"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"
✦
Analysis
Mad Girl's Love Song: analysis
Introduction
This poem is a villanelle spoken by a woman to a lover who may never have existed. One refrain says "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead". The other admits "I think I made you up inside my head". Between them she recalls a dreamed seduction, a promise to return, and a slow forgetting. The poem sets desire against doubt about what is real. It asks whether the lover was ever there or only imagined. The word 'mad' in the title hangs over the whole song.
Summary
The speaker says that when she shuts her eyes, the whole world drops dead. When she lifts her lids, everything is born again. In parentheses she adds that she thinks she made up the person she is addressing. The rest of the poem is spoken to this 'you'.
The stars "go waltzing out in blue and red". A blackness she calls arbitrary "gallops in" to take their place. The first refrain returns: she shuts her eyes and the world drops dead.
She says she dreamed that the lover "bewitched me into bed". In the dream he sang to her and kissed her "quite insane". The second refrain follows, still in parentheses.
God "topples from the sky" and the fires of hell fade. Angels and devils leave together, like actors in a stage direction: "Exit seraphim and Satan's men". The first refrain closes the stanza.
She says she had believed he would return, as he promised. Instead she is growing old and forgetting his name. The second refrain repeats her doubt that he was ever real.
She says she should have loved a thunderbird instead. Thunderbirds, at least, "roar back again" when spring comes. The final stanza has four lines. It ends with both refrains, one after the other.
Themes and meaning
The first theme is the power of perception. The opening refrain makes the world depend on the speaker's eyes. Shutting them kills it, and opening them brings rebirth in line 2. This can be read as a child's game or as a serious doubt about anything outside the mind.
The same doubt falls on the lover. The second refrain, "(I think I made you up inside my head.)", suggests the love story may have happened only in her imagination. The parentheses make this sound like a private admission. Each time it returns, it undercuts the stanza before it.
Love is shown as enchantment and madness. The love in stanza three is dreamed, not remembered. The verbs are magical: he "bewitched" her and "sung me moon-struck". The phrase "kissed me quite insane" ties desire directly to losing one's mind.
The speaker's loss spreads out to the whole cosmos. Stars waltz away, blackness gallops in, and "God topples from the sky". Heaven and hell leave together in line 11, as if a play has ended. One reading sees grief emptying every order of meaning. Another sees the speaker's power: her closed eyes can end even God.
Time and abandonment shape the last two stanzas. The lover promised to return and did not. The line "But I grow old and I forget your name" suggests a long wait. The thunderbird is set against him as something that does come back each spring. The joke in that comparison sharpens the regret without turning it into self-pity.
Tone
The tone mixes dreaminess, bitterness and play. The first refrain is grand and almost godlike, since she ends the world by blinking. The parenthetical refrain is quieter, like an aside she makes to herself. Stanza three is heady and sensual, with "bewitched" and "moon-struck". Stanza four is theatrical, even mocking, in its stage direction "Exit seraphim and Satan's men".
Stanza five turns flat and sad: "I grow old and I forget your name". The last stanza adds dry humour when she says she "should have loved a thunderbird instead". The poem does not end on comfort. Its last words are her doubt, still inside parentheses.
Form and structure
The poem is a villanelle of 19 lines in 6 stanzas: five tercets of 3 lines and a closing quatrain of 4. Line 1 returns as line 6, line 12 and line 18. Line 3 returns as line 9, line 15 and line 19. The two refrains join as the final pair of lines.
The main rhyme sound, heard in dead, head, red, bed, said and instead, runs through the poem. The middle lines use looser sounds: again, in, insane, men, name. The computed scheme counts several of these as separate rhymes, and it counts fade in line 10 apart from the main rhyme. So the rhyme is less strict than the classic villanelle pattern.
The metre is iambic pentameter, with lines of 9 to 10 syllables. Only line 5 and line 11 have nine. Line 11 opens on a stressed syllable, "Exit", which suits its abrupt stage direction.
Poetic devices
Refrain line 1
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead Returns in line 6, line 12 and line 18. Each return follows an image of collapse, so the line gathers weight as a claim of power or of despair.
Parenthesis and refrain line 3
(I think I made you up inside my head.) The brackets set the doubt apart as a private aside. Its return after each stanza keeps questioning whether the lover was real.
Antithesis line 2
I lift my lids and all is born again Balances line 1: closing the eyes kills the world, opening them revives it. The pairing sets up the poem's play between seeing and imagining.
Personification line 4
The stars go waltzing out in blue and red The stars dance away like guests leaving a ball. The colours and the waltz make the vanishing of the world oddly festive.
Metaphor line 5
arbitrary blackness gallops in Darkness arrives like a horse or rider. The word arbitrary makes the dark random and meaningless, not a natural night.
Alliteration line 7
bewitched me into bed The repeated b sound links enchantment and bed. It makes the seduction sound like a spell.
