Takeaki Igarashi

Rain or Shine, Another Day is Another Day

Sylvia Plath’s life is portrayed as a very sad life, with many struggles and pains throughout her marriage. She strongly shows this in all of her poems with many different allusions and uses of imagery, with the bitter atmosphere in some poems, yet kind and gentle moods in others. The best examples of these moods are shown through the season’s winter and spring. The use of the seasons winter and spring are used to convey the feelings of bitterness and renewal through the two poems, “Two Sisters of Persephone”, and “Black Rook in Rainy Weather”.

When thinking of the season of spring, what usually comes to mind may be happy, peaceful thoughts, images of flowers and gentle breezes, yet that is not the case in both “Two sisters of Persephone”, and “Black Rook in Rainy Weather”. In the poems, Plath describes the season of spring in a sense of pain and violence, especially in “Two Sisters of Persephone”, as the allusion to the Greek goddess of spring is used, She is separated into two different people, one who is “Lulled/Near a bed of poppies,/ Sees how their red silk flare/ of pedaled blood/ Burns open to the sun’s blade.” (15, 16, 17, 18, 19), showing the bitterness towards life, in the setting of what is supposed to be the joyful season of spring. In “Black Rook in Rainy Weather”’ spring is viewed as a distant, almost unreachable, “Miracle” (36), described as “Spasmodic/ Tricks of radiance” (37, 38). In the season of winter as well, there are deep meanings in the poems as well.

In the season of winter, most people may depict the season as a gloomy one, sad and depressing, the darkest season of them all, with their dark clouds looking over us, the never-ending cold days, and sometimes, the abusive rain. Plath shows the concept very well in “Black Rook in Rainy Weather”. The words used to describe the season is not directly told to us, but simply shown through her use of imagery and bitter words. “Stiff twig” (1), “wet black rook” (2), “desultory “(8), and “season/Of fatigue” (33,34). The black rook is appealed to the reader as a kind of symbol, showing depression and bitterness, giving the reader even more of a sense of winter time. In “Two Sister of Persephone”, the mood of the poem greatly shows the bitterness and depression as the season is described as a “barren enterprise” (10), and the negative words used in the poem such as “bitter” and “sallow” (24, 25) give more atmosphere. In both of the seasons however, they may also have different meaning in the poems as well.

In both the season of winter and spring, though they both had contradicting images, they both have literal meanings as well. For the season of spring in “Sisters of Persephone”, the season is also described as “Hearing ticks blown gold/ Like pollen on bright air.” (14, 15), allowing us to imagine a nice, joyous place. The same quote used in “Black Rook in Rainy Weather”, the same quote used earlier to show the bitterness of spring can also be interpreted as a quote showing happiness and rejuvenation, taking into account the words that are used to describe the season, such as “angel” (40), “Tricks of radiance” (38), and “Miracles” (39). For the concept of winter as well, the season may be taken into account as a good season as well. Examples include when the black rook is shown to be a symbol of rejuvenation it the depressing atmosphere as it “can so shine/ As to seize my senses, haul/ My eyelids up, and grant/ A brief respite from fear” (28, 29, 30, 31), which was briskly unexpected. These different insights on the seasons shows the variety of Plath’s writing, and the importance of the seasons within the two poems.

The season’s spring and winter add a more powerful image within the reader, and is used to tie different aspects into the poem as well. Plath's use of allusions to seasons also provides more insight into the poems. The importance of the seasons show how much the two poems are affected, and give a more powerful message to the reader.

Word Count: 691