poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

the poem itself appears to appeal to several thematic views: blatantly, i suppose, one could view this work as a poem about depression itself, of feeling suicidal. however, i think that it goes far beyond the obvious...it appears to me to deal with, in large part, inner death and rebirth, the externalization of internal conflict-the death of the soul, the death of the internal, and arising from that only to perpetuate the cycle. the insinuations of the phoenix certainly back this point.

this poem is about a women who is dpressed because she is getting older. the author has a hard time copeing with elder years. she talks about the truth of the mirror, how it never tells lies and how it reflects eactly how things are. she then tells how she tries to get rid of her "oldness" but everyday when she looks at her reflection in the lake she sees this old woman. also, the author tried to commit suicide by drowning herself. this poem is an expression of how she was feeling at the time.

was anyone negatively effected by this poem? did anyone feel like it made them depressed? or did they know anyone who it nagatively effected? i need your comments to help me write a paper...i understand that these poems are well written...but did they made you feel badly about yourself...please add comments

when slyvia is talking about rising from the ashes etc. in lady lazarus it shows, to me, her concern with the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Imagery of the mythological pheonix bird is conjured within this poem. it is known that she saw death as a way to be reborn and 'rise up'. what does everyone else think of sylvia's connection with the pheonix?

Don't pick apart the meaning. The poem may just be what it appears to be. No metaphors, just what it is... I know whenever I write a piece of poetry, everyone will question the theme, the moral, the metaphors. And a lot of the time, I won't have an answer. Perhaps there are none. Could it be possible Sylvia is simply expressing her feelings? Or random observations? Either way, the result is haunting. Not so much, however, when people seem intent on shredding the lines, squeezing every last drop of meaning they can from it. Who is to say that she is referencing a phoenix? It could be that she is talking about herself as rising- as herself. It seems very clear that Sylvia is citing her 'suicides,' but can we ever know for sure? After all, art does not come from us. It comes through us, from the universe. Anyone who thoroughly understands every facet of the world as we know it, raise your hand. Let Sylvia's poor poem rest, and simply read it. I'm not preventing anyone from inferring motives in the poem, but next time, just read it and FEEL. Feel it. It speaks clearly enough for anyone who has the time to listen appropriately.

I disagree completely! Poems are meant to be analyzed. If you can read something and "feel", that's only one part. The feelings that the reader attaches to it (possibly through analysis) are what make it important to the individual. Also, Sylvia tried her entire life to leave a mark on the poetic world, and if you stop analyzing it and trying to understand it (poems mean different things to different people), then the poems disappear.

As for the "rising" - look at the title. Lazarus = "the person who Jesus raised from the dead after four days in the tomb; this miracle caused the enemies of Jesus to begin the plan to put him to death". From that, you can decide your own meanings.

In reading the comments posted about Lady Lazurus and other poems by Plath, I was bother greatly by some postings that simply label her as "psycho". This is sadly one of her many last poems that we may never know the complete meaning of but by reading and understanding the complete works of Plath I think its posible to get a clue on some of the themes she liked to write about. Death, guilt, pain, family, and a need to find sincere love all find themselves in a unique voice in her works. Furthermore, I would like to recommend to anyone interested in Plath to read Karen Kukil's work on Plath entitled - "The Complete Works of Sylvia Plath". This book, a collection of all available personal journal entries, shows us a woman of great complexity and talent - her prose writing on nature, college, and love are beautifully written. Finally, on a personal note I would like to add that Plath has been THE major influence in my attempts to become a writer. I can still remember to this day the first time I ever came across any of her works - it was this one and it changed the way I looked at the world forever.

I think Sylvia meant for this poem to be painful and sad because her condition was painful and sad, and it's probably natural to cringe at her spooky words out of empathy, which was probably the intention. To me the poem seems to be a plea for attention, and the poem has definitely received that, if not for Sylvia's genius, at least because she was so troubled.

I think sylvia is a great writer and her writing always has a deeper meaning then what is forst shown in her poetry! but i agree with other people she is kinda psycho

You can't just read a poem without looking into it, you have to analyse a poem to be able to understand how the writer feels and to understand the actual poem otherwise its pointless!