"Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath

As we saw in the class discussion, Plath’s poem “Lady Lazarus” can be interpreted in numerous ways.  However, I think that her poem was made to show her audience that she was a piece of art being looked and analyzed at by others.  Her attempts to die and fail are what people were amazed at.  She states that she was an “opus” or a “valuable”, which are all things of display (lines 66-67).  She also mentioned that “there is a charge, a very large charge- for a word or a touch” (lines 61-62) indicating that she was a display of art because people have to pay to look or touch a piece of art.  She refers to her audience as “The peanut-crunching crowd” (line 26) which is a sense of mock that the audience watches shamefully. The phrase “Gentlemen, ladies” (line 30) is normally used when speaking to an audience before performing an act.  This proves that she was putting on some sort of show that people came to see.

In lines 43-45 Plath states “Dying- is an art, like everything else- I do it exceptionally well.”  I disagree with this stanza because how can someone be good at “dying” if they are still alive?  Her many attempts to die are not something to be saluted at.  In fact, I think that these attempts are her failures, therefore how can she be good at dying if she hasn’t achieved it yet?  Nonetheless how can someone claim that they are good at dying if once they actually die, they can’t report it? 

After rereading Plath’s poem several times, I began to realize her transformation from an innocent shy woman into a strong, powerful lady with a sense of pride.  Her statement of “I eat men like air” (line 83) displays her of a higher being and shows her power over men, whether it be her dad, husband, or the Nazi men.  She calls “Herr God, Herr Lucifer-Beware-Beware” (lines 78-80) to warn them that she has revived herself and that there is no power greater than her.  This self of confidence towards the end of the poem shows her transformation from a weak, suicidal, expression of art to a powerful triumph defeat over the impediments in her life. 

I find it interesting how the phrases “These are my hands-My knees. - I may be skin and bone” (lines 31-33) displays an image in my head of a skinny, unfortunate, and murky figure.  However she also states “A cake of soap,-A wedding ring,-A gold filling.” (lines 76-78) which is contradictory to the phrases in lines 31-33.  These phrases automatically put the words of royalty, richness, and happiness in my mind.  This change of words throughout the poem makes me think that something significant happened in her life that allowed her to transform from being poor and unhappy to living a life of glitz and glamour. 

The poem overall is definitely captivating and allows the reader to interpret it in many ways.  Everyone that reads her poem will all have a different analysis of it.  The many ways of interpretations is why I think Plath’s poem is brilliant.  She gives her readers a sense of control by letting them use their imagination to understand it.  After reading this poem, I can see that Plath definitely had a lot of rough times in her life.  However she also expresses some of the joyful moments in her life by stating “And I a smiling woman. (line 18).