Sylvia Plath

The Arrival of the Bee Box

I ordered this, this clean wood box Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift. I would say it was the con of a midget Or a square baby Were there not such a din in it. e box is locked, it is dangerous. I have to live with it overnight And I cant keep away from it. ere are no windows, so I cant see what is in there. ere is only a little grid, no exit. I put my eye to the grid. It is dark, dark, With the swarmy feeling of African hands Minute and shrunk for export, Black on black, angrily clambering. How can I let them out? It is the noise that appalls me most of all, e unintelligible syllables. It is like a Roman mob, Small, taken one by one, but my god, together! I lay my ear to furious Latin. I am not a Caesar. I have simply ordered a box of maniacs. ey can be sent back. ey can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner. I wonder how hungry they are. I wonder if they would forget me If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree. ere is the laburnum, its blond colonnades, And the petticoats of the cherry. ey might ignore me immediately In my moon suit and funeral veil. I am no source of honey So why should they turn on me? Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free. e box is only temporary.
[22] [29] [29] [32] Caesar: title used by several Roman emperors laburnum: a tree with yellow owers colonnade: a structure composed of columns placed at regular intervals moon suit and funeral veil: here these refer to the beekeepers protective clothing

This is Poetry 123

Sylvia Plath

COMPREHENSION
Stanzas 12 1 Briey describe the bee box in your own words. 2 What is the speakers initial response to the bee box? (Is she surprised, delighted, worried?) 3 Why is the box described as dangerous? 4 Why do you think the speaker has to live with it overnight? 5 ough the speaker thinks the box is dangerous, she is unable to stay away from it. Why do you think this is? Stanzas 34 6 Describe in your own words what the speaker sees when she puts her eye to the boxs grid. 7 What most unusual image is used to describe this? 8 How can I let them out? Why do you think the speaker is reluctant to release the bees? 9 Describe the speakers reaction to the sound emanating from the bee box. 10 What simile is used to describe this racket? Stanza 5 11 In this stanza, what metaphor is used to describe the bees buzzing? 12 What does the speaker mean when she says she is not a Caesar? 13 Why do you think she characterises them as maniacs? 14 What options does she feel she has with relation to this box that frightens her so much? Stanzas 67 15 e lines about turning into a tree are a reference to the Greek myth of Daphne, who was pursued by Apollo. She pleaded with the gods to help her and they responded by transforming her into a tree. Why do you think the speaker makes this reference to Greek mythology? 16 Why does she feel the bees will not turn on her if she releases them? 17 What does she finally decide to do with the box?

PERSONAL RESPONSE
1 Like much of Plaths best work, this poem is intensely visual. Identify two images from the poem that struck you as vivid or memorable, and say why. Class Discussion: It has often been suggested that the bee box in this poem has a symbolic value. What do you think it represents? In this poem, Plath seems to forecast her own tragic death. She envisages herself slipping away from this human life, transforming into a tree, wearing a funeral veil like a dead person, or a moon suit like an astronaut ready to depart this world. Do you agree with this reading? Give reasons for your answer. How would you characterise the tone of the poem? Both e Arrival of the Bee Box and Elm are imbued with elements of terror and horror. Would you agree, however, that the tone of these poems is very dierent? Do you think it is fair to say that this poem is about confronting and mastering ones fears? Would you describe it as an optimistic or pessimistic piece? Plath once said: I believe that one should be able to control and manipulate experiences, even the most terric, like madness, being tortured, this sort of experience, and one should be able to manipulate these experiences with an informed and an intelligent mind. How does this statement eect your understanding of the poem?

2 3

4 5

IN CONTEXT

124 This is Poetry

Sylvia Plath

The Arrival of the Bee Box

During the summer of 1962, while she lived with her husband in the Devon countryside, Plath experimented with bee-keeping. is experience provided her with the inspiration for a number of poems about bees, one of which is e Arrival of the Bee Box.

LINE BY LINE
A description of the box
In this poem, the speaker has just received a clean wood box that is full of bees. Tomorrow, she will release the bees into the hive she has prepared for them. Tonight, however, she must keep the box in her house: I have to live with it overnight. e box has the following features: It is square in shape: square as a chair. It is heavy: almost too heavy too lift It is locked, and its only opening is a small grid, or grille, for ventilation: ere are no windows no exit. e bees inside it produce a loud din of buzzing.

According to the speaker, the bees look like the tiny shrunken hands of dead Africans. She nds the sound they make even more horrifying and upsetting than their appearance: It is the noise that appals me most of all. She compares their buzzing to a strange language full of unintelligible syllables. She associates the bees with rage and anger, thinking of them as a box of maniacs. ey clamber angrily and the sound they make is furious.

e speaker is highly conscious that a swarm of bees can pose a threat to a human being. In this regard, she compares the bees to a rioting crowd in ancient Roman times: It is like a Roman mob. On his own, each member of a Roman mob was powerless; as a rioting group, however, they could threaten the stability of the entire city. Similarly, a single bee can do little harm to a human being. An entire swarm, however, could easily sting a person to death: Small, taken one by one, but my God together!. e speaker fears that once released, the bees will turn on her and overwhelm her: How can I let them out? It took a powerful ruler like Caesar to master the mobs of Rome. Similarly, it will take a skilled and condent bee-keeper to control the bees once they have been released from the box. e speaker, however, feels she does not possess the qualities necessary to tame or control this raging swarm: I am no Caesar.