Diction line 8
moon-struck, kissed me quite insane Words tied to lunacy make love a form of madness. They echo the 'mad' of the title.
Hyperbole line 10
God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade The whole religious order falls at once. The exaggeration shows how far the speaker's loss or power reaches.
Allusion to stage directions line 11
Exit seraphim and Satan's men Exit is the word a script uses when actors leave. Heaven and hell are treated as players whose scene is over.
Irony line 16
I should have loved a thunderbird instead The wish is absurd and wry. It sets a lover who never came back against a creature that returns every spring.
Words worth knowing
seraphim
The plural of seraph: angels of the highest order, here set opposite Satan's followers.
moon-struck
Dazed or mad. The moon was long linked with lunacy, so the word joins love and madness.
sung
Used where standard English would have 'sang'. The sense is simply that he sang to her.
fancied
Imagined or supposed. It also hints at the fancy, or imagination, that may have made the lover up.
thunderbird
In Native American myth, a huge bird whose wingbeats make thunder. The storms it brings return with spring, which is why it can 'roar back again'.
arbitrary
Random, without reason or rule. The dark that replaces the stars has no purpose.
What readers have said
Aaron reads the first refrain as the speaker shutting out the world, so that it exists only when she experiences it, and calls this a solipsistic statement strengthened by the refrain about making the lover up. Aaron, 2004
Addie points out that the title could have two meanings, since mad can mean angry as well as crazy. Addie, 2006
Meghan rejects reading it as a beautiful love poem and sees a depressed speaker whose lover has left, who cannot tell dreams from reality and has lost her trust in religion. Meghan, 2007
Molly reads it as a poem of unrequited love, pointing to the lover who did not return as he said he would. Molly, 2006
Julie praises the villanelle's structure and notes that the repeated lines keep their parentheses each time they return. Julie, 2005
Dandelion calls it bittersweet and asks whether the speaker regrets the love itself or only how it ended. Dandelion, 2010
This poem flows together like liquid. I absolutely love it. Karina, you are not alone. Whenever Sylvia put a writing utensil to paper, she made magic.
Aaron
Christopher, I take it to describe her closing her eyes, and shutting out the world. When the speaker's eyes are closed, the world around her doesn't exist. It only exists to her when she opens them again. On a deeper level, it's a fairly powerful solipsistic statement. The world's very existence depends on the speaker experiencing it. If the speaker doesn't see (or experience in some way at least) something, then…
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Christopher,
I take it to describe her closing her eyes, and shutting out the world. When the speaker's eyes are closed, the world around her doesn't exist. It only exists to her when she opens them again.
On a deeper level, it's a fairly powerful solipsistic statement. The world's very existence depends on the speaker experiencing it. If the speaker doesn't see (or experience in some way at least) something, then it simply doesn't exist. This is furthered by the repitition of "I think I made you up inside my head." Not only does the speaker have the power to create people with her imagination, but they are so convincing that she's not entirely sure whether they're real or imagined (hence the use of the word "think")
I came across this poem one day a few weeks ago, now I've got it taped to my bedroom wall. I absolutely loved it.
miriamCanada
i love how she puts "I think I made you up inside my head." between parentheses. as if it is an afterthought. it just fits well, and seems so appropriate to me.
when i read this poem i realized that she was talking about her first love and how many girls mistakingly feel when they come across the foolishness of knowing that the significant other doesn't feel the same way. its always a good poem to show to the young and unaware of what love can do to you. its a lot better than the birds and the bees talk. Hee! hee!
CaitlinUnited States
could anybody tell me why this poem is not in Plath's Collected Poems? The book mostly includes poems written after 1956, but it has a list of all of the poems written before then in the back. However, I've seen it a million places online and in the back of my copy of the Bell Jar. Why??
kirit patelUnited States
amazing! i don't have a word for this poem, this's a real gold in poem history. i think all of her poems amazing. we should learn from her life.
AniaPoland
This is a great material for a song, maybe some of you will write someday a music to it? :)
joeTaiwan
It speak out the true feelings of losing my love,that is "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead", even after all those years,every time I remembered those words ,I just am stricken apart .
I loved this poem. It is so powerful. It reminds me of the feeling you get when you first fall in love with someone. It describes that crazy, obsessed, knee-knocking, heart racing feeling that you get when you meet that one true love. It seems so unreal that just like Sylvia says, you aren't sure if you made it up inside your head. What a wonderful expression!
tammyUnited States
I have always loved sylvia.i cant stop reading her literature after i got my hands on the bell jar.she takes everything to heart and analyzes everything with all of her senses.i especially love this poem.
AmileighAustralia
Being only 16 a felt i could really identify with the thoughts and feelings Plath expressed. It is absolutely magical the way she uses words and imagery. ***** 5 stars!!
