Comment 5 of 5, added on May 4th, 2009 at 9:17 PM.

"Crossing the Water" is a poem of death, but not just the noun form of the word. Plath uses extended metaphor as she compares life, and crossing over, to crossing a Black Lake. This Black Lake could be symbollic of the lake Styx in Greek mythology, as people believed this obsticle must be crossed to gain admission into the after-life. Plath utilized Greek mythology quite a few times in this poem. This may be because of the Greek's utter facination with death and Plath's connection to them in that aspect.
This poem was written at the time of Plath's life, where death and suicide were continually on her mind. This might be where the line, "The spirit of blackness is in us, it is in the fishes," originated from; her thinking that death was everywhere, in everything and everyone. The "siren" of death was over-whelming to her, it practically blinded her to everything else in the world, (as line 11 tells us.)
Another interesting thought Plath conveys is that death can help us grow exponentially!As the tree grew to cover Canada by drinking the water in the Black Lake, so can we grow strond by experiencing and 'drinking,' the lessons of death. That, i think, is the main theme to this poem. Do not be blinded to the lessons of mortality by adhering the to Sirens. Instead, 'Cross the Water.'

ashley nicole from United States

Comment 3 of 5, added on December 16th, 2006 at 4:20 AM.

we know thet sylvia suffered from a mental illness throught her life.she attended to commit suicide several times,and death was always in her mind.she also lost her dady when 8 years old.this poem is exactly about death.everythink is black in her world,black is the color of death.shadows are the world of ideas,imitations(from greek plato),it's not the real world.little light symbolizes that she is still alive and hope for life,she is not in a hurry...but still,she thinks of death!full of dark advice is a clue in here.at the beginning of poem we see the image of lake,the symbol to which i came across in her mirror poem before. she travels in a black boat in a black lake.this lake is the lake of fate,an allusion from greek mythology.it is again the world of death and it is cold.i again see a metaohor that see used in her mirror poem,fish.difficulties makes goodbyes hard says she in the lines a snag is lifting a valedictory.stars open among the lilies,she is still in the waters,lily is an water plant,this line has a connestion with the line a little light is filtering from the water flowers,and these flowers are exactly lilies!the sky is open and she can see the stars.stars are symbols of our fates!she can see and travel through her future,her death...yes,death is emotionless,silent,still,dark,terrifying.souls are shocked because of this silence,stilness of death...and this world is the world of DEATH.
this poem is amazing for me,i really love sylvia's style.she's a great poet i think.althougt this is a poem about death,she newer used the word of death!i can see wit in her poems.perfect...

elis from Turkey