girl as repulsive, "volgur motley", a diversity of elements. She sees those who indulge in the romances of spring as "idiots" who "reel in bedlam spring". Spring is grotesque, it is a bedlam, a wild uproar. The girl turns away from spring, "neatly" withdrawing from the usual ceremonies. She "barricades" herself "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break" against "mutinous weather". Love is mutinous because her heart leads her against her mind, and so to protect herself from such vulnerability the girl locks her heart away from spring which is love. The girl fears falling in love because she fears loosing control, she is disgusted the chaos and commotion of passion when the heart takes over and the mind looses reason. She is threatened by the thought of disorder and would rather be alone that risk loosing her composure. So she become a spinster.
Like Krista said, a spinster is a woman who is single and beyond the usual age of marrying. The speaker in the poem ‘Spinster’ describes a girl who is frightened by love because of its potential for chaos and lack of control. So, instead of letting go and allowing such love to exist, the girl instead barricades her heart from love and allows her heart to become cold like ice in winter.
The speaker in the poem starts out by discussing how the girl suddenly is disgusted by spring by describing it with less then admiration: ‘the birds’ irregular babel’, ‘the leaves litter’, ‘rank wilderness’, ‘petals in disarray’, and ‘the whole season sloven’. The girl goes on to not just be disgusted by spring but by her ‘latest suitor’ as well. The man is described as her seeing his ‘gestures unbalanced’ and ‘his gait stray uneven’. The speaker is saying how the girl is seeing spring and love as nothing more than chaos with nothing in order. So, to keep everything in order, she freezes her heart as winter, since that is the season when everything is apparently in order.
The diction and imagery in this poem I found to be quite impressive. The way in which the speaker describes spring makes one see the chaos it brings. To say ‘bedlam spring’ really shows just how little control there is. Another interesting choice of diction I noticed was of the ‘insurgent man’. A insurgent is basically a person who rises in forcible opposition, possibly armed resistance. So to say that ‘no mere insurgent man could hope to break’ past the ice over her heart, shows just how against (or afraid of) love and the chaos it brings the girl was.
I think the two biggest items of symbolism in this poem are Plath’s use of winter and spring. Winter comes first and here Plath refers to winter as both what it is, the season, and what it represents, which is an absence of life and love; an un-chaotic, meticulously precise, completely predictable season. As Krista mentioned, a spinster is someone who is single and past the typical age when someone should be married. And Plath’s spinster has probably had her heart broken enough time to know that it is not fun, it is not necessarily predictable, and that the absence of love for an eternity might be more desirable than a love that doesn’t last. Just like winter, a lack of love is black and white, either you have a relationship/love or you don’t, and it is predictable. Spring on the other hand is new, fun, and full of excitement. But when it ends, as inevitably does, there is a feeling of something missing. Spring in the poem “Spinster” represents the season, just like winter does, but also represents love. Love is unpredictable; love feels great; losing love is horrible. Plath does an excellent job at using the seasons of spring and winter to convey literal meanings, as well as representing the spinster’s feelings about life and love.
