 "Wintering" is Sylvia Plath's triumphant declaration of victory and joy. Victory at having found the world of honesty and truth that she sought her entire life, first as a scientist following in her father's footsteps, then as a poet, searching beyond the gates of self-identity and death for the reality she intuited might exist beneath the world's often superficial surface. Joy is what she found under that surface. The poem is part of her "Bee Sequence" and I suggest you read the whole set of poems sometime. For now, we'll concentrate on just "Wintering," (click picture above) which is the final poem of the sequence. The poem starts with the line: This is the easy time, there is nothing doing. What? I thought this was a Plath poem? How could the writer of "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" start a poem this way? Didn't she kill herself? What's going on here? The truth is, Plath found immense joy, creative peace, and unstoppable inspiration in her experiences with the loss of personal identity. It is similar, but not exactly the same as, what reportedly happens to some people who take psychedelic drugs. Plath didn't use psychedelics, but the breakdown of her "ego" and her ties to the world of "mendacity" even for a short period, through her encounters with poetry and nature, revealed an illumination that not only made her poetic name, but changed the entire world, and is still growing. In "Wintering" she enters the cellar of an unnamed aristocrat in a spare house she has rented. This is a symbol of the abyss, the "blackness and silence" of the Yew tree, the All Being of nature. Only now Plath has no fear of the void, she has made a home for herself there. But it is not based on materialistic things or titles such as "Sir So-and So's gin." Instead it is based on an abiding -- perhaps eternal -- connection with the rhythms of nature. She has become Queen of the Bees, just as her father, Otto, was known as King of the Bees, but as Queen she doesn't want to control nature, she simply wants to perpetuate it. She has learned from her encounters with nature to see life, not death, as the impetus of being. She has regained a personal identity, but it is a greater, much wiser and more enduring self-identity than she had as "Ted Hughes's wife." This is how we should remember Plath, because this is the poet she truly was... Her tragic suicide was the result of her inability to stay in this moment of illumination, but she touched it and she left a record to inspire countless generations to come. So in a sense, she did stay rooted in it. This concludes my first blog-post series on Sylvia Plath, but it won't be my last! If you enjoyed the posts, please consider making a small donation to my PayPal, or use the Buy Me A Coffee button to make a donation through my MusicGuru page. I could really use the support right now!! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/writerdanQ Donate via: PayPal: rainlight@hushmail.com CashApp: $writerdan Categories All
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 Though Plath wrote a number of important poems between "Tulips" and "The Moon and the Yew Tree," these poems still fall short of what would become her full brilliance. They describe her struggle to place the experiences she had during her hospital stay in context as she returned to the "Mad Men" day to day world of a wife and mother in America in nineteen sixty-one. What this meant mostly was she couldn't mention her loss of personal identity experiences to anyone, or her poetic ambitions. It was time, finally, by everyone's clock for Sylvia to grow up and be a good mother. She may not be an artist, but she had the honor of being married to a great poet, Ted Hughes, who seemed fated to someday sip wine in a castle, which is what he later did as Poet Laureate to Queen Elizabeth II. But when he was still married to Plath, he was gracious enough to assign her "studies" from time to time to write about. Plath's brilliant poem, "The Moon and the Yew Tree" (click her picture above) is the result of one of the "instructions" that Hughes gave to her, after seeing the moon behind a yew tree outside their apartment window. The poem that Plath wrote at his orders explodes with the mystic visions she'd discovered in "Medallion" and "Tulips." She embraces the "nothingness" of Jung's abyss, the "blackness and silence" of the universe and purely embodies this abyss as the source of creative power. The key is that Plath's poetic self now knows that "blackness and silence" are the sources of creative energy in the universe, the unbroken Is-ness that stays true and sacred despite our often phony lives and self-identities. She's able to spin a myth out of the scene as if by sorceric will. The poem shocked Hughes very deeply. As a poet and an enthusiastic reader of Shakespeare and myth, he recognized that Plath had become a true Seer. He also probably realized she'd been making his meals, sewing on his buttons, and typing his poems while he berated her attempts to write and slept around behind her back. He didn't want any of that to change, but the poem said change is coming. In typical Hughes fashion, he simply shrugged off the poem as a practice piece to Plath's face, but we now know, reading over his posthumous criticism of her poetry and his Birthday Letters poems, how much the poem wounded him and rightly so. As powerful as "The Moon and the Yew Tree" is, Plath was just getting started. Having discovered the creative heart of the cosmos and maybe even her place in it, Plath was ready to step fully into her poetic genius, which she does in the poem we'll look at next Monday, "Lady Lazarus." Poem tally as of today: 8-21-23: Poems Written: 345 Poetry Submissions: 51 Rejections: 25 (15 tiered) Acceptances: 0 Poem written today: "Still Houses" If you're enjoying this series of posts on Plath won't you please consider making a small donation to the cause? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/writerdanQ Donate via: PayPal: rainlight@hushmail.com CashApp: $writerdan Categories All  Poems have natural elements that stay the same no matter what you do. The words move from left to right and the lines go from top to bottom. Of course you can change this and make any kind of poem you want, one that goes backward, forward, or makes alphabet soup on the page or screen. But, for the most part, the basic elements of a poem stay the same each time you start to create a new work.
