The Colossus - A poem by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath - The Colossus

I shall never get you put together entirely,
Pieced, glued, and properly jointed.
Mule-bray, pig-grunt and bawdy cackles
Proceed from your great lips.
It's worse than a barnyard.

Perhaps you consider yourself an oracle,
Mouthpiece of the dead, or of some god or other.
Thirty years now I have labored
To dredge the silt from your throat.
I am none the wiser.

Scaling little ladders with glue pots and pails of Lysol
I crawl like an ant in mourning
Over the weedy acres of your brow
To mend the immense skull-plates and clear
The bald, white tumuli of your eyes.

A blue sky out of the Oresteia
Arches above us. O father, all by yourself
You are pithy and historical as the Roman Forum.
I open my lunch on a hill of black cypress.
Your fluted bones and acanthine hair are littered

In their old anarchy to the horizon-line.
It would take more than a lightning-stroke
To create such a ruin.
Nights, I squat in the cornucopia
Of your left ear, out of the wind,

Counting the red stars and those of plum-color.
The sun rises under the pillar of your tongue.
My hours are married to shadow.
No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel
On the blank stones of the landing.

Added: on April 7th, 2006 at 5:37 PM | Viewed: 12116 times | Comments and analysis of The Colossus by Sylvia Plath Comments (15)

The Colossus - Comments and Information
Poet: Sylvia Plath Poem: The Colossus Volume: The Collected Poems Year: Published/Written in 1959 Poem of the Day: Jun 12 2006 Comment 15 of 15, added on January 14th, 2008 at 2:41 PM. I do not think the thirty years should throw anyone off. She was trying to figure him out and piece things together even before he died. jean from United States Comment 14 of 15, added on January 14th, 2008 at 2:23 PM. I enjoyed getting into the background a little bit with my daughter, who was studying the poem. She did some research and found the Colossus of Rhodes broke into pieces 54 years after it was built, which was (about?) the age of Otto Plath when he died. Also the fluted bones and acanthine hair seem to be referring to broken down Corinthian columns (acanthus leaves often adorned their capitals). Plus, of course, the reference to the sun (the Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of Helios) and the sound of the keel heard no more (it was the lighthouse guarding the harbor). The black cypresses of the region also fill out the scene. Since Plath was so keen on these details, I don't understand why she refers to a ROMAN forum, when everything else, even the Oresteia (read "Electra complex"), is Greek. Maybe it is because Roman discourse was known to be more "pithy", and her father remained an enigma to her. She obviously revered him. jean from United States Comment 13 of 15, added on April 7th, 2006 at 5:37 PM. Ivana, I like your interpretation/ analysis of the poem. I too see it that way, though I mention god-husband-father. It also is interesting since academia and literature were then very male-centric. Trying to please and fit in makes sense. I also think many attempt to analyze a "confessional" poet's poems through the events of her life. What matters is the lyrical beauty and wit, at least for me. Thanks. Lucy from United States More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, The Colossus, has received 15 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Sylvia Plath with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info
Poet: Sylvia Plath Poem: The Colossus Volume: The Collected Poems Year: Published/Written in 1959 Last read: Jul 19 2008, 7:22PM Poem of the Day: Jun 12 2006 Viewed 12116 times. Added on April 7th, 2006 at 5:37 PM.

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