I agree with the three comments before of the use of symbolism of spring and winter. Another point of symbolism I found was in the house which also represents the girl's own heart which she "set such a barricade" to protect it and herself from being hurt by the instabilities of love (spring). The house could also have a literal interpretation meaning she protects herself from unwanted suitors. Some uses of imagery that I liked were "birds' irregular babel--also an allusion perhaps to the confusion of languages in the Biblical Tower of Babel, "rank wilderness of fern and flower"--visual and I imagine something overly pungent at the word rank, and "heart's frosty discipline exact as a snowflake"--tactile and also a simile. I'm just making a guess but is saying the season is sloven personification along with symbolism? A sloven is usually a person by definition in that it could refer to her unwanted suitor or the unfavorable sentiment love who are negligent of neatness. My other question is does anyone understand the fourth stanza (19-24) well and would like to help explain it
As others have said, the spinster of the poem's title seems to fear love, seeing in it nothing but disorder and trouble, an idea represented by her fear of spring and her preference for winter and its "scrupulously austere" order. She sees herself as above such rash foolishness, as above such naivete, allowing other "idiots" to "reel giddy in bedlam spring" and taking solace in the simplicity and predicability of winter, which I felt represented her loneliness. She seems happiest on her own, when safe behind that "barricade of barb and check" of hers that keeps out "mutinous weather" and the "insurgent man", when free of love, for I imagine if she were to experience the emotion herself she might not quite know what to do with it. I cannot say why she might feel as she does about love, as I do not know what happened to her previously, yet I see already the direction in which she is headed, the place where she shall soon be. I feel that, despite her lack of appreciation for springtime, she is the sort of individual who has a particularly keen aesthetic sense - she knows what true beauty entails, what it encompasses, and therefore she is not quick to bestow its compliment upon ordinary sights and trivial things, as others might. She is not swayed by that "vulgar motley" that might capture any of our hearts, that we might call beautiful, for she knows better than we do and she knows that we know it yet will not admit it. I felt sorry for her as I read the poem, yet, at the same time, I envied her a bit, knowing she could see and understand things that I could not and wishing that I saw beauty in simplicity, just as she did, rather than feeling bored by it.
Also, did anyone else take notice of Plath's description of the girl's "latest suitor"? I'm almost certain it's a dog, with its "gait stray uneven", and I'm absolutely certain she's taking him out for a walk.
Hari: I noticed that phrase, but the thought that it could be a dog never entered my mind. I don't really see it. If anyone could explain?
The word “spinster” automatically invokes a connotation of a wizened old woman with a dissatisfied and pessimistic attitude towards both love and life. The word brings to mind a particular picture for me, that of an elderly woman with a craggy face and a malevolent attitude. Perhaps that mental image is more in line with my childhood, “Disney-influenced” image of a witch, yet, the point is, Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Spinster”, describes a spinster more clearly than I ever could. Through the use of particular and distinct diction, as well as symbols of seasons and houses, Plath paints a portrait of a woman who has firmly and resoundingly closed off her heart.
Prominent in the first two stanzas is the symbol of spring, which refers to and stands for the overwhelming feeling of love. The first stanza of the poem describes how, “during a ceremonious April walk,” the young girl “found herself, of a sudden, intolerably stuck/by the birds’ irregular babel/and the leaves’ litter” (2-6). Words that are particularly significant include “ceremonious”, “irregular babel”, and “leaves’ litter”. Already in the second line, the reader is given a hint of this particular girl’s attitude as she views an April walk as “ceremonious”, instead of a light, relaxing, and uplifting jaunt. Her view of this walk as a solemn and stately promenade highlights her inability to appreciate lightness, giddiness, or love in her life. Thus, it was no surprise that she was intolerably and horrifyingly struck by the bird’s “babel” and the leaves’ “litter”. Such words convey a negative connotation. Rarely does one describe bird song as an overwhelming and confusing tumble of noise, or piles of leaves’ as litter, unnatural within the spring’s landscape. Her view of spring and its associated emotions of love, giddiness, and optimism is dismal at best. Thus, it is no wonder that such an inappreciation of spring directly translates into a dismissal of love. As spring and love are irrevocably linked, her absolute rejection of spring means that she too rejects love. Through this tint of pessimism and moodiness, she “observed [that] her lover’s gestures unbalance the air/[and that] his gait stray uneven” (8-9). Perhaps what bothers her most about spring and love is her inability to control such emotions. She cannot reel in the uncontrollable giddiness of “bedlam spring”, thus she rejects it (23). She dismisses love as absurd because it is slovenly, overwhelming and uncontrollable.
