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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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An exercise in prosody that explains meter, syntax, and word choice in great detail and what effect these things have on the poem.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Switzerland – a very mountainous place:
This line starts with a trochee which lends it power. It also has five syllables and since it mirrors the wording of “one is of the Sea” it counteracts the precedence one would normally give to the voice of the sea for coming first in the poem.
The two voices are balanced via the syntax, meter, and form in the text.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
“Poppies in October” has been called “a faultless poem” by famed poetry critic Helen Vendler. The poem has always been well-received by critics but it is less popular with casual readers and often overlooked among the late masterpieces that formed her collection Ariel.
The title “Poppies in October” raises the question; is the speaker referring to flowers blooming in mid-autumn, not the time of year for poppies, or is she referring to the artificial poppies worn and displayed in Britain at the approach of “Remembrance Day” on November 11th? This initially commemorated the soldiers who died in World War I, but subsequently honours all soldiers who have died since then. Is Plath identifying with or mourning fallen soldiers? Note that Plath lived in England when this poem was written.
The other possibility, that the speaker is referring to real poppies, cut and displayed, is highly unlikely. Poppies are unsuitable for sale as they don’t keep, and are never displayed on flower stalls. If they are growing in a field then why is the poem so clearly set in a city? Therefore, this seems to be an imaginary, fantasy scenario. So even the very title of the poem is ambiguous.
The title may also relate to the experience of taking opiates (like opium, morphine or codeine), which are made from poppies, during a day in October and the resulting impressions. The mood of the poem seems to be joyful and exalting (“a love gift”, “igniting” and “O my God”).
Structure
It is uncharacteristically short for a Sylvia Plath poem, but typically she uses a structure that suits her terse, concise style; four stanzas of three lines each, with condensed, compressed short lines.
Language and Imagery
Each line establishes an idea conveyed through imagery that is surprising, unexpected and complex. Though short, Plath’s poem is no easier to interpret than her longer compositions. As usual, there are multiple possibilities. So, for example, the woman in the ambulance in stanza 1 may represent the poet, may be a metaphor for all women who suffer. We don’t know why this metaphor isn’t extended in the way Plath usually weaves images throughout her poems. As always, Plath’s work is intriguing and unique.
See Sylvia Plath: A Critical Study, Time Kendall, Faber and Faber