KrystalUnited States
So, I was looking for some good poems to use in a poetry book for my english class and I came upon this poem and all of the other comments people wrote. Well the instant I read this poem I fell in love with it because, although I'm only 16, I've already found my first love... just luckily i found a good one and we're still together! To everyone who's had their heart broke, keep your chin up, there's someone for everyone!
JESIKAUnited States
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS POEM! ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVOURITES!!
ShandreaUnited States
I LOVE THIS POEM.....I THANK MY ENGLISH TEACHER FOR GIVING US THE BOOK WITH MS. PLATH'S POEM IN IT.
KaseyUnited States
This poem is a villa nelle, which is one of the most difficult types of poems to write. Plath wrote this while she was still in college, long before she had anything published. In fact, I believe she won her trip to New York to write for Mademoiselle magazine after submitting this poem to a poetry contest.
The poetry she wrote in her early years isn't included in "The Collected Poems" because she never had any of it published. Her "Collected Poems" is just a collection of poetry from all of books of poetry she had published, before and after her suicide, including "The Colossus," "Crossing the Water," and "Ariel."
wow! ms.smarty kasey its VILLANELLE - one word (just to let you know) au revior
KaraUnited States
This is, as with all of Sylvia Plath's poetry, spectacular. I love her writing form and her work is so deep. I wish I could use it for my poetry project, but unfortunately my teacher says there's too much "innuendo" in it. It's such a shame really that such narrow-minded people are able to even read poetry like this.
pabloEcuador
It's probably as love is. Everything is inside our heads.
SamathaGermany
it it is a very very very very good job and i really really LOVED IT SO MUCH IT MADE ME CRY THATS HOW GOOD IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EmilyIsrael
Sylvia's Poetry is great especially this particular poem . i think "Mad Girl's Love Song " is dedictaed to her husband Ted Hughes because he cheated on her while she loved him, she talks about the distance between them , " I should have loved a thunderbird instead ,At least when spring comes it will roar back again" .
The confessional poetry reveals to the reader the poets mental state .
I'm thrilled to see that so many have commented on this poem. I love all of Plath's work, but this poem always sticks out in my mind. The villanelle is extremely hard to write, but the great Plath was no match for it's iambics. Rest in peace, Sylvia.
JessUnited States
wow...really great poem. makes me think of this guy i fell in love with...but he never really felt the same way back. really great poem... "i closed my eyes and all the world drops dead. i lift my lids and all is reborn again" b e a u t i f u l.
I think this poem of Plath's is pretty out there and can fully touch you in one reading. it easily sticks to anyone who reads it. Especially those who've had someone they can only daydream about... i love it, it's my favorite. :)
EricaUnited States
Absolutely wonderful poem. It kinda reminds me of a girl I was dating some time ago..we're supposed to be getting back together, but things are getting screwed up again. I read this after a long time of not having seen it and it made me cry. I love it.
sarahAustria
i like this poem a lot..came across it when i needed help for an english project..i thin silvia plath is an amazing poetist..howeveru call a femal poet!..shes got so many origianal ideas
bobbyjackCanada
This is cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LaurissaCanada
Im notmuch of a poem reading kind of gal but when i had to research a poem for my english project this poem really jumped at me. Im goin through a hard time right now and just been ditched by a guy i liked.. this poem makes me feel more like im not the only one who thinks like this!!!
MeganUnited States
Plath has alwasy been my favorite author, and this happens to be one of my favorite poems of hers. I love how she can take something so simple and make it so dark and macabre...masterful.
DerinUnited States
I love Sylvia Plath and have been reading her for years now. I have to say though, I think this one poem is exceptionally bad. My favorites are Lady Lazarus and Daddy for their sheer power of expression and their powerful imagery.
derin, granted this is a brief comment block so expression is limited, but your comment is almost entirely worthless. what have you been reading for years that has taken you no further than the most mainstream and obvious poems published by plath. furthermore i can't believe you have a very competant grasp of poetic forms or the history of the villanelle or you would realize that in form and traditional theme this…
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derin, granted this is a brief comment block so expression is limited, but your comment is almost entirely worthless. what have you been reading for years that has taken you no further than the most mainstream and obvious poems published by plath. furthermore i can't believe you have a very competant grasp of poetic forms or the history of the villanelle or you would realize that in form and traditional theme this poem is nearly perfect; more amazingly, written before her studies at cambridge. rather than long after, as your mentioned works, which while good, remain the easiest sells in the collection of plath's work. cheers mate, i suggest a few more years. sincerely, b post script- emily from israel, sylvia did not know ted hughes when she wrote this poem.
sarah
everyone is commenting about how this is about her first love, and how you feel when you fall in love, and how it reminds them of their love...but i think it has nothing to do with something romantic in that sense. i think this is Plath lamenting about the fact that she married Ted Hughes and he cheated on her, after she had made him out to be this perfect man, and how she wished she had loved someone else instead. look at the title: MAD girl's love song. she feels like she is going insane over this. i dont think its about falling in love. she wasn't all that romantic i'm thinking.
yes indeed bobby, this song was written for someone other than ted hughes.
an excerpt from plaths diary:
"March 10(1956):Postscript:Oh the fury, the fury. Why did I even know he was here. The panther wakes and stalks again, and every sound in this house is his tread on the stair; I wrote 'Mad Girl's Love Song' once in a mad mood like this when Mike didn't come and didn't come, and every time I am dressed in black, white and red: violent, fierce colours. All steps coming up and running past I made into his step and cursed the usurpers that took his place...."