Within the third stanza, the symbol of winter appears. Having rejected the slovenly and bedlam nature of love, she yearns for the “…scrupulously austere….winter” (13-14). Winter, which is a time of “ice and rock,” perfectly symbolizes her ever hardening heart (16). It is only when she closes her heart off from the warming and passionate effects of spring and love, that it hardens and become ice. She relishes her “…heart’s frosty discipline” as it keeps “…each sentiment within border” and is a protection against the wild and slovenly nature of love. Again, such diction as “discipline” and “border” reflect her obsession with order and uniformity. The third significant symbol that occurs within this poem is that of a house, which refers to her heart, or house of love. Naturally, out of her absolute abhorrence and rejection of the wild ways of love, she withdraws, and surrounds her house with “…a barricade of barb and check” (26). Here, the word “house” can be taken literally and metaphorically. I imagine that, in becoming a spinster, she has closed off both her house and heart. Her “barricade of barb and check” keeps out unwanted intrusions into her heart. Within this line, through the use of the words “barricade” and “barb”, I received a mental image of a prison. Her house and heart are fortified with fence and barb wire. “No mere insurgent man could hope to break/with curse/fist/threat/or love, either” (28-30). I absolutely love this comparison of love with curses, fists, and threats because it utterly conveys the potency of love. Unfortunately, even such potent love fails to penetrate this spinster’s defenses.
The major symbols I see in this poem are the seasons of spring and winter. These symbols are then used to play around with the concept of intimacy or isolation. Spring is meant to stand for love and its many irregularities. She describes spring by noticing “the bird’s irregular babel” and “the leaves’ litter.” Then the speaker connects this with the irregularities in her suitor, the person she is intimate with. He has an uneven gait and “her lover’s gestures unbalance the air.” Thus it is implied that spring not only stands for irregularities but more specifically the irregularities that spawn from love. Winter on the other hand stands for the regularities of isolation. She describes winter as “scrupulously austere in its order of white and black” and how the season is disciplined. Then to show that winter is supposed to stand for isolation she explains how people who love spring time (and therefore love) are idiots. She says “Let idiots reel giddy in bedlam spring.” And so by process of elimination it can be concluded that winter stands for order and isolation because it can’t stand for irregularities and intimacy.
In the final stanza the speaker is alone—she has her coveted isolation—but is being bombarded by the spring weather. By putting up “a barricade of barb and check” she symbolically sets up walls between herself and love. Then she justifies this action with the claim in the last three lines. She feels that no man, complete with all his irregularities, can bring the regularities she seeks for in love.
The title, "Spinster," enables us to immediately understand the inner conflict that the woman goes through. The denotation of a spinster is an unmarried woman past the common age for marrying so, Plath describes the thoughts of a woman who is skeptical of love because of its often ulterior motives and unpredictability. Thus, setting "a barricade of barb" around her heart to prevent love from reaching it.
We are able to assume this through the speaker's frequent reference to spring as "irregular," "litter," and "unbalanced." She finds that the spring atmosphere that love can be associated with is intolerable and that she prefers the winter and how it is "scrupulously austere in its order."
Plath uses very vivid diction to describe winter and its association to the girl's emotions. And in contrast , the discomfort that spring reminds the girl. Instead, by setting up barricades and keeping to herself, she can prevent the unknown from dictating her life.
My copy of Sound and Sense finally made it here from Florida! Took it long enough, jeez... Ah, but I should get around to actually opening it now and reading the poem. I'll get right on that.
Alright, I've read through it a few times now, and, I'm having some trouble finding the symbolism just reading it, so, I'm going to kind of pick it apart.
In the first stanza, the spinsters walk is "ceremonious." To me this says she does not, or at least no longer walks for the pleasure of it. She walks only because it's part of her routine. However, she is "...intolerably struck / By the bird' irregular babel." The songs of the birds in spring doesn't just annoy her; it's intolerable!
The first line of the second stanza, "By this tumult afflicted," you would think it is the cacophony of "irregular babel" assaulting her ears which causes the tumult, and while that is certainly true, I think that the second meaning of tumult also applies here; that of emotional upheaval. It seems to me that spring may hold memories of a love the spinster once had. She now finds spring ridiculous, "...a rank wilderness of fern and flower. / She judged petals in disarray, / The whole season, sloven." To her, spring is a chaotic season, overwhelmed by disorder.
