She Lived In A Shoe By Sylvia Plath Summary

While reading the poem, one can perceive that Mrs. Plath is blossoming from a child into an adult. Symbolism plays a vital role in order to perceive her aging process. In the first stanza, it mentions a black shoe that she lives in. One can observe and compare this to the children’s nursery rhyme, “There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe”. Another example of her childhood within stanza one is in line five when she says, “Achoo”. Most adults would say sneeze, but to a child, it is acceptable to use sounds for actions. As the poem continues, Mrs. Plath grows older and matures. In Line ___ it says, “Every woman adores a Fascist”. One can assume this is her as she develops an attraction to a “bad boy”. With that being said, she is perhaps at the age of adolescence. In line ___ it mentions that she is twenty years old. In line ___-___, it says, “And I said I do, I do. So daddy, I’m finally through”. She is saying her wedding vows here, with the assumption she is now an adult. She still retains her child-like faith, still calling her father “Daddy” and not simply “Dad”. In the following stanza, it mentions seven years. One can perceive that she is at least twenty-seven years old or even older. By the last stanza, she is done with her dad, but she …show more content…
In the poem, Mrs. Plath compares herself to a Jew. It says,
“A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew” (line ____).
In stanza four, it says, “In the German tongue, in the Polish town” (line ___). This line is quite self-exclamatory. One can assume a Polish town where everyone speaks the German language. In line ___, she confuses her dad with all the other Germans. In line __-__ it says,
“With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You” (line