Poetry Analysis: "Tulips", by Sylvia Plath

The color red

Sylvia Plath (1832-1963), an American poet, short story writer and novelist, writes poetry in a confessional genre. (1)

Her poem "Tulips" was published in a book entitled "Ariel", in the year 1965. (2)

This poem depicts the tragedy of her life, but shows the acute level of awareness of a person, who is suffering and possibly dying. In this remarkable piece of poetry, a person who may or may not be Sylvia, sees herself as lying in a hospital bed, being treated with injections of some kind. These are possibly pain killers or other drugs used to treat a wound. She may be on other kinds of medication for the treatment of mental health problems.

Regardless of who this is, she will be referred to as Sylvia.

As this poem opens, it appears that someone, in a gesture of kindness, has brought Sylvia a bouquet of bright red tulips. Instead of receiving them joyfully, she is upset by them, for some reason.

The poem begins "The tulips are too excitable" suggesting that at this particular moment, she only wanted only to rest and was resting until the arrival of the tulips. Maybe she sees herself as dying and someone bringing her flowers re-enforces a possibility.

Winter, like the final stage of her life, does not allow the blossoming of tulips; they are a spring flower. In England unlike America, the tulips would blossom earlier. They make a wonderful bouquet of cut flowers to take to a patient confined to a hospital, in the winter. In some ways, they can symbolize the hope of spring or new life on the horizon.

Why is the receiver of the flowers not pleased with the gift?

Further along in the poem, she writes, "I didn't want any flowers" which shows the reader that she was not seeking the attention of someone bringing her flowers. For some reason, she feels that she needs to explain why the gift of the tulips was not appreciated.

These are her words.

The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me.
Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe
Lightly, through their white swaddlings, like an awful baby.
Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds.
They are subtle: they seem to float, though they weigh me down
Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their color,
A dozen red lead sinkers around my neck. (3)

Sylvia, like any other person on medication, particularly pain killers, perceives everything as magnified out of proportion. Her realities have become distorted. While she may have just had an injection, for some reason, Sylvia does not enter into a state of blissful oblivion. That happens towards the end of the poem.

At this moment, it is as if the tulips that have been brought to her by someone, have only brought discomfort into her world and in a way, that seems to be smothering to her or suffocating her.

The brilliance of the red flowers, in contrast to the whiteness of the hospital room setting, hurts her for some reason. When a person is ill, the color red can be painful to look at. It hurts one's eyes. This may be part of what is happening here.

If one has allergies, which may have been the case, bringing a bouquet of tulips into a hospital room could trigger an allergic reaction. Perhaps she is experiencing tightness in her throat and difficulty breathing because of the fresh flowers.

But there is more.

Nobody watched me before, now I am watched.
The tulips turn to me, and the window behind me
Where once a day the light slowly widens and slowly thins,
And I see myself, flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow
Between the eye of the sun and the eyes of the tulips,
And I have no face. I have wanted to efface myself
The vivid tulips eat my oxygen. (4)

Sylvia is aware that she is being watched or feels she is being watched, by the nurses who have been caring for her. They may be becoming more aware of her increasing distress. Being watched did not appear to bother her earlier.

Sylvia's vivid description about being watched shifts to the tulips. She is aware of the tulips turning toward the light of the window. Her perception of them becomes increasingly paranoid. They take on eyes, just as the sun does, to her. This is a symptom of severe paranoia.

She sees herself as only a mere shadow now, but she cannot see her own face. She admits that she had wanted to efface herself. This is the confessional part of this piece of poetry.

The side effects of medication and the addiction factor with its highs and lows, may or may not be part of this poet's personal experience. No one knows.

Towards the end of the poem, Sylvia turns away from her exaggerated perception of the tulips, which have now become life threatening to her.

Here Sylvia begins to focus on herself and more specifically on her own heart. It is interesting that by the end of the poem, she depicts it in terms of red bloom imagery, but this is different. She sees love in this bouquet. At last, she is at peace.

One can only speculate as to how much of this was reality and what part of it was poetic license. Tragically, Sylvia's death was attributed to suicide.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_%28Plath%29

(3) http://www.sylviaplathforum.com/tulips.html 

(4) Ibid.