In the third stanza she expressed her longing for winter, and provides a contrast to spring. I think the last two lines are the most significant in this stanza, "And heart's frosty discipline / Exact as a snowflake." Discipline can mean a lot of different things; a practice or teaching, order, calm controlled behavior, or conscious control over a lifestyle. And then there is the next line, marking the discipline as "exact as a snowflake." Just how is a snowflake exact? I associate snowflakes with uniqueness and intricacy. I feel like I'm stating the obvious when I say that these two lines suggest she has trained her heart to be cold. Oh, actually, looking at the line before, "Ice and rock, each sentiment within boarder," ice and rock are referred to as sentiments. And people often call an uncaring person cold-hearted or say they have a heart of stone. So could the sentiments of ice and rock be symbolizing the condition of her heart, not just the environment of winter?
The fourth stanza coems back to looking at where the spinster is at the moment, in spring, which is "unruly enough to pitch her five queenly wits." I thought wits was an interesting word choice here. Instead of saying "her five senses" it is her wits. I think this points further at a detachment of feeling. The word "borne" also stands out, but, I can't pin down just why it stands out. Oh well. The end of the stanza has our spinster removing herself from this vulgar environment.
Now, back at home, she has surrounded herself with "barb and check." I really liked the diction here, because at first it doesn't seem to make sense. "Barricade yourself with check? Huh?" But then, I realized, the meaning of check in this contect is probably that of checking yourself, as in, catching yourself before makign some mistake. She has not only guarded herself from the outside world with barb, she is guarding herself with "check." "Against mutinous weather" I assume is referring back to spring. The finally few lines I found the be most poignant in the poem, "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break / With curse, fist, threat." The use of "insurgent" along with cursing, threats, fists, and breaking, summon a very negative image of the world she is keeping out. And then there is the final line, "Or love, either." She denies love to free herself from the cruelty which is also in the world. I just thought that was sad.
Okay, now that I've gone through it and looked at the diction and imagery and such, I think I'm ready to take a stab at the overall symbolism. I feel like the springtime represents love, while the winter represents apathy, or else lack of love. She guards herself against the spring, and revels in the icy chill that winter brings. She is happier in her loveless world. Or at least that's the impression I got from the poem until that final line. I think that shows either the speakers pity for the spinster, or perhaps an underlying unhappiness in the spinster. I'm not too sure on that. Haha, okay, the whole thing about spring being a symbol for love and winter symbolizing lack of love, I'm thinking now that seems too obvious to be the really true symbolism. I'll go read the other blog posts now and see what others found.
Phew, alright, it looks like I missed the symbolism behind the house. Jeez, it seems so obvious...but I suppose that's my hindsight bias talking. And Hari, after reading that about the dog, I can't get that image out of my head. It makes total sense though; doesn't the stereotypical spinster own a house full of cats or otherwise a few dogs?
While appearing to simply tire of her walk with her “latest suitor,” the woman in this poem has a lot more to her. Like everyone has said, a spinster is a woman who is still unmarried, beyond the typical age of marriage. This woman becomes annoyed by her “lover’s” movements and at the same time—the season spring. A connotation associated with spring is that it is the season of love, or new beginnings for love. This woman is in the process of courting a suitor and her growing hatred for spring is a symbol for her boredom and annoyance of this suitor. She judges the man she is with and finds imperfections, so she wants out of the relationship. Her love and anticipation for winter is a symbol of her longing for the time in which she is alone and without companionship.
I think that her longing for winter and to be alone is that she is scared of a relationship. She analyzes the relationship and finds things about the guy that bother her so that she can end it. When she is alone it is like her own personal winter—cold and lonely, but also “order[ly]” and “discipline[d]” the way she likes it. She leans away from a relationship because it is in the unknown. (“How she longed for winter then!— / Scrupulously austere in its order,” (13-14).
The word “girl” in the first line implies her immaturity and experience, and the word “ceremonious” in the second line foreshadows the connection to marriage and relationships. When the speaker is describing spring, the combination of words that they choose are a mix of happy connections to spring like “Through a rank wilderness of fern and flower,” (10), and harsh judgmental observations like “She judged petals in disarray, / The whole season, sloven,” (11-12). This contradictory combination gives the poem a sense of confusion, but also puts the reader in the perspective of the ‘girl’ the speaker talks about.
