“EDGE” AND “FULL MOON AND LITTLE FRIEDA”
A certain
poem can be written by a man or a woman but sometimes there are differences
between them.
In the poem
“Edge”, readers can imagine that it was written by a woman only due
to the first verse “The woman is perfected”, probably by a feminist
woman who is proud of being a woman.” Sylvia Plath was a
twentieth-century feminist poetess”. (Sylvia Plath:).
During the
poem she uses the personal pronoun “she” to remark the importance
of her gender. “her dead” (verse 2), “her bare”(verse
6), “she has folded” (verse12), “her body as petals”
(verse 13). “her hood of bone”(verse 18), “ her blacks”
(verse 20).
However,
Hughes uses the object personal pronoun “him” only one time in the last
verse “That points at him amazed”.
The title
is also important because “Full Moon and Little Frieda” does not
mention any intense feeling or pain, it seems that he is afraid of showing his
feelings.
The title
“Edge” shows that there is someone who has problems and must think
a solution quickly because she cannot bear more pain.
Sylvia Plath wrote this poem before dying in 1963. (Sylvia Plath:).
I think it
was a mark of her death, because she had tried it more times. “In August 1953, she attempted
suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills” (Life and Career).
I think she
probably wanted to write a poem to say goodbye her readers. And then, she shows
all her thoughts, even her feminist thoughts.
On the one
hand, she makes some references to the death, in the second verse “her
dead body” and in the verse 9 “each dead”. There is a
contradiction between her desire of dying and what she says in the third verse
“the illusion of Greek necessity”. Moreover, she says that her feet
must “come so far” (verse 8), that is to say, she wants to escape
from there.
I think she
does not see another solution to her problem. She only wants to finish with her
life in order to go to a better place. She describes when she thinks to suicide
herself: at night. For this, she speaks about the moon, as if the moon were a
witness of her crime.
The other
poem is also at night.
I think the
poem of Hughes tries to be a parallel poem to the Sylvia’s poem because
he makes some allusions to the fact that he is listening to strange sounds such
as “a dog bark” or “The clank of a bucket” (verse 1).
This bucket
could be where Sylvia’s poem the woman carried the milk. And the dog
could be frightened by the presence of this woman.
Ted Hughes
also says “a dark river of blood” (verse 8). I think he feels the
death of his wife. And he mentions the moon which is seeing all and therefore,
he says:
“
Moon! You cry suddenly, Moon! Moon!” (verse 10).
On the
other hand, she explains the different sensations or actions related to life,
things incompatible with the death as “the smile” (verse 3) and
“saying” (verse 7).
Hughes
makes a reference to the senses “And you listening” (verse 2).
It is a
rhetorical question because the poet does not answer. He wants readers to answer
it.
In both
poems we can observe that there is a movement in the action. As a result of
this, in the first case “pitcher of milk, now empty” (verse 11),
woman has spilled the milk, but in the second case “Balancing unspilled milk” (verse 9).
It could be
a symbol of optimism and pessimism. He wishes the life and she wishes the
death.
The
structures of the poems are very different.
“Edge”
has 20 verses, and all the poem is one stanza, there is no separation between
these verses.
“Full
Moon and Little Frieda” has three stanzas, the first and the second with
five verses and the last one with only two verses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
The
poetry of Sylvia Plath, http://www.angelfire.com/tn/plath/edge.html, visited
-
Sylvia Plath:, http://www.etsu.edu/writing/studentsamlit/plath.htm,
visited
-
Two views on Sylvia Plath’s Life and
Career, http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/plath/twoviews.htm,
visited May 8 2006.
-
Sylvia Plath Forum: Edge, http:
//www.sylviaplathforum.com/edge.html, visited May 5 2006.