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The text of this poem could not be published because of Copyright laws.
Sylvia Plath
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Friday, January 03, 2003 |
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Read poems about / on: girl, silver, music, rose, hair, green, light
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Comments about this poem (Cinderella
by
Sylvia Plath
) |
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Mersedeh Cohen (9/13/2008 3:47:00 PM)
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This poem displays a conflict between despair and hope. Despair is shown whens he clings to the Prince at the tick of the clock and her hope is when the prince leans into her. Reel is a verb that means wing on thread, yard etc. so the tilted violin is spanning the whole party and the glass palace with its music. Its capturing them with its yarns and threads, spinning around them hence the word spun.
And theres this whole issue with wine and flagon. The people are glide into the light like wine. They contamine the pureness with their own stinge. I wonder why the candles had to be of roses, why her shoes had to be red, and why wine? All of these images are suggestive of the color red which in some cultures represents life but in some respects its also death as in blood. So her only hope is also sprung from her only despair.
Also everyone else is occupied with their flagons of wine, while the couples are being reflected upon these bottles. It’s a cocktail party. This poem is a modern version of Cinderella.
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Brian Edwards (5/7/2008 10:50:00 PM)
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When reading Plath's work, it's important to remember that not only was she an incredibly gifted writer with a natural feel for the language, she was also fiercely intelligent and calculated. Layers of meaning are rarely unintentional in her poems. It's about Cinderella and it's about the poet. It's about the loss of the moment and it's about the loss of youth (a recurring theme in her work, dealt with more saliently in 'Mirror') . Knowing as much as we do about her tragic life and death, there is an unfortunate tendency to seek autobiography in all of Plath's work. Viewing her oeuvre through such a narrow lens only serves to diminish her not inconsiderable poetic powers.
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Linda Jacobs (1/27/2008 11:00:00 PM)
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I have an image of this couple, the man is very dear and special to the girl, as he is a prince to her. Like Cinderella’s prince, he is becoming more intimate as he dances with his young companion I.e. girl in scarlet heels. Here scarlet heels to me means sexy and clandestine. An affair going on perhaps? She responds I.e. green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan of silver*. As one musical piece ends, which is a rondo (recurring theme, contrasting episodes) and a different tempo begins I.e. now reels begin on tilted violins - this also shifts to a panoramic view of this dance and where it is and who is there. But then, this girl is not part of this crowd, . And she knows before anyone else, especially her prince, that this euphoric moment with him will end. And she doesn’t want that, as she clings to him. Like Cinderella knew she had to get out of there before midnight or else. She hears the clock ticking, the caustic ticking of the clock. Extreme imagery from intimate, magical to the end, emptiness. Caustic is a harsh word. And the feeling is felt. And like Cinderella who loses all her charms at midnight, the same will happen to this girl in the scarlet heels.
*hair flairing in a fan of silver. I was wondering if this 'girl' is not a girl at all, but an older woman, lost in a dreamy moment with her lover, but knowing that it will soon be over and reality will surface and her agedness will be felt.
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Shane Clawson (12/3/2007 10:29:00 AM)
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I don't know what became of Plath but her skill in the writing has evolved even after her suicide in '63. I am reading The Bell Jar and frankly I don't think she felt like she ever belonged. I could be wrong but this girl has the same thoughts and symptoms I felt when i was depressed. This poem is explaining how her love life was flowing and the down fall of sitting in her dorm or in her room questioning her purpose in life. If only she had that physcological push into the right direction then she would maybe be with us or have past awya from natural causes rather than a tragec susicide. Even though she was messed up in the head, I still find myself loving her story and life, similar to the celebs of our time. :)
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Misty Major (10/12/2007 3:46:00 PM)
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I won't claim to know everything about Plath, but I have spent a lot of time studying her work... This poem, in my own opinion, seems to suggest that she does indeed fear something- but it isn't the loss of youth. Her youth was lost when her father died when she was eight years old. It seems as though she (our speaker) fears the consequences of 'overstaying her welcome'. The poem, most likely is about Plath herself in a deeper meaning. Plath and Sexton together really began to develop the 'confessional' style of writing... The poem is infact about her.
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Moz B (9/25/2007 6:05:00 PM)
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OK, either I or the other comment-writers are missing something here... taking a wild stab-in-the-dark guess, I'm thinking this might be about Cinderella? The poor girl who goes to a ball in a magic ballgown, a complete stranger to everyone there, catches the eyes of all the guests, dances with the prince and then has to flee at midnight before the magic spell breaks? You could add another layer of meaning by seeing Plath as Cinderella, but that would be conjecture. It seems to me that the poem is full of long vowel sounds (long is and as) that suggest gliding, crashing to a halt with the short vowel sounds of the last few words, but maybe I'm imagining that.
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Brian Dorn (7/21/2006 10:56:00 PM)
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Enamored by such a wonderful and perfect moment that she never wants it to end. If only it could last forever...
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Els Verheirstraeten (5/8/2006 2:23:00 PM)
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The thing she s losing is her youth I think. Because the ticking of the clock implies that time is ticking away, just like her youth is.
Anne Sexton also wrote a poems about fairy-tale characters in which she implies that the ticking of the clock is fairy tales indicates that the characters are afraid to grow old and ugly. Anne has for example great sympathy for the bad witch in snow white who wants to be beautiful forever but sees that snow white is catching up with her. She also implies in that poem that one day Snow white also will lose her beauty and youth.
Hence the hasutic ticking of the clock.
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Perfection Is Flawed (2/3/2006 12:54:00 AM)
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I think that perhaps, she was thinking about losing something dear to her.
(Until near twelve the strange girl all at once
Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince)
She was probably trying to cling onto it.
(As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.)
She can feel herself losing it, slowly, slowly but surely.
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