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Blackberrying. By Sylvia Plath. Background Information. Plath lived in urban America (Brooklyn) for most of her life, though this poem was written when Plath lived in rural England.
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Blackberrying By Sylvia Plath
Background Information • Plath lived in urban America (Brooklyn) for most of her life, though this poem was written when Plath lived in rural England. • Plath is a confessional poet, and many of the themes tackled in her poems are recurring. Some of the themes tackled in Blackberrying are • Isolation • Fragility of life • The sublime\Liveliness of Nature.
Isolation • “Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but Blackberries” • Sense of nothingness • Opening line of the poem – sets the tone • “Blackberries” – The colour black and fixation on nature • “I had not asked for such a blood sisterhood; they must love me.” • Kinship with nature, personification with “blood sisterhood” – Isolated from society. • “they must love me” – reassuring herself, struggling to connect with nature • “Theirs is the only voice, protesting, protesting” • The only speaking thing in the poem, choughs, are protesting – nature’s voice • Repetition of “protesting” • Ties in to “Bee Box,” as Plath wants to connect with nature but struggles.
Fragility of Life • “With blue-red juices. These they squander on my fingers.” • Personification of Blackberries • Word choice of “Squander”, complete destruction with ease • “Blue-red juices” – All the Blackberries really are, similar to Humans being flesh, blood and bone. • “Overhead go the choughs in black, cacophonous flocks – bits of burnt paper wheeling in a blown sky.” • “Choughs in black”, as if dressed in black, reference to funeral • “Burnt paper”, funeral pyre, Plath sees death in one of the only other alive objects. • Colour of Black, running themes with the Blackberries. • “I come to one bush of berries so ripe it is a bush of flies.” • Flies are dirty, disease carrying – juxtaposition with ripeness of the blackberries. • Too good to be true, life attracts death. • Blackberries attracting the flies, as if malicious. • This ties in with “Sleep in the Mojave Desert”, as the speaker struggles to survive in the harsh nature of her surroundings.
The sublime\Liveliness of Nature • “A blackberry alley, going down in hooks, and a sea.” • Throughout the poem, the speaker is being pulled through her journey by an ominous hook, towards the mysterious sea. • This creates the idea of a journey, • The speaker being pulled through makes Nature appear as a sublime object, slowly drawing the speaker in. • “I do not think the sea will appear at all” “The only thing to come now is the sea” • The sea is mentioned throughout, making it appear ominous • The speaker is fixated on it, and although there is a journey, we never see the sea • This elevates its importance to the speaker, emphasising the sublime.
The sublime\Liveliness of Nature • “I follow the sheep path between them. A last hook brings me To the hills’ northern face, and the face is orange rock That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space. • “the sheep path” – the speaker knows she is being pulled along by nature. • Emphasises sublime, as speaker is saying humans are like sheep compared to nature. • “the face is orange rock” – personifies nature, nature having a face implies it is both looking out at the sea, and at the speaker. • “nothing, nothing” is a repetition of the opening line, as the speaker has come full circle • Here the line emphasises the vastness of the sea, as the vast sea is all the speaker can see, swallowing everything – “a great space.”