Everyone knows that the last word of each line gets special emphasis by the reader, no matter what enjambment you use. Everyone also knows that first lines and last lines enjoy a greater punch just by being there. These are basic elements that every poet learns to use, almost by instinct. But what about other "elemental" elements of a poem? Are there aspects that get less attention than first words and last lines, but are just as powerful? In fact, there are quite a number of these basic elements that you can use to empower your poems. I'm only going to talk about one in this post and that's the downward motion of a poem. Virtually every poem in English moves from the top to bottom and you can (and should) use this natural motion to you advantage. One perfect example of this is the poem I talked about in yesterday's post, Plath's "Black Rook in Rainy Weather." The poem starts with the speaker looking up in a hopeful way, and then, as the lines fall down, the speaker looks inward to doubt and hesitation, sweeping back up (slightly) at the close to find a sprig of hope. Another really short poem that uses the downward motion of a poem well is: "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks, with the lines literally burying the guys in the poem and leaving a tombstone to them. Another great example is "Apple Picking" by Robert Frost -- where the poem becomes a ladder to memory and dreams. And yet another , rather spectacular, example is Hart Crane's "Atlantis." That one's dynamiter though so be very careful! And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to mention Anne Sexton's poem, "The Ambition Bird" which is about the struggle to contain and release artistic ambition. You can see how she uses the downward climb of the poem yourself -- it's heart wrenching. The point is: the downward climb of a poem is there whether you like it or not; it's part of your poem's expression whether you want it or not. So your best bet is to let the natural gravity of a poem, it's innate fall from imagination to "paper" be your inspiration and your guide. Meanwhile, if you'd like some help with editing or polishing your poems, or you just want some feedback for them, reach out to me @ pitchblackpoet@yahoo.com writerdan@mail.com or use one of the buttons below. Also, check out my 7 Secrets of Poetry guide available now!  Plath's early work, prior to 1956, gives very little indication of the dynamic poetic genius she would later unleash on the world. That said, there's one poem, "Sonnet to Satan," that really stands out and shows just about all of the elements that Plath would ultimately use to construct masterpieces.
There's a lot going on in this poem, but the first and most obvious element is, of course: surprise. A general rule of thumb with Plath is, if the poem doesn't start with a surprise, it probably won't be a very good Plath poem. Most, if not all, of her best poems like "Daddy," "Ariel," "Lady Lazarus," "Candles," and the like are based on hitting the reader where they least expect it. Here, in her college years, Plath decided to shock the grown-ups by writing a poem to Lucifer. What's even more shocking is she chose to do so in a sonnet. A demanding, exacting form that moves fast and demands facing contradictions, and immersing in often violently contrasting emotions. In other words, the definition of a Plath poem. Note two additional fingerprints: an almost-rigid attention to meter and a bold identification with myth. These are elements that Plath uses in all of her best work. Later, when she learns to fuse myth with the elements of her personal life, we'll see how and why her contribution to Confessionalism is different (and more important) than Sexton's or Lowell's though they also combined myth with personal experience. The first lines of the poem are bangers and show us a lot about Plath's poetic identity: In darkroom of your eye the moonly mind somersaults to counterfeit eclipse These are probably the best lines of the poem and also the lines that most clearly foreshadow the poet she would become. Strong verbs, bold metaphor, and an intense focus on psychological landscapes help Plath go straight inside Satan's head here, not to fix what ails him, but to see what's in there. The word "moonly" is brilliant and shows the witchy side of Plath that, like her mathematical mind, is more inborn than learned. Plath had a burning desire to see behind the veils of everything, including the devil. That's the most important thing to take away from this early gem. The thrill of the poem is not that she dared to write about the devil, but that she dared to go inside Lucifer's imagination. What she finds is order and pride. No-one, not even Dante or Milton, had gone quite that far, at least not while dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform, half-waiting to be a doctor's wife. Click the pic above and read the poem for yourself. See what you think of it and let me know. Next Monday, we'll take a look at "Black Rook in Rainy Weather" which is a poem that surprised Plath when she wrote it and changed the way she looked at poetry, and the world, for good. Meanwhile enjoy the full moon and consider listening to one of my new songs, linked below. I've been blowing off steam from writing by making music. Have a listen and leave a like or even subscribe to my YouTube channel! I recommend "Tornado Jam" which is a song I wrote about the tornado that ripped through our area a couple days ago. I made a cool video for it. Also, if you need a hand revising and /or polishing your poems. I've helped lots of poets. If you order in July, you'll get a free copy of my 7 Secrets of Poetry pdf!!!  