The speakers reaction to the box

e speaker reacts to the box with a feeling of dread and horror. She thinks of it as dangerous. She seems to associate it with death, referring to it as a con. We get a sense in the opening line that she is regretful or even somehow surprised that she purchased the bees in the rst place. Yet though the box horries the speaker, it also fascinates her. She feels compelled to stay near it: I cant keep away from it. She puts her eye to the grid, or grille, and attempts to peer into it. She lays her ear on its surface and listens to the bees buzzing within. e speakers reaction to the box, then, is complex and contradictory. It seems to repulse her and attract her at the same time.

What will the speaker do with the bees?

e speaker considers her options with regard to the bees. Firstly, she could return them to the shop she bought them from: ey can be sent back. Secondly, she could starve them and let them perish in their clean wood box: They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner. Finally, she could overcome her fear of the bees and release them in the morning as she had originally planned. She wonders if the bees are hungry enough to attack her should she decide to release them: I wonder how hungry they are. She feels there is little real chance of this attack occurring: I am no source of honey/ So why should they turn on me?. e bees, in fact, will probably just ignore her if sets them free: ey might ignore me immediately.

The speakers reaction to the bees

e speaker reacts to the bees inside the box with what can only be described as fear and horror: ough the boxs interior is dark, dark, when she looks through the grille she can just make out the bees scrambling and clambering around within it.

This is Poetry 337

Sylvia Plath

e speaker has a god-like power over the bees the power of life and death. She decides that tomorrow she will act like a sweet, or benevolent, god. Instead of sending the bees back or letting them die, she will set them free. Having concluded that they pose little threat to her, she will release them into the garden: Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.// e box is only temporary.

the grille. She associates them with rage, thinking of them as furious maniacs angrily clambering in the darkness. e dread she experiences seems to reect her inner turmoil. She has such a strong reaction to the box because of the troubled and tumultuous mental state she is in when they arrive. Such mental turmoil is also a feature of Elm, Finisterre and, arguably, of Child. Unlike those poems, however, e Arrival of the Bee Box features a note of hope. e speaker can overcome her fear of the bees by releasing them, rather like someone who is afraid of ying stepping onto a plane. At present, the speaker is controlled by her terror of the bees. By releasing them, however, she will conquer her fear and empower herself. She will go from being powerless (no Caesar) to being powerful (sweet God). If the speaker can overcome this seemingly irrational fear of the bee box, perhaps she can also overcome the deeper mental turmoil that aects her. ere are several instances in Plaths poetry where the speaker expresses what might be described as self-

THEMES
Mental anguish
Like many of Plaths poems, e Arrival of the Bee Box depicts mental turmoil. e sight and sound of the locked box lls the speaker with dread: e box is locked, it is dangerous. Her dread is exacerbated by the fact that she cant see into it. On one level, of course, the speaker is simply afraid that the bees might escape and sting her. Yet her intense reaction to the box seems to stem from more than this practical concern. She is appalled by the noise of their buzzing and disgusted by what she can see of them through

338 This is Poetry

Sylvia Plath

destructive thoughts or desires. Many readers feel that these desires surface in e Arrival of the Bee Box. When the speaker imagines herself wearing the protective garments of a bee-keeper, she describes the face covering as a funeral veil. ere is a sense here that she is anticipating her own demise, or on some level even desiring it. is tendency is perhaps also evident when she imagines herself being transformed into a tree: I wonder would they just forget me If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree. ere is the laburnum, its blond colonnades, And the petticoats of the cherry ere is a sense in which the speaker seems to desire this transformation, to leave behind the human condition, with all its trials and tribulations. She wants to give up human consciousness and become an unthinking but beautiful piece of plant life. A similar desire to be erased from human consciousness is also present in Finisterre and in Poppies in July. Many of Plaths poems express what can only be described as feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. Such feelings of failure are evident in Morning Song, where the speaker doubts her ability to be a good mother, and in Child, where the speaker laments that she can only give her child the agitated wringing of hands. It is also present in this poem when the speaker doubts her ability to control the swarm of bees once she releases them: I am no Caesar.

Just as the speaker is terried and disgusted by the bee box, so Plath was nervous about exploring her unconscious mind, and horried by the demons that might lurk there. By opening up her unconscious, she will unleash her inner demons, just as the speaker will release the bees.

