I have no wit, I have no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
A lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is like the falling leaf;
O Jesus, quicken me.
A Better Resurrection
Analysis, meaning and summary of Sylvia Plath's poem A Better Resurrection
16 Comments
Leave a Reply
Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Sylvia Plath better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
is this quote by sylvia plath or oscar wilde because when i searched it up, it says oscar wilde, but when i first read it in a quote wepage, it said sylvia plath
First of all, if CHILDREN such as yourself take the time to COMMENT negatively on an established poet, then you should take the time to use your WORDS instead of NUMBERS and acronyms to express your opinion. Because you believe that poetry is a waste of time, you obviously have not been educated. And as an uneducated little brat, you do not have the standing to join a discussion of this nature.
I’m sorry but I feel that you are wrong, some people can be educated and not agree with the poem or not like it and want to voice their opinion. That does not mean that they are uneducated and it may also not be children. Personally I know many adults who think poetry is a waste of time and they all have university degrees. Just because someone has a difference of opinion to you does mean that they are uneducated nor are they a little brat. If you are an adult and you are disrespecting children like you are, I would suggest that you look at the words you are using and the negativity you are putting into the world and change.
This poem was written by Christina Rossetti in 1862 and it is about how she longs to leave her present life and obtain an eternal union ship with Jesus in an attempt to have a more purposeful life. Please amend your mistakes.
Sylvia Plath once wrote:
“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence…”
I had to choose a Sylvia Plath poem to analyse and I chose this one because I could easily understand it. It is clear that she is not happy and wants her life shortened.
Plath didn’t writ it. She was a famous suicide, and her relationship with her religious father and family was strained and probably psychologically unhealthy. She was manipulated, misjudged, and degraded by the men in her life. Her lesbian relationships were suppressed. She certainly didn’t reach out to Jesus.
A reader from the U.K has already noted that this poem is by Christina Rossetti, not Sylvia Plath. In fact, this is the first stanza of Rossetti’s three-stanza poem. The fact that another author’s work is ascribed to Plath makes me suspect of other poems in your site.
You should have removed Rossetti’s poem from this site when you first became aware of your mistake! May I also add that this poem, as you present it, is not exactly as written by Rossetti.
This poem is so cool because it talks about how she is weak but looks to jesus to help her.
This isn’t Sylvia’s work. I was quite taken aback when I read it because it’s not her style at all. I had to check the facts, and sure enough, it isn’t hers. I do like it though. Sylvia doesn’t usually rhyme like that, and she’s a little more into imagery expressing her despair rather than being so forthcoming about it. Well, she is, but not in this direct manner.
This poem was written by Christina Rossetti – not Sylvia Plath
I also think that this poem foreshadows Plath’s death, as the line “Jesus, quicken me” implies to me that she wants the Lord to hurry along her death, that she has no will to survive anymore. I see a sign of desperation in Plath’s narrative voice.
“Quicken” means “Bring me back to life.” The expression “the quick and the dead” in the old translation of the Creed draws a contrast between those who gain eternal life, the “quick,” and the ones who go to hell, the “dead.”
The element mercury is called “quicksilver” because it is a fluid, and thus very lively, at room temperature. Don’t test this, but take my word for it – it’s a poison and can harm you if you take it in through pores or tongue.
“Quicken” can me refresh, resurrect, or re-enliven. It certainly doesn’t mean “hurry me along to death.”
And anyway, Sylvia Plath, who stuck her head in the oven and turned on the gas after she had her baby with poet Ted Hughes, did not write it. Christina Rossetti wrote it; moreover, there are two other stanzas that complete her thought.
the 1st 3 lines are really dead on
In this poem I, as the reader feel that Plath foreshadows her suicide. Some lines of her work reveal that she just wants her life to end.
Read the real poem by Christina Rossetti. There is no foreshadowing of suicide in it. Not even in the first stanza, which is all you’ve read of it. Jesus helping her to commit suicide is absurd. Jesus doesn’t tell people to commit suicide. Read the Bible: nowhere does any figure in that book of books advise suicide.
This website is creepy.