poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

This poem has a stanza that particularily speaks to me, where SP talks about the wonderful feeling of peace that she speculates is what the dead must feel. She is obviously envious of the finality of that feeling as opposed to the interruption she is experiencing from the tulips. I have had a few operations myself and I know the out of body peaceful feeling that injected pain killers will give you in a hospital bed! It is sad however that SP had this great yearning for peace that culminated in her taking her own life. If I was her family I would take some solace from her poetry as it does offer some explanation as to why she committed suicide.

Postmodern poetry in general from the class im and and what iive read is mostly made up of rich people whith too much time on their hands. Most of the people who like it are also rich wanna be scholars who also have too much time on their hands. If i had all day to look at this im sure i would find some meaning of some sort, but i honestly dont care. Basically its just a cryptic way of complaining to your other elitest postmodern friends. Im gonna go read some Dr. Suess and relax.

In response to John's comment; firstly I don't see how 'Tulips' is a postmodernist poem. Secondly, I agree with an earlier comment that Plath was at least partially using her poetry as a form of therapy, not trying to be 'elitist'. Finally, of course there are snobbish poetry writers and critics but that doesn't mean everyone who tries to appreciate poetry is 'elitist'.

I find many of Plath's poems quite difficult but I am determined to keep trying to understand them. 'Tulips' is one which I have connected with much better and I appreciate the useful and very interesting comments posted on this site.

He doesn't understand why someone would ever want to use more than 1% of their brain and is intimidated by such people so he labels them "rich wanna-be scholars." He's right about one thing, though, they are rich. Their minds are rich because they develop them. Don't try to understand us or the pleasure we get from thinking and learning, John. Nobody asked you to. Just go back to your Dr. Seuss.

I agree with Ivor et. al. This poem is extremely over-rated and not nearly up to par with most of Plath's other work. Overall it is very rambling and excessive, and there is no real insight into anything or good metaphors, etc. Even most of Plaths' journal entries are more poetic than this. Again, I admire her for experimenting with different writing styles, but this one is very common and didn't work.

To John, Ivor, the lot of you - poetry is personal. The very best poems in the English language have been dragged up from the depths of the writer and thrown into the world. It's both therapeutic for the writer, and CAN be therapeutic for the reader if they take the time to read it thoroughly. You both, I'm sure, have songs or books or films that speak to you personally, that remind you of who you are. If you don't, i'm deeply sorry for you. In the meantime, don't bash a poem simply for the hell of it. If you don't have the time to "sit around and stare at this stuff all day", it amazes me that you have the time to sit at your computer surfing through sites that you obviously care nothing for and leaving comments simply to bash something you don't identify with.

And as for the comment immediately preceding my own, I disagree. Tulips is one of, if not the favorite poem of mine from Plath, and it is because of the vividness of her images, her comparisons, and her language. She loosens her language out of it's usual tight control and allows it to flow, one image after the other. She pours so much of herself, both unfettered and free of historical, classical references, into this piece of poetry.

So be sensitive to it, all of you. Critiqueing on the basis of her work is one thing. Bashing is quite another. If your intention was to provoke a reaction, congratulations. I hope comments like John's and Ivor's will always provoke a reaction. Take a little time out of your blank-stare-net-surfing to truly explore poetry before you drop comments that do nothing but draw attention to yourselves. Devote yourselves to something more worthwhile both to you, and to the rest of us. If you work, which was implied, and claim to be too busy earning a living to read poetry, then what are you DOING here? Everyone has spare time, and if they don't they certainly don't waste precious moments of their day with something like what you wrote.

It is all about Janet's comment - the personal connection. It is, as far as I'm concerned, why poetry exists - why it is there for us to read. It opens us. We identify with it, and if we don't that's ok too. As long as we truly read it, before we lob opinions into the air that have no basis in a love for anything, only a snobbish (yes, i'm using your word) disregard for the sensitivity of someone who took the time to write down how she experiences the world.

Openness is the hallmark of intelligence. The more open you keep yourself to people, places, writing, experiences, and life, the more they begin to effect you. Otherwise, why are we even here?

In response to previous commentors who believe that "Tulips" is below par for Plath and is one of the lesser of her works, there is an explanation for why you may think this. "Tulips" is significant from the rest of Plath's poetry in the way that she wrote it. Within 10 days of having an appendectomy and staying in the hosiptal, Plath wrote this piece. Her husband, Hughes, believed that this poem was her first to ever be written spontenously and first written where Plath didn't use her thesaurus as in all of her other works. This may explain it's straightforward nature and the difference in structure from her other works. At first, the poet wished to keep this poem a secret from practically everyone and didn't share it. In my own opinion, I believe that this makes "Tulips" all the more interesting because it was written so organically and because it more clearly represents Plath's true emotions. I'm not trying to change anyone's outlook on the poem, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I do think that some are merely being ignorant out of a failure to really study the work. I guess it is your loss then.

anyone who thinks this poem is simply about flowers should give up on reading poetry and revert back to children's stories. those can have meanings too, of course, but someone with a child's understanding of writing doesnt need to know that. this poem is in most anthologies of modern poetry, so i think we can all agree that there's more to it than "a woman who doesnt like flowers."

plath did not have a miscarage, this poem (along with "in plaster") are about being physically inhabited by an energy that almost splits off from a body, and cannot be coaxed back in. this poem was written about her feelings of motherhood, and the changes of her body.

for all the comments that have been made about this poem, ive realized that people either love this poem or completely abhore it. comments made in favor of the poem seem to contain alot more detail and quite simply better use of the good old thesaurus. why is that? Is it because this poem is so futile and worhtless that you must find meaning to it? There is nothing simpler than making a worthless piece of writing seem as though shakespeare has wrote. for all you people who love this poem, deep down in my heart i truly feel sympathy for your pitiful minds (this is only reffering to comments i have read). you glorify a plath as though she's the next shakespeare and pretend that her writing has deep meaning behind it when she does not even see deep meaning in life. is it not true that she has attempted to commit suicide more than once? "doing things with their hands, one just hte same as another, So it is impossible to tell how many there are." You call that poetry? unfortunatley, my 9 year old nephew could have written better. even then i think you guys would still be able to praise my 9 year old nephew and pretend that hes the next DaVinci. You people see deep meaning behind the shallowest ideas becuase it makes you feel good about your self. You feel as though you have unconvered a lost artifact when you find meaning that does not exist. quit trying to find deep meaning and think from a different perspective, because quite frankly, sometime there just is NO meaning.

I'm not really big on poetry but I found that I could definitely relate to this poem and I guess that's what poetry is all about really. I'm sure we've all had days where we wish we could just escape from it all for a while.

I was hoping someone could maybe recommend some other good poets. I really enjoyed reading this poem and would like to try some more. I don't really know where to start though.