AI is writing poems. Lots of poems. So many poems that the already overflowing sea of poetry on the Internet and elsewhere is the literary equivalent of Biblical deluge. Anyone can now write a poem literally just by tapping their finger. Sure, the poems (for now) aren't very good. And, sure, they are brazen pastiches of copyright trampled "samples" based on wiki-prosody and plebian twangs. But AI is only going to get better. I have a lot of thoughts about this, but right now, I want to know what you think. Do you fear AI? Do you use AI for writing? Do you scoff at the idea? For now, I'll just say this... I watched this happen with chess. One day people were laughing at computers, next thing you know, the ten best players in the world combined, led by Magnus Carlsen, would be lucky to even survive a middle game against super-crushers like Leela and Stockfish. Carlsen is the highest rated player in history at 2800, while Stockfish is rated at 3600. A human being will never beat the best AI at chess. Never. But imagining that it could happen would make a great story! Or even a poem. And, so far, no AI could have thought of that. If you click the John Henry portrait up top, you'll see how I've been leaning on AI creatively. No "tally" because I'm taking a quick break from poetry to work on music. Please take a moment to check out my new song "Wyld Heart" over at YouTube. Or click over to my Soundcloud page! Categories All  My recent post on "Bitter Enders" received a nice response. Thanks to everyone who read the post and replied to me about it. Your comments and ideas are deeply appreciated! It's a privilege and a pleasure to share thoughts with each and every one of you!
Never be shy about reaching out to me to talk poetry! Just my email or contact me through Facebook. One of the most powerful insights on the topic of emotional well-being came from poet Cindy Creel, who wasn't actually responding to my blog post, but to a poem I posted. She wrote: "describing the way something made you feel is a place of strength." Words to live by! This is another way of saying: poems heal. Reading a poem, writing a poem, dreaming a poem. In each and every case, poems provide inspiration and -- often -- hope. People have written poems in concentration camps, mental wards, country jails, deserts, and on rafts lost as sea. It's natural to go through bouts of bitterness, alienation, doubt, and envy in your life as poet, but don't let these emotions define you or your experience with art. Poems, offered by anyone, at any time, are acts of love. Or should be. Even when poets write with deep anger and bitterness like Rimbaud or Plath's -- poetry, at its most destructive -- remains an act of creation. Poets grow things like ideas, moods, spirits, themes and, sometimes, myths. Cindy also notes the deep relationship between physical well-being and emotional well-being, starting right from the earth up. You need to literally get your hands dirty. Soil contains minerals that are essential to your mental and physical well-being. I overlooked these priceless insights in my original post. So let's state it clearly now: You need to eat right, you need to get outside, and you need to put your hands in the dirt. So hike, bike, garden, jog, or just sit on a blanket under the stars. Take a sip of puddle water off your fingertips, touch a spiderweb, eat a blade of grass. Rub some dirt on your face. Suck a pebble. Inhale the reviving scent of the earth. Keep yourself, healthy, sane, and inspired so you can joyfully share your creative works with all of us for many years to come! Tally Poems Written: 313 Submissions: 51 Rejections: 21 (13 tiered) Acceptances: 0 Poem written today: "n/a" Mixing song "Global Rain" If you need a hand revising and polishing: 1) Have me do it for you! Click the "Poem Polisher" button below. I've helped lots of poets. 2) Use my 7 Secrets of Poetry pdf as a guide for revision.  I've met an awful lot of poets. Most of them make my heart soar and do something to bolster my faith in humanity. Some even take my pain away, or explain it to me so beautifully I don't want it gone. But a few leave me feeling truly sad and frustrated. Who are these few poets? I call them the "bitter enders." Poets who, for some reason or another, seem to feel as though they've been jilted by the muse, or by fate, and they're out to let people know about the injustice. The first sign that you're dealing with a bitter-ender is when someone says something like: "You know, there's a lot of poets out there and they all suck. What they're doing isn't real poetry!" If you look at that statement closely, you'll see the poet has taken on two extremely heavy burdens: the first is, they are apparently the world's best poet, no easy job; second, they are an accomplished critic, a similarly Herculean task. Outside of Poe, I would have thought the odds were against such a pairing. Bitterness is always lurking in wait and once it gets hold of a poet, it turns them into something snarly and pathetic. So if it starts to hit you, fight back fast! Here are some things I think you can do to shake off bitterness when it bites: 1) Go out in nature and be quiet for ten minutes. Do this every day if needed. 2) Try writing about an entirely new subject. If you've never written a poem about pogo-sticks write one now. 3) Watch a stupid movie that makes you laugh. 4) Set more realistic goals. Yeah, you may not win that Nobel Prize for Poetry, but can't you still be happy? 