The Never Ending Death
The perception and realities relating with death and suicide are not such an easy thing to explain or even discuss by most people. It is an issue that people discuss in a dark and gloomy room by hushing with a very small voice. Suicide and death are being people’s fear and sometimes the deepest fascination as well. Sylvia Plath is considered as one of the most emotionally thoughtful and fascinating American poets. She had so many magnificent works including “Lady Lazarus”. While attempting to read “Lady Lazarus” poem for the first, the reader would speculate that the poem is mainly about suicide and things related to it. However, it is unexpected because the poem has more gloomy and somber sense. Sylvia Plath write the poem word by word using meaningful diction elaborated with dark imagery and allusion to the greatest historical genocide in the world. In the first stanza of “Lady Lazarus”, Plath wants the reader to focus on what “it” could be. The word “it” occurs two times in the first stanza and also even more and more in the rest of the poem. “I have done it again, one year in every ten, I manage it”. She makes her act clearer in the line 45. “I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. ” Plath implies that she has been attempting suicide in any condition of her life.
Instead of being dull and saying, “I have been trying suicide more and more,” she uses “it” to create a more mysterious and shocking effect. There are many words that describe actions when the speaker is attempting suicide. For instance, “annihilate” (24), “The peanut-crunching crowd” and “Shove in to see” (26-27), and “That knocks me out” (56) shows negative response towards suicide and death. Annihilate means to destroy which gives a negative meaning towards the poem’s tone. The peanut crunching crowd is an American slang which mean the restraint of others towards the speaker’s life in this poem. Then, the last example represents the speaker’s feeling towards his or her life. Besides that, Plath also used some words associated with death, such as “vanish”, “grave cave”, and “hell”. Plath uses symbolism and dark imagery to describe her fascination with suicide that has already been the meaning of her life and also liability of constantly being brought back to life again and again after attempting “it” so many times. Throughout the poem, many holocaust scenario was used by Plath to describe and elaborate the poem.
For instance, in the line 65 until 68, “So, so, Herr Doktor. / So, Herr Enemy. / I am your opus, I am your valuable”. This line is most powerful because of the word Herr Doktor. It is a German word which means Mr. Doctor who continues to bring her life back and constantly suffer her and her feeling towards the doctor’s help. Plath even elaborates her suffers as a devil. In the line 80 until 83, she says, “Herr God, Herr Lucifer / Beware / Beware”. She chooses to refer the doctor as the devil because of the impact of his existence. The symbolism in this poem is not merely about holocaust and Nazi, but it also has a reference to the bible story. Lady Lazarus has a relation with the story of Lady Lazarus in bible. The doctor that bring the speaker’s life back again and again has a relation with Gospel of John. Nonetheless, the resurrection of Lady Lazarus was only to present that Jesus had a power to bring Lazarus back to life as with the doctor that continuously bring the speaker back to life.
It is a very powerful poem because it has strong sentimental and touching meaning behind it yet the author discover a way to thrust fun at the coincidences of the situation. The diction, imagery, and symbolism that are used throughout the poem with a strong and deep word explain the deeper meaning of her poem. She draws a clear and vivid picture in the poem. It makes the reader understand why the speaker is captivated with suicide and why she makes it meaningful in her life. Although this might be an opinion when it comes to why she wrote a very dark poem with a dark meaning, one thing is clear and simple. Depression is everyone’s force if it does not manage well early on.
