Words
by Sylvia Plath
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See Also
- Sylvia Plath (Critical Survey of Poetry: American Poets)
- Sylvia Plath (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- Sylvia Plath (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
- Sylvia Plath (Identities & Issues in Literature)
- Sylvia Plath (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
- Sylvia Plath (Women's Issues (Ready Reference series))
At a glance:
- Author: Sylvia Plath
- First Published: 1965
- Type of Poem: Meditation
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Language or languages, Poetry or poets, Horses, Water, Rocks, Wood
The Poem
“Words” is a short poem in four stanzas of five lines each. It is written in an open form with irregular meter and only occasional rhyme. Because the poem is written entirely in metaphor, the title serves as an important clue to meaning. For the reader, the knowledge that the poem is about “words” (and by inference, poetry) becomes a fixed star in the journey through the poem’s metaphoric landscape.
Because the landscape of “Words” is mental rather than physical, its effect on the reader can be disorienting. There is no hand on the axe that strikes,...
(The entire page is 1779 words.)
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