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Asrian Diana

Dr. Emmanouilidou

Lit5-125 Workshop in Critical Writing: Poetry (b)

8th December 2019

“Tulips” by Sylvia Plath

Tulips written in 1961 by Sylvia Plath, who at the time was being hospitalized for an

appendectomy, concentrates on the speaker’s (Sylvia Plath’s), emotional state using vivid

imagery, metaphors, similes and some slight hyperbole. It is clear that upon receiving some

bright red tulips, her peace is disturbed, and the theme of isolation is introduced to the

reader.

Sylvia Plath, rests quietly in her hospital room enjoying the emptiness and the silence

of it until she receives those bright red tulips which completely intrude on her peacefulness.

The speaker seems to be directly involved with the poem even though she presents herself as

inanimate; detached from the world in an isolated sterile room and detached from herself and

all her personal obligations, a soulless, invisible “no one” whom nobody ever notices or pays

attention to. The tulips on the other side, full of color and liveliness, bring her slowly and

unwillingly back to life. She never actually wanted them because they subtly remind her of

wound. All she wanted was to lie suffering in piece in her empty white hospital room. Just

by reading the first words of the poem, it is evident that the tone is gloomy and depressive,

and the themes of isolation and suffering are presented.

The tulips on the contrary, are a symbol of life. They are bringing the speaker back to

life, despite her wanting to be an inanimate ghost “I didn’t want any flowers, I only wanted 
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To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty” (lines 28-29). The flowers are the only

colorful thing in the room; in fact, their red color is so bright the speaker is bothered by their

presence. In the white empty room, the red tulips are so vivid they hurt the speaker who

claims she can even hear them breathe (lines 35-36). The central image of the whole poem

that is of the tulips, revitalizing the white scenery could be interpreted symbolically as the

contrast between blood, wounds, hurt and life and peace, winter, death and emptiness. The

tulips eventually bring Sylvia forcefully back to life, causing her heart to beat despite her

wanting it to stop.

As mentioned before, the poem is full of metaphors and similes; The whole contrast

between life and death is presented metaphorically. Plath uses numerous words and phrases

figuratively such as “my body is a pebble” (line 15) presenting her deep feelings about

herself as if her own body is an object without life, empty, lying peacefully in the stream. In

line 27 water is being used as a metaphor of her being unconscious during her surgery and

the idea of sinking and drowning in the water. There is also personification in the poem,

found in the speaker’s figurative description of the tulips as if they were people watching her

and not flowers. The phrases used for the description of the room in the beginning however

are denoting literal meaning. She describes the room as it is; empty, peaceful and white.

Overall, it may be said that Sylvia Plath’s gloomy and heartbreaking, extremely

personal poem can be viewed as a confession and expression of her own deeper feelings and

darker thoughts, which uses plentiful metaphors, similes and strong imagery to emphasize

her strong feelings and considerations. She shares a personal experience stressing her desire

to be left alone and suffer in peace, when those lively flowers drive her completely crazy

with their unwanted presence and will not let her fulfil her desire for her heart to stop

beating.
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