Edge (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sylvia Plath
- First Published: 1965
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Children, Suicide, Virginity or virgins, Flowers, Women, Death or dying, Life and death, Moon or moons, Perfectionism
“Edge” is dated February 5, 1963; a week after it was written, the poet was dead. It is possible to consider the poem a suicide note. The often-anthologized poem is not only a statement that the writer will commit suicide; it also contains subtle suggestions about the relationship between art and life and death.
“Edge” is a free-verse poem that maintains a formal appearance through its use of twenty paired lines. “The woman is perfected,” begins its description of the dead woman. The reader is reminded of the “perfection” in the early poem “Medallion,” in...
[The entire page is 558 words long]
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