Today is the birthday of one of my favorite writers, Sylvia Plath, (1932-1963). In honor of her birthday I have included her poem I Am Vertical. The poem expresses the majesty, sublimity and sense of eternity evoked by Nature and the separation we as humans, with our individual awareness of our mortality, often feel when in Natures presence. The poem, though melancholy, is also consoling, like a lullaby, promising communion with the infinite once the separate soul is released of its temporal fleshly existence: I Am Vertical by Sylvia Plath But I would rather be horizontal. I am not a tree with my root in the soil Sucking up minerals and motherly love So that each March I may gleam into leaf, Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted, Unknowing I must soon unpetal. Compared with me, a tree is immortal And a flower-head not tall, but more startling, And I want the ones longevity and the others daring. Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars, The trees and the flowers have been strewing their cool odors. I walk among them, but none of them are noticing. Sometimes I think that when I am sleeping I must most perfectly resemble them -- Thoughts gone dim. It is more natural to me, lying down. Then the sky and I are in open conversation, And I shall be useful when I lie down finally: Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me. lit.genius/Sylvia-plath-i-am-vertical-annotated
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:18:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015