TimUnited States
This by far my favorite poem, of hers and anybodys really..............
Laura VognarUnited States
I love this poem. I love all of Sylvia Plath though and I don't think she can ever go wrong. I know people criticize poetry and that depends whether it's to their liking but I don't see how anyone can be judgmental of it because it is the persons's feelings. Feelings cannot be helped. I love reading of Sylvia Plath's emotions and can relate a lot to them. Something about this poem make it my favorite.
SarahAustralia
I think that this poem conveys a real sadness. A portrait of love painted in her head, that didnt prevail. I adore this poem.
Derin, Sylvia Plath has no "bad poems." although i understand that not everything is poetry, that's not the case with Ms. Plath. it seems like she found an oasis in poetry. i can relate to her a lot, i know that sounds dumb, but its true, and often times, putting thoughts into words helps. i also agree with another reader that ms. plath was not speaking of love, but of insanity. the "(i thought i made you up inside…
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Derin, Sylvia Plath has no "bad poems." although i understand that not everything is poetry, that's not the case with Ms. Plath. it seems like she found an oasis in poetry. i can relate to her a lot, i know that sounds dumb, but its true, and often times, putting thoughts into words helps. i also agree with another reader that ms. plath was not speaking of love, but of insanity. the "(i thought i made you up inside my head)" directly pinpoints her insanity over men, or maybe a certain man. i think one of the components that make her such a renowned writer is the portrayal of emotion in these poems. poetry is like her diary, she has an entry for every important and semi-important even in her life.
This poem is wonderful!! Then again, so is all of her work. But it was this poem that touched me the most, laconic, yet so meaningful.
beckyUnited States
This poem is extremly touching... i do believe its about love but has nothing to do with Ted hughes do to the simple fact that she had not met Ted when she wrote this poem. its about her dreams and fears of love... but can verywell still be interpreted as her feelings with ted later on even though it was written a good two years before meeting him.
amberlyUnited States
this is the first poem i ever read by sylvia plath and i just fell in love.i had to hear more, which is why i'm here, at this page.
JulieUnited States
Regardless of whether one can relate to the poem or not, regardless of whether someone likes the theme or content of the poem, one thing all reader's must be able to agree on is the beauty of the structure of this poem. A villanelle is not an easy form to write, but Sylvia Plath executed it greatly. Also, the lines she chose to repeat in her villanelle make it an excellent poem, even sticking true to the first form of the lines, including the parenthesis. The parenthesis also say something about her meaning, in my opinion.
Lamar ColeUnited States
A first love always remains in a secret place in the heart.
MollyUnited States
Its not neccisarially about the first love, just how it feels when one first falls in love with someone else. You wonder if it can be true, and question constantly if this is real. This poem, I belive, focuses more on unrequited love since she talks of the way he didn't return, and didn't do as she had hoped. I like the poem, and although not my favorite work of hers, its very very well done and probably the best is terms of style out of all her work.
BeccaUnited Kingdom
the first few lines of this peom are so beautiful, i cried the second i read them for the first time. i think she was a beautiful mind and a great voice for those who are depressed in a world where depression is carried such a stigma.
Don't you think that the title, "Mad Girl's Love Song" could have two different meanings? Mad- angry and mad- crazy. Hmm. Thanks for that info Sucheta, it really made me think!
SineadAustralia
the line "i think i made you up inside my head" really makes allot of sense. my understanding of that is, perhaps she was in love with the idea of some one, they were ultimately a facade, and they dissappointed her in the end. she shows an insane amount of relevance to todays socity of women, for a woman of the 50's.
mad girl's love song published in a book called Writing on the Water by Jane Slavin. on Ebay siennascloset is selling them. It's a fabulous book. Read it in a day and a night.
KariItaly
yes this is tragic but also it is beautiful... love doesnt have to be perfect.. love is insainty ...
rajIndia
hai pls send the beauitful love poem
RyanUnited States
This poem is astounding. It makes you really think..
beckyUnited States
i just LOOOVE this poem. does anyone know if there is a book that has this poem in it? and if so, can you please tell me the title of the book?
BrunaBrazil
I read this poem and I find it wonderful! I did not know Plath but she is for sure wonderful!!!
rianUnited States
I think she writes poems on her feelings.But i like them alot!!
