poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

My teacher almost blushed when she tried to explein the phrase "worm-husbended." I though it was rather interesting - that is, the approach the author took to illustrate Persephone's unwillingness to sleep with Hades.

"worm-husbanded" is referring to how she will die a virgin, her only companionship being the worms that will eat her corpse. Plath is denouncing the structure of a mechanical life as compared to the whimsy of a free life.

i think that this could be taken either way, depending how you look at it.. from the greek myth if you are comparing the girl inside with persephone in hades, then she does refuse to sleep with him. though on the other hand if you are talking about the girls as girls, then it would mean she would die a virgin without being married and gets eaten by worms. I believe it is really the context that you take it in.