5) Consider taking a break from creative work. If necessary, a long break. That last one may seem harsh, but seriously if it's not fun anymore, if you're really angry and frustrated and resentful of other people's creative doings, it might be better to just put down your brush. If you're not over-brimming with passion when you work and see other poets' work, you may not realize it, but this is a sign that you've probably just stayed too long at the party. Or showed up at the wrong house. What won't work is stalking people down one by one to tell them how great you are (or were) and how lousy everyone else is -- trust me, no-one's listening. Speaking of listening, why not check out my new song "Coming Home" at YouTube? Tell me what you think of it. Just click the button below!!! Tally Poems Written: 312 Submissions: 51 Rejections: 21 (13 tiered) Acceptances: 0 Poem written today: "Meandering Poem of Magick" Categories All  While writing a poem can be a very tough challenge, getting people to read even the best of poems is almost always tougher. Poets face a serious "no win scenario" with marketing. If you don't market your poems, nobody will ever know they exist. If you market your poems, you risk looking desperate or self-absorbed. What's more, marketing is a very stressful, rough and tumble world. It's a shark tank mentality, while writing poetry is more of a Zen, one-with-nature and inspiration feeling. The difference between writing poetry and marketing it is as big as the difference between eating a nicely cooked steak or trying to eat a live cow. So what do we do? Actually, I was hoping you'd tell me! It's a very problematic obstacle and it's probably only going to get worse with the rise of AI platforms. Not because AI's will write good poetry, but because even more wannabes will flood the market cheekily devising a masterplan to use their AI word-salad to get rich and famous. It's going to be very, very ugly. And it's already pretty bad. Here are a few things I think may help:
Poetry for the most part only self-markets for dead poets. Something about being dead makes a poet more interesting. Unfortunately, you can't bask in the glory from six feet under and the light from your halo up-top past the Gates will blind you to earthly success. So, I leave you with these famous words, slightly paraphrased: "Do you know what it takes to sell poetry....?" One thing you can do is to have really solid, polished work. If you want some help with your poems, email at pitchblackpoet@yahoo.com OR writerdan@mail.com Or click a button below. Tally Poems Written: 311 Submissions: 51 Rejections: 21 (13 tiered) Acceptances: 0 Poem written today: "n/a" Mixing song "Coming Home" for release! Categories All  Tell me if you agree with any or all of the following:
In my personal life, I like it best when I'm not being told what to do. Freedom and self-determination appeal to me a lot. But with creative works, I often feel drawn to traditional rules and modes. Not exactly old fashioned, but I'd say I'm more reluctant than some poets to get into wild experimentation with form or language. How about you? I, of course, have copious thoughts on each of those points above, but I'm more interested in your thoughts. Do you think rules are made to be broken? Or do poets need them? So let me know at pitchblackpoet@yahoo.com OR writerdan@mail.com OR just leave a message through the form below. Tally Poems Written: 311 Submissions: 51 Rejections: 21 (13 tiered) Acceptances: 0 Poem written today: "Elm" If you need a hand revising and polishing: 1) Have me do it for you! Click the "Poem Polisher" button below. I've helped lots of poets. 2) Use my 7 Secrets of Poetry pdf as a guide for revision. If you order a polish in May you get the 7 Secrets book free!!! Categories All  I write a lot of poems. Only about one in ten is worth a darn. I wish I knew a way to make this ratio higher. What's worse is, there's no pattern to creative inspiration. One day you might write two good poems in a row. At other times, it might be a week or two before you write anything decent. It's the same for most poets. Even great poets like T.S. Eliot and Emily Dickinson wrote more duds than masterpieces. Both Ezra Pound and Walt Whitman wrote more bad lines than good over their careers. I won't name any living, working poets by name -- but I'll say, I haven't seen many, if any, 21st century exceptions to this rule. And that's only seeing poets' published or posted works. My explanation for it is that we write poems for many different reasons, only some of which are connected to creating a poem for sharing or for publication. The only other answer I can think of is that writing good poems is just really tough and it takes a bit of luck like fishing or golf. Another possibility is it's just darned hard to do it all alone. Poetry is one of the only arts (like painting) where the artist is truly alone. Novelists have editors, musicians have producers, actors and actresses have directors and makeup people, and costume people, and people to blink for them, etc... Even dancers have a dance partner or a few musicians around. If you're a poet, it's all you. You think alone, write alone, and for the most part are the only "gatekeeper" of your works. It's a big job, and most poets resist being edited anyway. What do you think? Have you experienced poetic ratio? Are there other reasons forit? Found any hacks to get around it? Let me know! Tally Poems Written: 310 Submissions: 51 Rejections: 20 (13 tiered) Acceptances: 0 Poem written today: "Star Pools" Categories All |