Since I am not one of the first posters, I might be repeating what some of you guys have already said. But I'm just going to get all my thoughts down before I forget them :)
As I know most people picked up, the two most obvious uses of metaphors are in the employment of spring and winter. The poem begins in the springtime, when this certain girl is walking along with a potential lover. Suddenly, she's "intolerably struck / By the birds' irregular babble / And the leaves' litter" (4-5). Spring no longer seems beautiful. It's chaotic and messy and out of control. This mirrors the girl's feelings on love. She cannot stand falling in love- it takes her life out of her control and puts her happiness in the hands of another, which she distrusts. Spring is known as the season of love and she does not trust love or her suitor that she is with. She says how his gait is "uneven" and she does not want to be with him. They are walking through a "wilderness" of flowers, which is visual imagery. I pictured a dark, scary forest when I read it. The almost silly comparison reflects the girl's intense feelings of repulsion towards love.
The girl likes the season of winter. This is important because it reflects how the girl is not willing to let go and go with the flow. Control is necessary for her. Winter, with its "austere order," appeals to her because there is no giddy loss of control during that season. She doesn't want to love, so her heart is frozen, as though it were in winter.
One simile that really stood out for me was the last one at the end. She compares a "barricade of barb and wire" to the closing off of her heart. It's a very powerful image and it also describes just how serious she is. She is dead serious in not falling in love. So serious that she is building such a barrier to her heart that nothing a man tries to do with get past it.
Another thing I noticed was how auditory imagery was used to describe spring, but not winter. Spring is described with "birds' babbles," and "tumult". Visual imagery is primarily used in the stanzas relating to winter. The speaker describes winter as, "white and black / Ice and rock, each sentiment within its border".
so, I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said about the poem so far. Obviously the greatest amount of symbolism involves the comparison of the seasons to the speakers attitude toward love. Spring to her represents uncertaintly and chaos. she fels unsettled, or "unbalance" in the air and can't wait for winter. with it's " order" and "discipline" In the third stanza she goes back to describing spring as " vulgar" and "unruly". It also just occured to me that Spring is traditionally considered mating season, at least for animals, and that winter is generally the season when they hibernate. Just like she's hibernating and staying away from love. One word that really stood out to me was " barricade" used in: " such a barricade of barb and check". It's meant to describe the walls she has put up around herself. This kind of symbolism is used a lot in poetry as well as songs. I could probably name at least 10 songs that involve some sort of building or tearing down of emotional barriers, or walls. I'm sure that type of imagery was not as common back in the 1940's but I was able to relate it to it because it's so commonly used.
And in reference to Hari's assumption taht she was walking with a dog, I was thinking more that she was unfairly judging the appearance or demeanor of her suitor, and that maybe she was finally fed up with the whole dating thing, and couldn't wait for her life to get back to normal.
I've been thinking about the poem a little more, and, a few more things sort of dawned on me. Oh, before I start, sorry about the last post, I realize there are an abundance of spelling errors.
Back on track...The first thing is the use of the word "babel." I think that this could have some relation to the Tower of Babel. Like the thousands of languages of the tower, there are thousands of different songs coming from the birds. And like the workers of the tower, the spinster can't tolerate so many voices.
Second, I think that in addition to what I said about spring and winter, I think there might be another meaning. The spring represents youth, and the winter age. The spinster, most likely in the winter of her life, is repulsed by spring and the youth it represents. This interpretation is pretty closely related to my first one of spring for love and winter for unlove. Yes, I realize that "unlove" is not a real word. No, I'm not going to change it.
Okay, well, I thought that there was a third thing I thought about, but, I'm thinking and if there was a third, I can't remember it. Oh well.
I thought this poem was distinctive from the start with its title contrasting with the first line of the poem. A spinster is a woman past her prime for marrying, yet Plath describes the spinster as “girl” instead of “woman”. This could mean that the spinster is older in age, but quite naïve in other ways. From the first stanza you can immediately conclude that the girl is irritated by her surroundings as well as her situation. The diction used to describe the usual qualities of an April day has a negative connotation to them. She is at a point in her life where the most beautiful aspects of life seem irritating and aggravating.
