Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Teaching and Assessment of Literature Studies

Midterm Requirement
SUBMITTED BY: Gacosta, Kristine Claire

1. Connotative Meaning
I have done it again. Literal meaning: one of the artifacts found at Buchenwald. It is an alleged
One year in every ten to be made out of Human skin.

I manage it—— Possible Connotative meaning:

Sylvia Plath is shares German heritage with her father, Otto Plath. This
line could represent her one of her methods of self-harm which was to cut
A sort of walking miracle, my skin herself. Which is represented through a simile comparing it to a human
lampshade; both of which are horrendous creations. The line “A sort of
Bright as a Nazi lampshade, walking miracle, my skin.” May represent her survival from her self-
My right foot inflicted cuts.

Literal meaning:
1. /seashell/- a hard outer cover of a crustacean. As a seashell.
They had to call and call
2. /worm/-an invertebrate animal, with no limbs And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
and other visible body parts.
Possible Connotative meaning:
Plath has experience with overdose, in more than one occasion. She developed Insomnia as part of her chronic
depression and needed to take sleeping pills to help her sleep. In one of her attempts, she was reported to have
hidden under their front porch and took her mother’s medication. “Seashell” could have been used to allude to the
location of her attempt or a feeling of reassuring security upon dying. In stanzas 3, 4, 9,10, & 13, she describes
people’s reaction to a dying woman or a fresh corpse. She seemed unfaced by it, even if the poem clearly
describes the dead body as herself. She sounds observant of the events, line 14 perfectly describes this. The
picking of “Worms” could possibly mean act of preparing/cleaning the corpse after death. As she aims to, with all
of her unsuccessful attempts.

2. Sense Impression
For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart——
It really goes.
What a million filaments.
The peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand and foot——

The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies

A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.

3. Structural Elements Present

The poem is a free verse that contains 28 stanzas with three lines each—a tercet. It does not
rhyme, since it is a free verse. But it does retain poetic devices such as repetition (line 16, 17, 18,
21, 22, and 27), which she made use of repeating selected words in two to three lines in each
stanza.
4. Figures of Speech and Representations

“As a seashell” is a simile used to represent her exclusion from

The second time I meant the outside world. Being the only unwell person amongst the
To last it out and not come back at all. healthy people around her, she felt sheltered from the world
I rocked shut during one of her attempts. The stanza that came before
explicitly narrates her second suicide attempt. Thinking the
As a seashell. attempt will succeed in ending her, she “rocked shut”
They had to call and call accepting the oblivion that comes after life. In a sense, it is
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls. what’s inside the seashell.

The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth? Allegory pertaining to the fleeting features of the human body
The sour breath after death. In further stanzas, she describes more scenes of
Will vanish in a day death and decay.

5. Relevance
The poem was published a year after Syllvia Plath’s death. She died by gas poisoning as a method of
suicide. Plath’s poem recalls of her other attempts—which are despite of the unsuccessful efforts to end
her life, seem fulfilling in her eyes. Evident by the line “Like the cat I have nine times to die” and stanza
15, which she treats as separate deaths, followed by resurrection like a phoenix or simply St. Lazarus.
One could say that this may have served as her suicide note (other than the actual note she left for her
neighbor); a plea for help, knowing she no longer feels fear of death. Saving her would have been more
needed than ever.
Plath’s poem is very much relevant today, decades after its publication. Depression is still very much
overlooked. It doesn’t help that social media is used to create mania, romanticization of self-harm
activities and the spread of stigma surrounding depressive conditions (not to mention self-diagnosis
without the desire to seek professional help). Despite this, continuous efforts in advocating for mental
health services are more recognized today than it was, 60 years ago. If Plath lived today, she would have
access to better medicine and services if she still wishes to prepare her death beforehand. Plath had left
her children sleeping on the morning of her death, and if it were not for a hired nurse, they could have
received a similar fate due to the nature of her last suicide attempt.
On the other hand, death positive individuals embrace the idea of self-assisted death more openly than it
did during Plath’s time. Like a part of her, they view death as a calming process towards the end. These
are people, who are mostly terminally ill or simply advocates for normalization of death conversations,
view death as not a fearful judgement stage before heaven or hell, but the end of the human body. Science
fiction author Sir Terry Pratchett, for instance, had a plan of assisted death in case he notices his
Alzheimer’s gets out of hand. He consulted professionals, family and friends about it; his friend, Neil
Gaiman said in an interview after Pratchett’s death. Facilities like Switzerland’s Dignitas offer assisted
dying in a more respectful way; having patients carefully assessed in multiple screenings before being
eligible for their services.
Whether it’s for her undertreated depression or death positivity, Plath’s medium of expression is also
widely used today. The arts have always been a medium to carry cries too disturbing for blunt
conversations. As M. Henry (2015) mentions on her paper that the notion of defamiliarization is done
through art that aims to lengthen the time someone interprets it. Art itself, as she further explains, could
be used to shed light on concepts that are cast in shadows. Death is one of those unspoken rule of the
living, it is avoided at all costs despite its inevitability. Plath’s poem, like other patrons of the dark today,
use poetry and other art forms to convey their thoughts and feelings about the End.

References

to, C. (2014, February 9). anthropodermic items. Wikipedia.org; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampshades_made_from_human_skin

Sylvia Plath - Wikipedia. (n.d.). En.m.wikipedia.org. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath

‌ oetry Foundation. (2016). Sylvia Plath. Poetry Foundation.

P
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sylvia-plath

‌ enry, M. (2015). ART SHOULD COMFORT THE DISTURBED AND DISTURB THE
H
COMFORTABLE:” EXAMINING TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AESTHETICS THROUGH BANKSY’S
SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART [PDF ART SHOULD COMFORT THE DISTURBED AND DISTURB THE
COMFORTABLE:” EXAMINING TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AESTHETICS THROUGH BANKSY’S
SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART]. https://scholarworks.umt.edu
Lucas, S. (2023, May 15). The Death Positivity Movement Explained [Review of The Death Positivity

Movement Explained]. Healthnews. https://healthnews.com/family-health/end-of-life-care/the-

death-positive-movement-explained/#:~:text=The%20Death%20Positive%20Movement

%20started,start%20the%20conversation%20about%20death.

Dignitas (Swiss non-profit organisation). (2023, May 29). Wikipedia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignitas_(Swiss_non-profit_organisation)#:~:text=According

%20to%20the%20official%20Dignitas