RachelUnited States
I love this poem. I love how instead of writing a "mushy" love poem, she added sort of a twist. Don't get me wrong, I love "mushy" love poems every now and then. I just love this poem, and I love Sylvia Plath. She's just below Edgar Allen Poe on my list.
danaidhaRomania
this poem ...touched my soul within and made me feel like i've lived in vain till now....
AndreaUnited States
I read the Bell Jar, loved it, and needed more of Sylvia Plath. When I read this one, I feel instantly in love with it, because to me it seems of a perfect man and wondering if its true. It is hanging in my locker, and will go with me everywhere in life.
MeghanUnited States
i don't think this is a beautiful love poem at all. i think she is depressed because her lover has left, and she is watching her world fall into chaos. she can't tell the difference between her dreams and reality, and any trust she may have had in religion is gone. Without religion or a man to rule things, she's left to herself, which makes her feel paranoid. it's tragic.
jordanUnited States
the first time i read the Bell Jar i fell in love with her amazing work. Since then ive read the book over and over again and Mad Girl's Love Song is my first poem ive read by her and its also my favorite. right now in high school i have to do a project on her and im really excited
MelissaUnited Kingdom
I don't agree with the comments about this being only a love poem. I think the beauty of Plath's poetry is her ability to include a deeper meaning and for me, this poem seems like a haunting plea to the author about her inability to cope with the world's restrictions and so her descent into insanity, the reference to god falling and the fires of hell fading, emphasises that there is nothing in life, even religion to help stabilise her and that for her the world has become an empty black place full of uncertainty and devoid of love.
adriaUnited States
her love is gone and she is experiencing so much sadness that her world seems dead. reality is distorted and she feels as if he was just a figment of her imagination. hopeless, she knows he will never return. time will pass and she will forget him as if he never existed.
EmmaUnited States
This poem to me shows her depression after her husband left her. And she is wishing she could have fell in love with someone different so she wouldn't have to go through that pain and she can't depcict reality from her past.
JessUnited States
I should also mention that she doesn't even meet Ted for another 4-5 years when this poem was written.
JessUnited States
In response, this poem is not about her husband Ted Hughes. The poem was written in her first collection of poetry right before she started college at Smith College. It first appeared in a literary magazine.
I'm not sure if she indended this poem to define a lover, or if she meant it to represent the expression of love itself. Either case, it's not about Ted Hughes.
emma fell in love doesnt excist its fallin in love when your talking in the past
NishIndia
analysis
this poem tells about the emptiness of love. She had a face in her mind and could not get the person abt whom she dreamt. It does not meen anyone ditched her, she simply could not find a person abt whom she has dreamt.
keenan
She doesn't believe that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Her lack of faith is obvious in that she only believes in what is proven in the flesh and her belief comes from her feelings, like most. She is mad because the greatest love she has felt/experienced has left her and she has no faith in finding a love comparable to that of which she has no more. But she has that love still, burning, just with no way to be satisfied herself.
analeseBarbados
The Poem
i think this poem is stupid although i didnt even read it because poetry is sooooo GAY!! i love how this is so gay say what you want to me
dontiaUnited States
la
i love your poem i wish you was still alive to be making ore poems im in love with this poem
zombieUnited States
it's about acid, obv
DandelionUnited States
Sylvia Plath's Poem
Mad Girl's Love Song is such a bittersweet poem. She regrets how her love ended up, but does she really regret the love itself?
mad girls love song is such a bittersweet poem, that i can very easily connect to my love life. and zombie, ur an idiot. this poem was written in 1951. they didnt have acid then.
makaylaUnited States
WOW
idk what it is about this poem, i seen it in my ceative writing class awhile back.. & i just LOVE it!!!! idk why really no one else really likesd , but i listened to it as soon as i got home, and made my mom.
crazygirlUnited States
mad
the author did actually have a mental disorder. she had it starting in college and through most of her adult life. her book, the bell jar, talks about how she went basically crazy. that is the reason she doubting whether or not she actually met this guy.
sobha
it was a very gud poem i cant understand wht is its poetic device can any one help me ?
This poem is absolutely amazing. it just took my breath away.
This poem flows together like liquid. I absolutely love it. Karina, you are not alone. Whenever Sylvia put a writing utensil to paper, she made magic.
Christopher, I take it to describe her closing her eyes, and shutting out the world. When the speaker's eyes are closed, the world around her doesn't exist. It only exists to her when she opens them again. On a deeper level, it's a fairly powerful solipsistic statement. The world's very existence depends on the speaker experiencing it. If the speaker doesn't see (or experience in some way at least) something, then…
Read the whole commentChristopher,
I take it to describe her closing her eyes, and shutting out the world. When the speaker's eyes are closed, the world around her doesn't exist. It only exists to her when she opens them again.
