Andrew K. Freiwald

“Daylong a duet of shade and Light”: Seasonal Imagery in Plath’s Poetry
The use of imagery in literary pieces is an integral component in helping the reader to further understand the underlying themes and ideas which the author is trying to convey. Sylvia Plath utilizes imagery in her poems in order to immerse the reader into her ideas and complex emotional feelings which she has intricately woven into the fabric of her literary work. In “Two Sisters of Persephone,” and “Spinster,” Plath uses the images of spring and winter to convey to the reader the themes of rejuvenation and bitterness. She does not use one specific image to represent these themes, but both themes are conveyed through both of the images.
In “Two Sisters of Persephone,” Plath is alluding to Persephone, the Greek Goddess of Harvest, who in Greek mythology, was the reason why there were changes in the seasons. Through this allusion, Plath contrasts two seemingly different girls by saying, “Two girls there are: within the house one sits; the other, without. Daylong a duet of shade and light..” (Perephone 1). Plath describes one of the girls in a dark, mysterious way in reference to winter, by using images such as “dark,” “barren,” and “root-pale” to symbolize the bitterness and “scrupulous [austerity]” of her character. In contrast, Plath describes the other girl in a bright, happy tone in reference to spring and says, “Bronzed as earth, the second lies, hearing ticks blown gold like pollen on bright air” (13). Plath utilizes the bright images of spring to symbolize the pure, untainted nature of the girl, and dark images of winter to symbolize the bitter solemnity of the other girl. The contrast of character between the two girls is important in helping the reader to distinguish the seemingly different emotional aspects of each girl.
In “Spinster,” Plath describes a girl who by her own choice decides not to marry and becomes a spinster. It starts out on a spring day as the girl and her potential marriage partner go out and take a walk. Then, all of a sudden she looks around her and decides that she does not like the spring weather, which can be seen when she says, “She found herself, of a sudden, intolerably struck by the bird’s irregular babel and the leaves litter.” The girl realizes that she could not share her life with a man since it would result in her losing control of her strictly ordered life as a single person, and the spring represents the blossoming of the chaos and disarray of love that she wants to avoid. The girl does not want to take the chance of love because she does not want the disorder to ruin her simple lifestyle. Plath put a negative tone on the imagery of spring and says, “Treason not to be borne; let idiots reel giddy in bedlam spring.” The girl instead longs for it to be winter. The winter represents the straightforward and peaceful way of life that the girl strives to maintain, and says, “How she longed for winter then! Scrupulously austere in its order of white and black, ice and rock”(Spinster 13). The girl did not want to lose her ordered, simple life as a single person to the uncertainty of marriage.
In Spinster, Plath successfully uses the season of winter to show the girls emotional rejuvenation and spring to represent the bitterness and chaos of love that she wants to avoid, which is contrary to popular belief because spring is usually associated with rebirth and winter is usually associated with bitterness, as it is in “Two Sisters of Persephone.”


Word Count: 618