Sylvia Plath’s “Fever 103°” is a dramatic narrative poem made up of eighteen stanzas, with three lines each stanza. She utilizes a great deal of imagery, sensory words, and metaphors in her writing. The tone of the first half of the poem is sounds anguished and agonizing and often references hell, fire, and pain. In the second half of the piece, Plath shifts from the demonic to the divine, yet still keeps up the references to fire. As is easily gleaned from the title, this poem follows and portrays the feelings that accompany the course of a fever, however, underneath, there is a divine comparison: heaven vs hell. She adds depth to her meaning with references to both historic and mythical stories.
Plath incorporates historic and mythical references often when she …show more content…
The groupings of three lines sustained throughout the piece add to the imagery of the divine trinity, the tension between heaven, hell, and earth, and the three heads of Cerberus. There is end rhyme though it is used sparingly. “Choking the aged and the meek, / The weak” line (17-18). She wraps the ending of the 18th line even though it was not necessary. She does this to allow for “meek” and “weak” to rhyme. Another line that she does this in is, “The beads of hot metal fly, and I love, I” (line 45). Instead of using end rhyme, Plath rhymes two words in the same line, again, using spacing and line wraps in unconventional ways to achieve her goal. She also uses repetition in multiple instances. In line 7, “the sin, the sin.” is used for the first time and in line 27 it is used again. At the end of the poem she uses repetition again when she says, “Not you, nor him / Nor him, nor him” (line 51-52). Notice that “him” rhymes with “sin.” This is probably to connect whoever “him” is to the abstract idea of sin and also to make the poem tighter, clearer, and more related in itself as a
Plath incorporates historic and mythical references often when she …show more content…
The groupings of three lines sustained throughout the piece add to the imagery of the divine trinity, the tension between heaven, hell, and earth, and the three heads of Cerberus. There is end rhyme though it is used sparingly. “Choking the aged and the meek, / The weak” line (17-18). She wraps the ending of the 18th line even though it was not necessary. She does this to allow for “meek” and “weak” to rhyme. Another line that she does this in is, “The beads of hot metal fly, and I love, I” (line 45). Instead of using end rhyme, Plath rhymes two words in the same line, again, using spacing and line wraps in unconventional ways to achieve her goal. She also uses repetition in multiple instances. In line 7, “the sin, the sin.” is used for the first time and in line 27 it is used again. At the end of the poem she uses repetition again when she says, “Not you, nor him / Nor him, nor him” (line 51-52). Notice that “him” rhymes with “sin.” This is probably to connect whoever “him” is to the abstract idea of sin and also to make the poem tighter, clearer, and more related in itself as a