In the second stanza, she sees faults in both her lover and the season of spring. She compares love with spring in this manner to point out her disdain with both subjects. The girl wants winter to arrive, because she wants her surroundings to match how she feels on the inside. Her heart is icy, hence her environment should follow suite. When she is criticizing people who love spring in the fourth stanza, she is also criticizing those who are in love. Love, like spring, is “vulgar” for her jaded heart. Therefore, those who love are, “idiots reel giddy” (line 23). She would rather, “withdrew neatly” than join the “idiots” in their delight with spring and love.
The house described in the last stanza of the poem is symbolic for her heart. She has, “set such a barricade of barb and check” (line 25) to prevent from getting hurt by love. No man can win her heart or break it with any types of actions, “as no mere insurgent man could hope to break with curse, fist, threat, or love, either” (line 28-30). The poem might seem like it is talking about the speaker’s dislike of a season at first, but she is actually talking about her dislike of love and the pains it brings.
Well everyone has mentioned the symbolism of the seasons, and I was wondering if the leaves and petals are things that don't last, as she knows that this suitor won't last.
The last stanza to me is like a resolution at the end of an argument. She has grown tired of always failing and never finding a lasting relationship, so she shuts people out. The figurative language here is the metaphor of erecting a wall around her home and using spite and anger to keep all men away.
Michelle: I saw the suitor as being a dog because it seemed appropriate that she should take it out for a stroll on a warm April day. I also thought that it was odd that, if indeed human, her suitor should have no influence on her actions, that he should have as minimal an impact as he has in the poem. Also, the way she described the suitor's manner of walking seemed to me quite dog-like.
I'm open to other suggestions/comments/criticisms though.
As other people have said the main symbolism in this poem is between spring and winter. Spring represents love and being spontaneous and winter represents predictability and coldness.
The first stanza is the girl's surprise that by the bird's "babel" and "littering" of the leaves. These are usually happy, soothing sounds but to the speaker they are ugly and unwanted.
In the second stanza the girl realizes that her lover's gestures are not graceful and smooth, and they disrupt the air around them. All of the nature around her is considered ugly and in disarray.
The third stanza is the girl's want for winter again. Everything is in order and exact. There is no grey area in the winter. Winter is the kind of outlook she has on love. She is cold and predictable. She doesn't give herself away to anything spontaneous or let her heart lead her.
The fourth stanza is her disgust for other girls that allow themselves to be in love. She considers them idiots and retreats to the safety of winter.
In the final stanza she is barricading her heart from love. "And no mere insurgent man could hope to break, with curse, fist, threat, or love either." No rebellious man could break through the walls of her heart with violence or love.
Spinster, by Sylvia Plath, is a magnificent poem that incorporates the use of imagery and figurative language. There are two main symbols in the poem which are winter and spring. Winter represents isolation while Spring represents love.
I like this particular stanza for it's effictiveness in describing winter:
How she longed for winter then! --
Scrupulously austere in its order
Of white and black
Ice and rock; each sentiment within border,
And heart's frosty discipline
Exact as a snowflake.
Reading this stanza that is full of figurative language gives the reader an idea of how she feels about winter. It also gives the reference to, as many others have probably noticed as well, the popular winter/christmas movie Jack Frost, where the kid's dead father becomes a snowman and stuff.
I agree with the people who commented earlier about the woman being afraid to love. It is because of the lack of control she would possess if she allowed herself to fall for it. She would rather have greater control of her life in exchange for being alone and emotionally cold, which is symbolized by her longing for winter. The descriptions from stanza II* support this and express the unsatisfactory feeling she gets from spring and the chaos that reigns. In regard to the seasons, spring symbolizes the time when love takes over people. This is what repels her desires for spring and her longing for winter (the opposite).
