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Genius Annotation

‘Gulliver’ is Plath’s commentary on Jonathon Swift’s satirical novel *Gulliver’s Travels', published in 1726. Swift’s invented character was a seafaring doctor who travelled the world. The countries that Gulliver visited were fantasy lands with fantasy populations. By setting his story outside England, this gave Swift latitude to satirise the politicians of his day, notably the Whig Government which he despised. However, the fantastic nature of the stories also enable them to work well on an uncomplicated basis as children’s fiction.

Plath’s poem interprets Gulliver’s visit to Lilliput, which is populated by minute people. To the Lilliputians Gulliver is a giant. Though she addresses him as ‘you’, in the second person, she appears to identify with him. She certainly felt pinned down, like Gulliver, by the ‘Lilliputians’ around her who, with their limited expectations of women, restricted her life and — as she seems at times to believe — resented her.

An alternative interpretation, however, is that Gulliver is Ted Hughes, who felt restricted by the poetry establishment and the expectations of those who attended literary salons.

Structure
Plath uses her characteristic structure of three line stanzas, known as tercets, of which there are eight. The lines are of irregular length, but mostly short and concise.

Language and Imagery
Plath uses her usual precise, dense imagery. She weaves related ideas through the poem; for example the reference to the sky starts in stanza one, and is picked up again in stanzas four and eight. She also includes an unexpected reference to the Renaissance painter Crivelli and an allusion to a fairy story about ‘seven league boots’. Plath imagery is inventive and surprising.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

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