Yet just as the speaker cant stay away from the bee box, so Plath was drawn back again and again to probe around the edges of her unconscious, for she felt that only by exploring this hidden aspect of herself could she create great poetry. In this regard, e Arrival of the Bee Box echoes Elm, another poem where Plath touches on the unconscious mind and the demons that might wait there.

Psychic landscapes
ere are many poems where Plath creates what she described as psychic landscapes. She uses a scene from nature or an element of the natural world in order to convey an inner state of mind. is tendency is also evident in e Arrival of the Bee Box. e box serves as a metaphor for Plaths turmoil-lled mind. e box seethes with furious black bees angrily clambering over one another in a chaotic fashion. Similarly, her mind seethes with dark, angry and negative emotions. Finisterre, Elm and Poppies in July are other poems where the natural world is used to convey troubled mental states.

Poetic inspiration
The Arrival of the Bee Box is often regarded as dealing with the theme of poetry and the unconscious. To write poetry, Plath believed, it was necessary to explore the darkest recesses of the mind, to explore the deepest reaches of the soul. Yet this, she felt, was a dangerous business, for it risked disturbing all kinds of inner demons: various traumas and negative emotions the mind has covered up. e bee box, according to many readers, represents the hidden aspect of mind, the dark and mysterious parts the true poet must explore: Like the bee box, our unconscious mind is almost completely sealed: we cannot know what it contains until we begin to explore it.

Order & chaos

Many of Plaths poems focus on the distinction between order and chaos. In this poem, the bees are a chaotic force, swarming hectically and frenziedly within their box. ey are like a wild and disorderly mob. Only the box imposes order on them, containing their fury. Tellingly, the poems opening lines associate the box with order: I ordered this, this clean wood box. However, once the box is opened, order will be removed. e chaos represented by the bees will be free to make its way into the world. The speaker finds this an unpleasant and perhaps even frightening prospect: How can I let them go?. In this poem, as in Finisterre, Plath seems to regard chaos with what can only be described as fear and horror. Yet also as in Finisterre, there is a sense in

This is Poetry 339

Sylvia Plath

which chaos is presented as something alluring and attractive. We see this in the way the speaker cant stay away from the bees frenzy, and in her decision at the end of the poem to release this box of maniacs into the world.

Similes & metaphors

Plath uses a fine metaphor to describe the sound of the bees buzzing. She compares it to a strange language full of unintelligible syllables such as Latin: I lay my ear to furious Latin. In another ne simile, Plath compares the swarm to a rioting mob in Roman times: It is like a Roman mob. As we noted, a single Roman citizen was powerless; as a rioting group, however, they could threaten the entire government. Similarly, a single bee can do little harm to a human being; an entire swarm, however, could easily sting a person to death. Plath extends this comparison with another metaphor, comparing a bee-keeper to a Roman emperor. Just as it took a powerful ruler like Caesar to master the mobs of Rome, so it will take a skilled and condent bee-keeper to control the bees once they have been released from the box. Metaphor also features in line 31, where Plath compares a bee-keepers protective clothing to an astronauts space suit. She also compares a beekeepers protective face mesh to a veil worn by a dead woman at her funeral: in my moon suit and funeral veil.

Nature
In The Arrival of the Bee Box, the speaker has complete control over an aspect of the natural world. She owns the bees and can do what she wants with them: I am the owner. She can let the bees starve in their box, she can send them back to the shop or she can release them into the garden. e speaker has a god-like power over these insects, and can choose to be a cruel, unforgiving god or a sweet, benevolent, one. In a sense, then, the poem echoes Pheasant, where the speaker along with her husband has the power of life and death over the pheasant that has come to live in their garden.

LANGUAGE
Unusual imagery
is poem features the rich and unusual imagery that is typical of Plaths poetry. We see this in her description of the box as the con of a midget/ Or a square baby. On one level, of course, this description is outlandish and perhaps even slightly amusing. Yet there is also something unpleasant and unsettling about it. e description of the box as a con introduces the notion of death, and suggests the speakers desire for oblivion. She uses a bizarre and somewhat disgusting metaphor to describe the bees, comparing them to the hands of dead African people that have been cut o, shrunken and exported back to Europe as souvenirs of the dark continent: African hands/ Minute and shrunk for export. The image of thousands of tiny hands clambering around the boxs dark interior is truly a disturbing one. There is an interesting classical reference in lines 2830, where the speaker imagines herself as Daphne, a doomed character from Greek myth who was transformed by the gods into a tree.

Cacophony & euphony

We see cacophony in lines 1315, where the repetition of hard b, r and t sounds creates a harsh musical eect appropriate to the disturbing image the lines describe. Euphony occurs in lines 326: the repeated broad-vowel sounds in source of honey, moon suit, funeral veil and box is only create a pleasant musical eect. So, too, do the repeated internal and external rhymes between honey, me, sweet, free, only and temporary. is pleasant verbal music is appropriate as the speaker imagines herself overcoming her fear and releasing the bees.

340 This is Poetry