Sylvia Plath Arrival Of The Bee Box Analysis

Sylvia Plath has written poetry that fully explores the profound depth of the human psyche. Through her use of confessional poetry and psychic landscape, her poetry delves into the multifaceted layers of the human condition. Plath herself came across as a very complicated and perplexing individual, and in her style of writing, she conveys the inner state of her mind. To read her poetry without the context of her mental state, few readers could comprehend the intensity and compelling suffering which lies at the core of her work.

In her poem ''The Arrival of The Bee Box'', Plath uses an extended metaphor to discuss her distressed state of mind. In the second stanza, there is a vivid description of this box, the box comes to represent Plath’s own mind. She refers to it as “dangerous”, but she is irrevocably drawn to it. ''(She) has to live with it overnight. And...can't keep away from it.'' There is a constant state of unrest in Plath's mind, and no escape from her terrifying thoughts. The psychic landscape set in this poem helps to convey the tone of claustrophobia and powerlessness. Plath uses the peculiar comparison of the bees ''with the swarmy feeling of African hands minute and shrunk for export.'' This bizarre juxtaposition sets a dark tone and is used to disclose her fear of being taken against her will.

In stanza four, Plath evaluates the view that if she …show more content…
She discloses on her readers, her identity crisis as a mother and as a person in the poem ''Child''. The guilt she feels as a mother is portrayed here, her description of the ''troublous wringing of hands'' in the closing stanza illustrates her mental suffering. The contrast of her child's pure and innocent nature and her feelings of inadequacy to provide her child with blissful and bright memories highlights her neverending battle with her insecure state of mind; which affects every aspect of her