“The Arrival of the Bee Box” by Sylvia Plath - Weebly.doc

“The Arrival of the Bee Box” by Sylvia Plath Although this is a very complex poem, it has a simple origin. Plath and her husband at the time, Ted Hughes, had decided to take up bee-keeping as part of a self-sufficiency drive. As with all of Plath’s poetry, this poem is notable as much for what it says about Plath’s state of mind, as it is for what it says about bee-keeping. Each Plath poem is a type of mindscape, that is, each poem gives us a picture into her state of mind at a particular point in time. In this poem, Plath explores the complex feelings of power and powerlessness associated with bee-keeping. Her anxiety and indecisiveness seem to be symptomatic of her depression at the time. The poem can be read on two different levels, the literal and the metaphorical. In the literal reading, Plath is merely concerned and anxious about how to deal with a real bee hive. The issues of power and powerlessness, as well as her anxiety and her depressed state of mind, are still valid. However, it is also possible that Plath intended that the poem would be enjoyed on a metaphorical level. The box of bees comes to symbolise her mind, and the terrifyingly dark thoughts that seem to have taken hold of it. Again, issues such as power and powerlessness as well as her anxiety still hold true, but they now take on new meanings. Instead of simply dealing with a box, she is grappling with her own mental health issues. Both the surreal and disturbing imagery and one or two lines in particular seem to suggest that Plath was inviting a metaphorical reading of the poem. The Poem I ordered this, clean wood box?Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.?I would say it was the coffin of a midget?Or a square baby?Were there not such a din in it.?The box is locked, it is dangerous.?I have to live with it overnight?And I cant keep away from it.?There are no windows, so I cant see what is in there.?There is only a little grid, no exit.?I put my eye to the grid.?It is dark,