I liked the way the poem begins with the speaker giving a negative image of springtime. This negativity further extends into her lover, saying "her lover's gestures unbalance the air, his gait stray uneven" (not a very pretty sight on its own), off into some wild area which is quite the opposite of what someone thinks of when "springtime" is brought up. "She judged petals in disarray" may be a metaphor for her lover, or may just be the very wilderness the lover walks into. Either way it gives a sense of chaos, "The whole season sloven". The season, in this case, is her lover's love?
The second stanza is riddled with figurative language and metaphors. The speaker wished for winter's simplicity, "of black and white". Everything was do or don't do, no intermediate which became confusing. "Each sentiment within border" meaning no feelings of anything more than what can be taken lightly, i.e. no real love, "and heart's frosty discipline exact as a snowflake" gives rise to the point that the discipline was clear-cut, it was exact, no meddling in chaotic springtime bird-singing love.
"But here -- a burgeoning Unruly enough to pitch her five queenly wits Into vulgar motley" Walking along with her lover, there is something rising which the speaker is not used to, something that throws her completely off balance, something she does not like. The idiots are best suited for such disorderly acts.
"And round her house she set Such a barricade of barb and check" The speaker sets up barb and check around her heart, the heart she wishes to remain wintery, black and white, ice and rock, forever, so that nobody may take it. "Against mutinous weather" refers to those men of bedlam spring who may wish to steal the precious heart. "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break With curse, fist, threat, Or love either." She obviously is not willing to give her heart to any man, be it a man who curses, acts, threatens, or loves.
The speaker's world of black and white winter, where there is no love to create confusion, is much more comforting than the disorder of springtime love, in which leaves litter the ground and birds drone on incessantly.
Plath uses the seasons as her major symbol. The title spinster refers to a woman who has not been been married even after the age that most women maarry by. The two seasons that Plath uses are spring and winter. The girl in the beginning of the poem is disgusted by the chaotic and disheveled spring. "Through a rank wilderness or fern and flower. She judged petals in disarray, The whole season sloven." He description of spring shows us the way the way the girl regards spring with.
In the 3rd stanza the author writes "How she longed for winter then!" The girl perfers the coldness and alone nature of winter over love. Plath shows us through the symbolism, the spinster's affinity to be alone.
“During her ceremonious walk, With her latest suitor a girl realizes how dull love is. The author Sylvia Plath uses the word latest suitor making the suitor seem unimportant, as just another person the girl is forced to deal with in life. The girl is then struck with “the bird’s irregular Babel, And the leaves’ litter”, meaning springtime with which love is usually associated with. This springtime is not idealistic and romanticized though, the clutter and mess of spring has dawned on her as unaesthetic and she then notices “her lover’s gestures unbalance the air, His gait stray uneven”, in whole nothing is pretty anymore. Through this “rank wilderness” she realizes how “sloven” the idea of courtship is.
Plath then takes this picture of spring and compares it to winter. Sober winter is the opposite cold and unfeeling “of white and black” with no colors, no emotions. Each feeling is enclosed in ice or rock, hard solid material both of which are hard to penetrate, making love a near impossible idea. Through the “heart’s frosty display” no one is bothered or touched, and feelings go unperceived, the girl wishes to stay in this season where nothing stirs including her heart.
“But here—a burgeoning” this blossom of love is not quite right in the girls idea, and with this realization all her previous ideals are overthrown. With this she leaves this sentimental stage off love, mannerly and “neatly”. I think the use of the word “neatly” connects with sterility, the girl prefers the cold deadness of spinsterhood, clean and unblemished like a sterilized cloth, to a spring full of variety and emotions.
In the last stanza, the use of the word house could be symbolic of the girl establishing a home for herself, standing strong and living a life unaided by others. Around this house, which could also mean her heart, she sets a “barricade of barb and check” with barbs she will keep out any man that continues to pursue her though she is a spinster. The checks will keep the girl within the bounds that she has planned. In a way this fence is like that of a prison, keeping people out and keeping the girl within.
Well. It's been long overdue that I take my part in a Westview blog conversation. I will first do this one and move onto the Barbie Doll and Siren Song.
