Plath’s poem is about her numerous suicide attempts and addresses this challenging subject matter in a direct and honest way, yet the poem is also technically dextrous and weaves in references to mythology and unlikely poetic frames of reference too.
The 1960s was the great decade of Confessional poetry, best typified by American poets such as John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, and most famously of all, Sylvia Plath. Plath’s poem is about her numerous suicide attempts and addresses this challenging subject matter in a direct and honest way, yet the poem is also technically dextrous and weaves in references to mythology and unlikely poetic frames of reference too.