On a deeper level, it's a fairly powerful solipsistic statement. The world's very existence depends on the speaker experiencing it. If the speaker doesn't see (or experience in some way at least) something, then it simply doesn't exist. This is furthered by the repitition of "I think I made you up inside my head." Not only does the speaker have the power to create people with her imagination, but they are so convincing that she's not entirely sure whether they're real or imagined (hence the use of the word "think")
Hope that helps some.
i think i almost cried
I came across this poem one day a few weeks ago, now I've got it taped to my bedroom wall. I absolutely loved it.
i love how she puts "I think I made you up inside my head." between parentheses. as if it is an afterthought. it just fits well, and seems so appropriate to me.
when i read this poem i realized that she was talking about her first love and how many girls mistakingly feel when they come across the foolishness of knowing that the significant other doesn't feel the same way. its always a good poem to show to the young and unaware of what love can do to you. its a lot better than the birds and the bees talk. Hee! hee!
could anybody tell me why this poem is not in Plath's Collected Poems? The book mostly includes poems written after 1956, but it has a list of all of the poems written before then in the back. However, I've seen it a million places online and in the back of my copy of the Bell Jar. Why??
amazing! i don't have a word for this poem, this's a real gold in poem history. i think all of her poems amazing. we should learn from her life.
This is a great material for a song, maybe some of you will write someday a music to it? :)
It speak out the true feelings of losing my love,that is "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead", even after all those years,every time I remembered those words ,I just am stricken apart .
I loved this poem. It is so powerful. It reminds me of the feeling you get when you first fall in love with someone. It describes that crazy, obsessed, knee-knocking, heart racing feeling that you get when you meet that one true love. It seems so unreal that just like Sylvia says, you aren't sure if you made it up inside your head. What a wonderful expression!
I have always loved sylvia.i cant stop reading her literature after i got my hands on the bell jar.she takes everything to heart and analyzes everything with all of her senses.i especially love this poem.
Being only 16 a felt i could really identify with the thoughts and feelings Plath expressed. It is absolutely magical the way she uses words and imagery. ***** 5 stars!!
So, I was looking for some good poems to use in a poetry book for my english class and I came upon this poem and all of the other comments people wrote. Well the instant I read this poem I fell in love with it because, although I'm only 16, I've already found my first love... just luckily i found a good one and we're still together! To everyone who's had their heart broke, keep your chin up, there's someone for everyone!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS POEM! ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVOURITES!!
I LOVE THIS POEM.....I THANK MY ENGLISH TEACHER FOR GIVING US THE BOOK WITH MS. PLATH'S POEM IN IT.
This poem is a villa nelle, which is one of the most difficult types of poems to write. Plath wrote this while she was still in college, long before she had anything published. In fact, I believe she won her trip to New York to write for Mademoiselle magazine after submitting this poem to a poetry contest.
The poetry she wrote in her early years isn't included in "The Collected Poems" because she never had any of it published. Her "Collected Poems" is just a collection of poetry from all of books of poetry she had published, before and after her suicide, including "The Colossus," "Crossing the Water," and "Ariel."
wow! ms.smarty kasey its VILLANELLE - one word (just to let you know) au revior
This is, as with all of Sylvia Plath's poetry, spectacular. I love her writing form and her work is so deep. I wish I could use it for my poetry project, but unfortunately my teacher says there's too much "innuendo" in it. It's such a shame really that such narrow-minded people are able to even read poetry like this.
It's probably as love is. Everything is inside our heads.
it it is a very very very very good job and i really really LOVED IT SO MUCH IT MADE ME CRY THATS HOW GOOD IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sylvia's Poetry is great especially this particular poem .
i think "Mad Girl's Love Song " is dedictaed to her husband Ted Hughes because he cheated on her while she loved him, she talks about the distance between them , " I should have loved a thunderbird instead ,At least when spring comes it will roar back again" .
The confessional poetry reveals to the reader the poets mental state .
I'm thrilled to see that so many have commented on this poem. I love all of Plath's work, but this poem always sticks out in my mind. The villanelle is extremely hard to write, but the great Plath was no match for it's iambics. Rest in peace, Sylvia.
wow...really great poem. makes me think of this guy i fell in love with...but he never really felt the same way back. really great poem... "i closed my eyes and all the world drops dead. i lift my lids and all is reborn again" b e a u t i f u l.
I think this poem of Plath's is pretty out there and can fully touch you in one reading. it easily sticks to anyone who reads it. Especially those who've had someone they can only daydream about... i love it, it's my favorite. :)
Absolutely wonderful poem. It kinda reminds me of a girl I was dating some time ago..we're supposed to be getting back together, but things are getting screwed up again. I read this after a long time of not having seen it and it made me cry. I love it.
i like this poem a lot..came across it when i needed help for an english project..i thin silvia plath is an amazing poetist..howeveru call a femal poet!..shes got so many origianal ideas
This is cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im notmuch of a poem reading kind of gal but when i had to research a poem for my english project this poem really jumped at me. Im goin through a hard time right now and just been ditched by a guy i liked.. this poem makes me feel more like im not the only one who thinks like this!!!