When I first read this poem, there were certain words that struck me. I know this is a figurative language analysis and not AP Lang analysis full of diction and imagery, but bear with me for a few minutes. In the
first stanza where this speaker gives a view of a girl and her "ceremonious April walk" and the "birds' irregular babel". The words 'ceremonious' and 'babel' really made me think about what other things they could
represent. I view a ceremonious walk to be a walk down the aisle, that she is getting ready to get married. This girl first began to realize that she was not suited for love as she was about to get married? Wow, bad
timing. Her realization of apathy towards the love emotion makes its entrance when the speaker mentions "the birds' irregular babel / And the leaves' litter." I thought her choice of diction, using babel and litter gives
reading a tone of disgust. Sylvia Plath could have used words such as sung or chirped to give the birds a more pleasant feel, however she uses the word babel. I think a few others have mentioned before me,
that babel is referring to the Tower of Babel, I thought the same thing when I first read it. The different language that the bird is using frustrates this maiden (in this moment, it seems as if she is a maiden, however
the title of the poem does make me believe that she is an old hag at this point), and makes her despise spring. Well, maybe not despise spring, but have a distaste for it. The Spring is in both the literal terms as well
as in its symbolic form. Spring is usually depicted as a time of budding flowers, and what more blooms more than the "bird and the bees?" eh eh? In my opinion, I think the girl in the poem is tired of this physical aspect
of love, because Plath just mentions the appearance of Spring with the "petals in disarray" and the season as a whole, slovenly. She personifies Spring into what I imagine to be a grossly dressed man, only enjoying
the woman for her image. Another evidence of the physical love is when Plath points out the "idiots / Reel giddy in bedlam spring" (line 22-23), if read outloud, the homonym of "real" and "reel" makes no difference.
Couples can feel really giddy to get in bed with one another, but also Spring (love supposedly) can reel in couples into bed. Maybe what the girl in this poem is trying to make a point of how so many people see that
sex is a must have in love. Which is not true, because people can love without sex right? I think so.
I like this third stanza. Winter can be symbolized as the want to be isolated, and to not want love. The contrast between "white and black" and the similarities of "ice and rock" is how Plath describes Winter to be.
There is only two ways to love, either you want it, or you don't. There isn't an inbetween, hence the black and white. To make it clear, this girl in the poem would rather have no love than be in love because a heart
that is cold and hard, I would think it would be kind of hard to get some love into. I mean, I could barely make a hole in any ice using a straw to blow into it but eventually it would go through right? But when adding rock
to the equation, this girl really does not want to be in love. She's determined to not fall in love again, "And heart's frosty discipline / Exact as a snowflake" (line 17-18) a snowflake, a full snowflake is perfect and no two
are ever alike. This gives the sense that she is perfectly happy with her coldness, and likes being alone. She is unique in her own sense and does not mind snubbing others. I think.
The last stanza makes sense, that she's built a barrier around her heart so that no love would ever get in. The house is her heart, and the "barricade of barb" is the defenses that she uses to hold off potential suitors.
The last stanza is pretty straightforward, but what I don't understand is the 5th stanza. From lines 19-21. What are the five queenly wits? What does Plath mean by vulgar motley? Maybe if I read some of my fellow
classmates posts, I will get an answer? Hopefully.
With the title, "Spinster," the reader instantly gets a picture of the inner conflict that the woman goes through. The denotation of a spinster is an unmarried woman past the common age for marrying.
Plath describes the woman as skeptical of love because of her past experiences and of loves' unknown. This woman's personal feeling towards love sets "a barricade of barb" around her heart to protect her from the uncertainty.
The speaker's frequent reference to spring as "irregular," "litter," and "unbalanced" show how love and spring are synonmus. Thus she prefers the winter and how it is "scrupulously austere in its order."
Plath uses very vivid diction to describe winter and its association to the girl's emotions. In contrast however, spring brings the girl uneasiness.
She copes with this feeling by setting up barricades and keeping to herself. Through this she can prevent the unpredictability of love from destroying her life.
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