Compare And Contrast Tulips And Poppies In July

Similar to a window, poetry perforates the individual’s veil of perception and allows them to empathise with the plight of other humans. Sylvia Plath’s poems Tulips and Poppies In July, as well as Gwen Harwood’s The Wound and In Hospital convey the palpable and impalpable aspects of pain. Although injury is inherent to life, the experience of pain is one that is different to each individual and relies on poetry to transcend this subjectivity.

The tangible sensation of pain is conveyed in the four poems studied through symbolism and imagery. In The Wound, physical pain is represented by the metaphor “fire of anguish”. This metaphor allows for the poet to express the sensation of pain by attributing it the tangible qualities of fire. Without …show more content…
The same symbolism of pain is present in In Hospital with the “fire-talented tongue” of pain evoking a tactile image of burning and searing skin. It is also employed in Poppies In July, with the metaphorical injury when “I put my hands among the flames”. The discrepancy of this description is in Poppies In July the sensation of injury doesn’t induce pain at all, as “nothing burns” in the poet’s state of mental decline. This conveys that although pain is universal, it is also subjective and relative to the individual. Poetry opens a window to such an irrational sensation, because the poet may express their emotions so that the reader can identify with it. The reader can also gain insight through all four poems of the physical effects of pain. In The Wound, the impact of pain on the body is conveyed through the imagery, “on the wall, by the racked body shrouded in pain, is a shadow thrown; simple, unchanged”. This objectification of the body is echoed in Tulips, as the hospital patient is “flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow.” One-dimensional imagery has been employed in juxtaposition with the animated, fiery imagery that symbolises pain. It represents the consuming …show more content…
Imagery of the colour red visually imparts the intangible representation of pain. In Tulips, “redness talks to my wound.” Red symbolises intangible pain that corresponds to the corporeal feeling of it. This colour symbolism is extrapolated in Poppies In July with “clear red” and “bloodied”, which elicits visualisation of bleeding and intensity. The symbolism of the colour of red doesn’t only epitomise pain in these texts, it also serves as symbolism for the capacity of poetry to convey pain. One of the qualities of poetry is that it allows us to transcend such a monochrome existence by understanding the physical and emotional state of others. Subdued imagery in juxtaposition with the vibrant imagery of pain is further extended to express the implications of a lack of pain in the world. This is conveyed in Tulips with the white imagery that represents numbness in contrast with the red symbolism of pain. How “white everything is, how quiet” the world is without suffering expresses the liveliness pain elicits. Pain is seen to be a positive sensation in Poppies in July, with Sylvia Plath’s line “If my mouth could marry a hurt like that”, expressing how she yearns for pain to remove her from her desensitized state. Poppies In July conveys that without pain the world is absent of passion and feeling, which is emphasized through the repetition of “colourless”. This