Plath has alwasy been my favorite author, and this happens to be one of my favorite poems of hers. I love how she can take something so simple and make it so dark and macabre...masterful.
I love Sylvia Plath and have been reading her for years now. I have to say though, I think this one poem is exceptionally bad. My favorites are Lady Lazarus and Daddy for their sheer power of expression and their powerful imagery.
derin, granted this is a brief comment block so expression is limited, but your comment is almost entirely worthless. what have you been reading for years that has taken you no further than the most mainstream and obvious poems published by plath. furthermore i can't believe you have a very competant grasp of poetic forms or the history of the villanelle or you would realize that in form and traditional theme this…
Read the whole commentderin,
granted this is a brief comment block so expression is limited, but your comment is almost entirely worthless. what have you been reading for years that has taken you no further than the most mainstream and obvious poems published by plath. furthermore i can't believe you have a very competant grasp of poetic forms or the history of the villanelle or you would realize that in form and traditional theme this poem is nearly perfect; more amazingly, written before her studies at cambridge. rather than long after, as your mentioned works, which while good, remain the easiest sells in the collection of plath's work.
cheers mate, i suggest a few more years.
sincerely, b
post script- emily from israel, sylvia did not know ted hughes when she wrote this poem.
everyone is commenting about how this is about her first love, and how you feel when you fall in love, and how it reminds them of their love...but i think it has nothing to do with something romantic in that sense. i think this is Plath lamenting about the fact that she married Ted Hughes and he cheated on her, after she had made him out to be this perfect man, and how she wished she had loved someone else instead. look at the title: MAD girl's love song. she feels like she is going insane over this. i dont think its about falling in love. she wasn't all that romantic i'm thinking.
yes indeed bobby, this song was written for someone other than ted hughes.
an excerpt from plaths diary:
"March 10(1956):Postscript:Oh the fury, the fury. Why did I even know he was here. The panther wakes and stalks again, and every sound in this house is his tread on the stair; I wrote 'Mad Girl's Love Song' once in a mad mood like this when Mike didn't come and didn't come, and every time I am dressed in black, white and red: violent, fierce colours. All steps coming up and running past I made into his step and cursed the usurpers that took his place...."
This by far my favorite poem, of hers and anybodys really..............
I love this poem. I love all of Sylvia Plath though and I don't think she can ever go wrong. I know people criticize poetry and that depends whether it's to their liking but I don't see how anyone can be judgmental of it because it is the persons's feelings. Feelings cannot be helped. I love reading of Sylvia Plath's emotions and can relate a lot to them. Something about this poem make it my favorite.
I think that this poem conveys a real sadness. A portrait of love painted in her head, that didnt prevail. I adore this poem.
Derin, Sylvia Plath has no "bad poems." although i understand that not everything is poetry, that's not the case with Ms. Plath. it seems like she found an oasis in poetry. i can relate to her a lot, i know that sounds dumb, but its true, and often times, putting thoughts into words helps. i also agree with another reader that ms. plath was not speaking of love, but of insanity. the "(i thought i made you up inside…
Read the whole commentDerin, Sylvia Plath has no "bad poems." although i understand that not everything is poetry, that's not the case with Ms. Plath. it seems like she found an oasis in poetry. i can relate to her a lot, i know that sounds dumb, but its true, and often times, putting thoughts into words helps. i also agree with another reader that ms. plath was not speaking of love, but of insanity. the "(i thought i made you up inside my head)" directly pinpoints her insanity over men, or maybe a certain man. i think one of the components that make her such a renowned writer is the portrayal of emotion in these poems. poetry is like her diary, she has an entry for every important and semi-important even in her life.
This poem is wonderful!! Then again, so is all of her work. But it was this poem that touched me the most, laconic, yet so meaningful.
This poem is extremly touching... i do believe its about love but has nothing to do with Ted hughes do to the simple fact that she had not met Ted when she wrote this poem. its about her dreams and fears of love... but can verywell still be interpreted as her feelings with ted later on even though it was written a good two years before meeting him.
this is the first poem i ever read by sylvia plath and i just fell in love.i had to hear more, which is why i'm here, at this page.
Regardless of whether one can relate to the poem or not, regardless of whether someone likes the theme or content of the poem, one thing all reader's must be able to agree on is the beauty of the structure of this poem. A villanelle is not an easy form to write, but Sylvia Plath executed it greatly. Also, the lines she chose to repeat in her villanelle make it an excellent poem, even sticking true to the first form of the lines, including the parenthesis. The parenthesis also say something about her meaning, in my opinion.
A first love always remains in a secret place in the heart.
Its not neccisarially about the first love, just how it feels when one first falls in love with someone else. You wonder if it can be true, and question constantly if this is real. This poem, I belive, focuses more on unrequited love since she talks of the way he didn't return, and didn't do as she had hoped. I like the poem, and although not my favorite work of hers, its very very well done and probably the best is terms of style out of all her work.
the first few lines of this peom are so beautiful, i cried the second i read them for the first time.
i think she was a beautiful mind and a great voice for those who are depressed in a world where depression is carried such a stigma.
