One of Sylvia Path's poems that stuck out to me, "The Tulips", proved to be quite the read. Like the last poet discussed, Elizabeth Bishop, Path shows a more free verse feel in her writing with more modern tones.
The overall feel of this poem seems to be rather peaceful. The lady in this recovery room or bed seems to be content and at peace with everything. She really just wants to lay there and accept where she is in that point in life. The nurses would come in and out of the room to care for her and the feelings of her became more and more grateful.
Then she goes on to talk about the contentment of herself even more by telling the reader she has no interest in the tulips at all. They remind her too much of the pain of the outside world. She then says she feels that the tulips are taking up oxygen out of the room and disturbing her isolation of peacefulness. So she outs them in captivity.
The tulips in the poem remind the lady of the terrible past in a time where she wants to find rest. She wants to take advantage of this time in this hospital like room and treasure the moment. She finds herself to treasure the "snow" like walls and the careful treatment of her wound. The tulips, in her mind, impose on her "at ease" thoughts and bring up the pain of the wound and the outside world.
A poem that stood out to me this week was a poem written by Sarah Lang called "For Tamara". Like "The tulips" the use of first person is also used in this poem. Both poems are about a different situation being analyzed by two different women. This poem by Lang is similar in the context of person but the way "For Tamera" is written, has a little bit more of better thought flow to it. The structure sets up the writer to answer her own questions opposed to Plath's just one person story telling narration.
http://lemonhound.com/2014/04/26/sarah-lang-from-for-tamara/
I appreciated your thoughts on Plath's 'Tulip.' The idea of ease and peacefulness and yet her reaction to something as harmless and seemingly beautiful as a tulip. Of all things to loathe, why a tulip? Shouldn't that be at least one aspect of beauty and good in the world, and yet it is something she resists because it symbolizes pain? Never seen anyone react that way to a flower. When I think of Plath, I often anticipate some pessimistic tendency to find the bad in something regardless of whether it's really all that bad at all.
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