Lady Lazarus

Poetic Interpretation

I have done it again.

One year in every ten

I manage it----

A sort of walking miracle, my skin

Bright as a Nazi lampshade,

My right foot

A paperweight,

My face a featureless, fine

Jew linen.

Peel off the napkin

0 my enemy.

Do I terrify?----

The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?

The sour breath

Will vanish in a day.

Soon, soon the flesh

The grave cave ate will be

At home on me

And I a smiling woman.

I am only thirty.

And like the cat I have nine times to die.

This is Number Three.

What a trash

To annihilate each decade.

What a million filaments.

The peanut-crunching crowd

Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand and foot

The big strip tease.

Gentlemen, ladies

These are my hands

My knees.

I may be skin and bone,

Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.

The first time it happened I was ten.

It was an accident.

The second time I meant

To last it out and not come back at all.

I rocked shut

As a seashell.

They had to call and call

And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.

Dying

Is an art, like everything else,

I do it exceptionally well.

I do it so it feels like hell.

I do it so it feels real.

I guess you could say I've a call.

It's easy enough to do it in a cell.

It's easy enough to do it and stay put.

It's the theatrical

Comeback in broad day

To the same place, the same face, the same brute

Amused shout:

'A miracle!'

That knocks me out.

There is no charge

For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge

For the hearing of my heart----

It really goes.

And there is a charge, a very large charge

For a word or a touch

Or a bit of blood

Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.

So, so, Herr Doktor.

So, Herr Enemy.

I am your opus,

I am your valuable,

The pure gold baby

That melts to a shriek.

I turn and burn.

Do not think I underestimate your great concern.

Ash, ash ---

You poke and stir.

Flesh, bone, there is nothing there----

A cake of soap,

A wedding ring,

A gold filling.

Herr God, Herr Lucifer

Beware

Beware.

Out of the ash

I rise with my red hair

And I eat men like air.

Lady Lazarus: Poem Interpretation

      This poem seems very anomalous and unsettling upon the first read, but once you take a deeper look into the life and times of Sylvia Plath it begins to take on a deeper level of sagacity and substance. It is no secret that Sylvia struggled with a mental illness that resulted in various suicide attempts and this poem exemplifies just that. If one was knowledgeable in biblical events they would discern that the title alone eludes the reader that she has had her fair share with the experience of death.  Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha in the Bible and Jesus raised him from the dead after he spent four days in the tomb. Sylvia keeps dying so to speak and comes back to life from her suicide attempts that results in her being resurrected like Lazarus. I personally think that she did it for the attention and it is stated in the poem that, “it’s easy enough to do it and stay put. It’s the theatrical.” To me this is saying that it’s easy to be made a victim and an easy way to stir up drama and attention that I think she was lacking in her life. She uses irony and personification as she refers to herself as a ‘walking miracle’ because she has never succeeded in dying whether it was on purpose or an accident since and she was always brought back to life. She wants to give up because she is weak throughout the poem but towards the end the tone changes as she takes on a newfound strength. Sylvia makes use of similes as she refers to herself as having nine lives like a cat and how she eats men like air in the last stanza referring to the fact that they mean nothing to her which gives the end of the poem a sense of feminine empowerment.

Lady Lazarus: Poem Interpretation

               “Lady Lazarus”, a poem written by Sylvia Plath, is yet another example of her ability to show her dark side. This poem is obviously a statement of her despair. She illustrates her suicide attempts without apologies or concern. Plath’s poetic style leaves the reader not feeling sorry for her, but with a deeper understanding of her mental state. “Lady Lazarus” uses imagery, powerful stanzas, symbols, tone, and rhythm to paint a picture of death that seems to be emotional yet emotionless at the same time. Suicide is a difficult theme to discuss without giving the audience too much information about ones self. Plath perfectly and chaotically uses her stanzas to keep her audience wondering not only how the poem will end, but how will her life end? Suicide was the inevitable end to her life, and it is sad that her poetic self was aware of the end before the world was. Reading “Lady Lazarus” gives a piece of Plath without ever finding the whole. Sylvia Plath used herself and her feelings as a subject point for this poem, as she did many of her poems. My favorite part of the poem is the nonchalant explanation of death itself. It really makes me wonder how sane was she? Would her work be as powerful without the utter disappointment and despair she felt? “Lady Lazarus” the title itself refers to the rebirth of Jesus, which in some way ties Plath’s feelings of death together. It makes sense that suicide was her acceptable way to die. “Lady Lazarus” proves that Plath was contempt with the process of death, and maybe just maybe it was a better alternative than the hell she was living with on a daily basis.

“Dying is an art, like everything else, I do it exceptionally well.”- Sylvia Plath

    “Lady Lazarus” is one of Sylvia’s most famous poems and it ties in with family crisis, emotional issues and personal experiences.  She uses striking images and takes on a feminine, feminist approach to her writing.  Putting herself in the place of Lazarus, the biblical character and is reborn from darkness of death to the brightness of light.  "I have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it--"  In this passage, Sylvia at this point has tried committing suicide once every ten years.  She continues, "A sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot."  Major imagery is involved here, her “walking miracle” refers to her walking away from death but symbolically tying in with her father losing his foot to diabetes.  “Bright as a Nazi,” pertains to her moving from the dark to light and moving forward in her life.

Sylvia reverts back to confident, feminist statements in a few stanzas, "And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty. And like the cat I have nine times to die." "This is Number Three. What a trash To annihilate each decade."  At this point she has clearly admitted to trying to commmit suicide three times.  Bringing the poem back to a dreary state and continues with talks of more suicide.  The way she verbalizes it, she makes you believe she is getting rid of the pain by letting herself go and no longer having to hold onto the pain of losing her Dad and Ted Hughes.  Like Lazarus she has resisted being reborn.  Towards the end of the poem, Ted Hughes is called out and it is made aware that she is thinking about her ex-husband.  As soon as i gets bright, she starts glooming over Ted and says, "I am your opus, I am your valuable, The pure gold baby."  Meaning that she believed that at one point in their relationship he may have cared and adored her, but no longer.  As the poem reads on you can see towards the beginning of the poem she had issues separating herself from her husband, but now she decides that she isn’t going to give up on herself and she will be strong.  "Ash, ash--- You poke and stir. Flesh, bone, there is nothing there--"  Towards the end of the last two stanzas, Daddy is God and Ted is Satan.  She is telling them to beware as well as the doctors who saved her.  She ends the poem on a good note though.  I took it to mean that she has rose up from the ashes and is reborn, not ready to die yet or give up.  She still has fight in her and she is ok, but isn’t going to be a victim anymore.  "Herr God, Herr Lucifer, Beware, Beware." "Out of the ash, I rise with my red hair, And I eat men like air. "