Death and Resurrection

            Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Lady Lazarus” is such a dark poem! Although I did initially think it would be a little dark because of the name Lazarus in the title. It made me think of the man in the bible who was brought back to life. While I don’t know the complete story of Lazarus’ resurrection, I felt that it was going to be some sort of theme of the poem.

            I think what really made me associate Lazarus from the bible to this poem is when Plauth compares herself to a cat. “And like the cat I have nine times to die,” implying that she has the ability to live multiple lives (“Lady” 21). She also states in the poem that she has already used some of her lives. “The first time it happened I was ten. / It was an accident.” (“Lady” 35-36).  One of the things I found to be dark in this poem are the verses following: “The second time I meant / To last it out and not come back at all.” (“Lady” 37-38).

            To me this tells me that Plauth wanted to die. I’m getting that she tried to commit suicide, but her attempt didn’t work. As she says, “They had to call and call / And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.” (“Lady” 41-42). Picking off worms makes me think that she was already in the ground and “resting”. This rest was interrupted and I feel like she was pulled out from a place of comfort. While I do feel like her plans were interrupted I don’t think that it fazed her at all. I think she planned to try to attempt suicide again in the future. She continues to say, “Dying / Is an art, like everything else, / I do it exceptionally well.” (“Lady” 44-46).

            I’m a little confused about the end of the poem though. For the most part I get death, suicide (and an eerie comfort from that), but at the end I feel like it suddenly switches to resurrection. “Beware / Beware. / Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air.” (“Lady” 80-84). Woah. Am I the only one that though this was a bold finish to this poem? It kind of made me think of Wicked when Elphaba is warning the people of what is to come if they get in her way. It feels like a threat. Red is hot, dangerous, angry, and she consumes man! Someone please help me with that last strophe, because wow I don't know how to approach it. It is such a strong statement.

            While this poem was a little dark I enjoyed Plath’s writing. I’m taking a lyrical French poetry class so it was interesting seeing her writing style since the format is different than most I’ve read (we mostly read rondeaux, and sonnets). It was also just nice to read poetry written by a women since only two of the poets we’ve this semester were women. What’s up with that? That’s an entirely different subject though…