ESSAY - 'CUT' BY SYLVIA PLATH
The
poem “Cut” by Sylvia Plath is about a woman who accidentally cut her thumb.
The poet starts off by explaining how she has cut off her thumb whilst cutting an onion. She then proceeds to explain in great detail what has happened to her thumb after she has cut it. As the poem progresses, the reader will notice that the poet is no ordinary person and that she is very strange indeed.
The writer uses similes, metaphors and personification to give the reader a vivid mental image. She uses a simile in the sentence “A flap like a hat” to accurately describe how her thumb is hanging by a flap of skin. She uses metaphors like “your turkey wattle” to depict how the blood is moving.
The mood changes within the poem. It starts off as a sort of thrilling and celebratory mood. The reader knows this because the poet uses lines such as “What a thrill---” and “Of pink fizz. A celebration, this is”. Then the mood changes to sadness. We know this because Plath uses lines like “O my Homunculus, I am ill.” Then the mood changes again near the end to self-hate because the writer uses lines like “Trepanned veteran, Dirty girl”.
I thought this poem was very effective because the reader gets an extremely graphic image in his/her’s mind by using very well written similes, metaphors and personification.
The poet starts off by explaining how she has cut off her thumb whilst cutting an onion. She then proceeds to explain in great detail what has happened to her thumb after she has cut it. As the poem progresses, the reader will notice that the poet is no ordinary person and that she is very strange indeed.
The writer uses similes, metaphors and personification to give the reader a vivid mental image. She uses a simile in the sentence “A flap like a hat” to accurately describe how her thumb is hanging by a flap of skin. She uses metaphors like “your turkey wattle” to depict how the blood is moving.
The mood changes within the poem. It starts off as a sort of thrilling and celebratory mood. The reader knows this because the poet uses lines such as “What a thrill---” and “Of pink fizz. A celebration, this is”. Then the mood changes to sadness. We know this because Plath uses lines like “O my Homunculus, I am ill.” Then the mood changes again near the end to self-hate because the writer uses lines like “Trepanned veteran, Dirty girl”.
I thought this poem was very effective because the reader gets an extremely graphic image in his/her’s mind by using very well written similes, metaphors and personification.
