This one seems to be doing very little, but of course with time that opinion might change.$^1$

Simple tools in complex places

A standout feature of this poem is the use of very simple phrases. Several lines describe one object in very clear ways, for example the first line, describing the bruise itself:

Color floods to the spot, dull purple.

This factual presentation can do many things depending on context, for example portray childlike simplicity or a finality. Here, I think it is serving to portray Plath’s cold acceptance of the nature of life and its end. The last stanza shows this particularly well, where each line is a really simple end-stopped phrase beginning with “the”. She’s presenting these things as they are, with very few flourishes. An interpretation of this poem is quite simple: an unnamed, “washed-out” body has a bruise and then dies; and the sea pushes at, and then recedes from, a hole in a rock. What’s interesting are the ways the body and the sea relate with each other, and how the fly and mirror fit into everything.

The sea and the human

There are a few clear connections between the sea and the body:

• The sea “obsessively” concerns itself with this rock, and similarly the body described is completely void except this bruise.
• The sea has to eventually surrender, as do the physical organs.

Additional Images

I think the mirror represents an ability to reflect the world back to itself, to be a useful person in the world. The mirror being covered puts an end to all of that.

The mention of a fly brings decay to mind, and the crawling doom furthers the deathly imagery.

Overall, I see this poem primarily as an expression of two feelings, contradictory yet both existing together in the speaker’s mind: dread and acceptance.

Notes

1. I’m guessing I’ll have more to say on this when I’ve read Cut properly.

References

1. Plath, S. (2010). Ariel. Faber And Faber. (Original work published 1965)