How many people do you know are the people they portray themselves to be? There are people in this world who may seem to be the most loving, caring, intelligant people you know, but when the "darkness" approaches all of that changes, and they become an entirely different person.
In Slyvia Plaths poem "Mad Girls Love Song" The speaker is a person of double personalities.
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
The first stanza, as shown before, represents the hope that the speaker still has in her life, the darkness still takes over her and her crazy personality still comes out, but the second line that she can still wake up and be sane, normal person that she is, at least the way she is in front of other people. Although, her body has been taken over by this darkness, she still has connection to her mind. The enclosed "I think i made you up inside my head" are her thoughts, she does not know whether or not she is dreaming, or her actions are for real.
As soon as the darkness sets in, everything else around her disappears. The importance of the country, society, self worth all dissapear. In the third line of the second stanza, there is no longer a semi-colon after "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead." Instead the lines just ends, which means the hope is gone, and her fate is decided by the new carless personality that has taken over. The darkness is described as "arbitrary" and it causes her to be "moon-struck", this is the power that is has, it can hit her at any moment, and when it does, it causes her to completely change her ways. It has been said that strange things happen when the full moon comes up, and strange things are happening to this girl when the "darkness" arrives.
Although this may seem like an unfortunate happening in ones life, the speaker has an attraction to the darkness. It's a wildness that she craves, because her life has been nowhere near that exciting. The poem also represents a little of rebellion. She awaits the arrival of the darkness, craving that excitment.
"I Should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"
The last stanza represents the regret that the speaker has for allowing the darkness to completely take her over. she says that she should have instead loved a thunderbird, but a thunderbird is not actually a real bird, which means she would just fall in love with another creature that could or could not be real but she doesn't know, because she is not sure whether or not she is dreaming. The poem ends with the same lines that it begins with, minus the semi-colan/period difference. The woman is helpless at this point, insanity has taken over.
The title can be broken up; Mad is what she has become, their is madness that has taken over he, and but it is a madness that she craves, so she "sings" about it.
It is unknown whether or not this poem was about the author, Plath did go mad and eventually killed herself. This poem could in fact be her "Love Song" to the world, but rather than loving, she could be pleading to her readers, letting them know how this madness has taken her over.
Anna, much better job referencing the text of the poem. Question: What is the darkness that the speaker wants? Can you label or discuss it? Also you need to address the person or thing she made up? Is there an actually other lover or is this lover a metaphor for the "darkness". Does she have only two personalities or is it multiple.
ReplyDeleteOver you did an impressive job on this poem (some good leaps). Try to take all images/lines into account and you'll pass the poetry section of the AP test. BTW - think how far you've come already on poetry.