Don't you think that the title, "Mad Girl's Love Song" could have two different meanings? Mad- angry and mad- crazy. Hmm. Thanks for that info Sucheta, it really made me think!
the line "i think i made you up inside my head" really makes allot of sense. my understanding of that is, perhaps she was in love with the idea of some one, they were ultimately a facade, and they dissappointed her in the end. she shows an insane amount of relevance to todays socity of women, for a woman of the 50's.
mad girl's love song published in a book called Writing on the Water by Jane Slavin. on Ebay siennascloset is selling them. It's a fabulous book. Read it in a day and a night.
yes this is tragic but also it is beautiful... love doesnt have to be perfect.. love is insainty ...
hai pls send the beauitful love poem
This poem is astounding. It makes you really think..
i just LOOOVE this poem.
does anyone know if there is a book that has this poem in it? and if so, can you please tell me the title of the book?
I read this poem and I find it wonderful! I did not know Plath but she is for sure wonderful!!!
I think she writes poems on her feelings.But i like them alot!!
I love this poem. I love how instead of writing a "mushy" love poem, she added sort of a twist. Don't get me wrong, I love "mushy" love poems every now and then. I just love this poem, and I love Sylvia Plath. She's just below Edgar Allen Poe on my list.
this poem ...touched my soul within and made me feel like i've lived in vain till now....
I read the Bell Jar, loved it, and needed more of Sylvia Plath. When I read this one, I feel instantly in love with it, because to me it seems of a perfect man and wondering if its true. It is hanging in my locker, and will go with me everywhere in life.
i don't think this is a beautiful love poem at all. i think she is depressed because her lover has left, and she is watching her world fall into chaos. she can't tell the difference between her dreams and reality, and any trust she may have had in religion is gone. Without religion or a man to rule things, she's left to herself, which makes her feel paranoid. it's tragic.
the first time i read the Bell Jar i fell in love with her amazing work. Since then ive read the book over and over again and Mad Girl's Love Song is my first poem ive read by her and its also my favorite. right now in high school i have to do a project on her and im really excited
I don't agree with the comments about this being only a love poem. I think the beauty of Plath's poetry is her ability to include a deeper meaning and for me, this poem seems like a haunting plea to the author about her inability to cope with the world's restrictions and so her descent into insanity, the reference to god falling and the fires of hell fading, emphasises that there is nothing in life, even religion to help stabilise her and that for her the world has become an empty black place full of uncertainty and devoid of love.
her love is gone and she is experiencing so much sadness that her world seems dead. reality is distorted and she feels as if he was just a figment of her imagination. hopeless, she knows he will never return. time will pass and she will forget him as if he never existed.
This poem to me shows her depression after her husband left her. And she is wishing she could have fell in love with someone different so she wouldn't have to go through that pain and she can't depcict reality from her past.
I should also mention that she doesn't even meet Ted for another 4-5 years when this poem was written.
In response, this poem is not about her husband Ted Hughes. The poem was written in her first collection of poetry right before she started college at Smith College. It first appeared in a literary magazine.
I'm not sure if she indended this poem to define a lover, or if she meant it to represent the expression of love itself. Either case, it's not about Ted Hughes.
emma fell in love doesnt excist its fallin in love when your talking in the past
analysis
this poem tells about the emptiness of love. She had a face in her mind and could not get the person abt whom she dreamt. It does not meen anyone ditched her, she simply could not find a person abt whom she has dreamt.
She doesn't believe that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Her lack of faith is obvious in that she only believes in what is proven in the flesh and her belief comes from her feelings, like most. She is mad because the greatest love she has felt/experienced has left her and she has no faith in finding a love comparable to that of which she has no more. But she has that love still, burning, just with no way to be satisfied herself.
The Poem
i think this poem is stupid although i didnt even read it because poetry is sooooo GAY!! i love how this is so gay say what you want to me
la
i love your poem i wish you was still alive to be making ore poems im in love with this poem
it's about acid, obv
Sylvia Plath's Poem
Mad Girl's Love Song is such a bittersweet poem. She regrets how her love ended up, but does she really regret the love itself?
some of you are idiots...
mad girls love song is such a bittersweet poem, that i can very easily connect to my love life.
and zombie, ur an idiot. this poem was written in 1951. they didnt have acid then.
WOW
idk what it is about this poem, i seen it in my ceative writing class awhile back.. & i just LOVE it!!!! idk why really no one else really likesd , but i listened to it as soon as i got home, and made my mom.
mad
the author did actually have a mental disorder. she had it starting in college and through most of her adult life. her book, the bell jar, talks about how she went basically crazy. that is the reason she doubting whether or not she actually met this guy.
it was a very gud poem i cant understand wht is its poetic device can any one help me ?