The Bell Jar
Distortion descends in this fatal haven
Palpable as an irreverent dream
Wisdom supreme, electric it seems
Go on then, I shall quote the raven
The dykes broke and the darkness seized
Like a lover who knows to descend
When ungovernable truth, deadens the roots
Masking itself artlessly
Lady Lazarus sleeps in a landscape of snow
Bland and stopped as a dead baby sleeping
Ariel's plea, under the mirror-like sea
Lies behind the stores of the past
The vulnerable are always with us,
In their acres of misgivings and doubts
Partial to rain, the rebirth in pain
The psychic regenerate route
Unpublished words are as no words at all
The writer breathes in the reading
The ritualizing of print, awakens the flint
And the colossus can stand proud and tall
The stifling lure, of new fabled cures
Supplementing the suppliants needs
Yet dread as she was, it was only because
For her art she could only bleed
In the bell jar, mischievous minds
Can't contain their plans of escaping
When it descends, look to no end
Hope goes on, waiting and waiting
Like heresy's need to be free
The soul cannot live as a slave
When the mind is a master, whose sadist ways
Points directly to the mouth of the grave.
for:Sylvia Plath
Font size:
Submitted on September 30, 2013
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 5 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXXA XBXC XDEX XXXX CDXC XXXX XDBD EFXF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,201 |
Words | 214 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Bell Jar" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/86137/the-bell-jar>.
Discuss the poem The Bell Jar with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In