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A BIRTHDAY PRESENT BY SYLVIA PLATH IS A CONFESSION

AND DECISION TO DEATH
SHAKEBA JABEEN SIDDIQUI
Department of English, R.H. Govt. P.G. College, Kashipur, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, India

ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present investigation is to analyze the elements of confession and final decision-
making of embracing death in the poem of Sylvia Plath with special reference to the poem, A Birthday
Present. It clearly defines a woman who seeks the mystic release of death, addresses the confrontation,
immediate or potential, of something desired yet also feared. She perceives her birthday present as a
fatal surprise and salvation. The question is still unanswered does death call the poet whose sensitivity
is too great to bear? The birthday present could be the omnipresent veil of time that constantly closes
in on her, and she begs it to kill her directly, not 'finger by finger' that might take sixty-odd years. A
Birthday Present was the first of about thirty poems written in September of 1962; about six months
she committed suicide. This month was the most prolific month in her life, and the poetry written during
this time may have been a result of her decision to take her life.
Keyword: Sylvia Plath, Confession, Death, Decision-Making
1. INTRODUCTION confessing and the intimacy of the experience.
Confessional poetry should have all the
Confessional poetry is one that springs from the ingredients of confession, it would pertain to
personal life of the poet. It marks the experiences private errors and omissions, fear, and phobias. In
of private life, alcoholism, depression, trauma, addition, it penetrates its roots firmly in the
broken relationship, masturbation and suicidal biography of the poetess. It deals with personal
attempt. Such poetry is often in an themes. The poet’s self is the pivot around which
autobiographical tone, and is a contemporary art his world revolves. It is an expression of
acknowledged for its sincerity which creates a lot personality, believing the poet’s individuality to be
of openings to establish telepathic connections the first reality that must be reckoned with. Only
between the poets and the reader [1]. It genuinely after one has come to teem with one’s true self can
communicates the psycho-diagnostic and inner one turn to look at the outside world. So, the first
thoughts without convictions and moral task of the confessional poet is to look at the
principles. Confession literature relieves the turbulence within the self, analyze the chaotic
writer as well as the readers from the stress of mass of thoughts and feelings, and come to terms
humdrum existence. The heart of the confessional with them.
poets is highly skewed and delicate. It adopts the
style of monologue. The themes are often painful Sylvia Plath was one of the most admired and
and speak of personal failures. dynamic poets of the 20th century who doesn't
need any introduction to the readers. By the time
The origin of confession lies in the work of Lowell she took her life at thirty, she already had a
and Roethke, and other poets like Sylvia Plath, following in the literary community. In the
John Berryman, and Anne Sexton, which came to ensuing years, her work attracted the attention of
be called “confessional poetry” a nomenclature a multitude of readers, who saw in her singular
that is more a label of convenience for critics. M.L. attempt to catalogue despair, violent emotion, the
Rosenthal defined this form of poetry like that in obsession with death. In New York Book Review,
which "the private life of the poet, especially under J.C. Oates introduced Plath as the most
the stress of the psychological crisis, becomes a controversial and celebrated authors amongst the
major theme.” The word confession has a host of postwar poets who write in English” [2]. Sylvia's
connotations of which two may be cited for their poems are intensely autobiographical that explore
relevance to the present context: the act of her mental agony, her loveless and tangled

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marriage relationship with Ted Hughes, her Sylvia Plath’s first collection of poems, The
unresolved conflicts with her parents, and her Colossus, published in 1956, comprises poems
self-image [3]. To understand the poetry of Sylvia that may be described as “apprentice poems”
Plath, we need to be aware of at least three crucial because they seem docile, well behaved, and
biographical facts that cast their shadow on her contain no innovation and surprise [5]. They give
work. First, the premature death of her father some evidence of her poetic talent but are too self
when she was barely eight, second, the separation consciously thesaurus-oriented to be treated as
from her husband, Ted Hughes who was her lover much more than a clever exercise in verse that one
and companion in Cambridge whom she married would perhaps write to please an exacting mentor.
in the expectation of a lifelong togetherness and It was the poetry of the last month of her life when
companionship [3], and third is her three suicidal the poet let go of all restraints and without
attempts at the age of ten, twenty-one and finally bothering about irrelevant concerns, spoke in a
a successful at the age of thirty that serve as the highly individualized voice. These powerful poems
subject of my research paper. These events can be are collected in Ariel, published posthumously.
traced to the major poems of Sylvia Plath. They cry The poems in between these two volumes belong
of her helplessness, rage alternating with a gloomy to a transitory phase and are collected in Crossing
despair, its narcissistic concern with the the Water and Winter Trees. There is also a
individual self colouring themes she chooses to fictionalized autobiography entitled The Bell Jar,
write off. The flexibility and freedom offered by that Plath published under the pseudonym of
the confessional mode of poetry eventually enable Victoria Lucas in 1963, and a collection of short
Plath to give voice to the cries of her heart. Plath stories and prose pieces, Johnny Panic and the
relieves her childhood guilt, her anguish suffered bible of dreams [6]. It is on these few volumes that
during the hospital days, which she sometimes Sylvia Plath's fame rests today. The title refers to
imagines herself as the empress of the clinical well-known lines from Shakespeare's Julius
world. The confession mode enables Sylvia Plath Ceaser, the reference is to the legendary bronze
to lay bare her guilt-ridden consciousness statue of Apollo at Rodes. It is such a gigantic
burdened with a self that holds itself responsible figure that towers over the landscape of Sylvia
for the death of her father Plath's early work, representing none other than
the poet's dead father who is missed and grieved
Daddy, I have had to kill you. extremely. This poem records her reaction to this
You died before I had time— irreparable personal loss. The absence of the
father grows to the towering height of colossus,
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, seen as ‘Man in Black and cruel tyrant The poet's
attitude towards this colossus is an ambiguous
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
one. It is a filial attachment and love on one side
Big as a Frisco seal (Plath, S. Daddy) [4] and resentment on the other place as he deserted
his child by his premature death. These are
This guilt consciousness is a complex emotion that dichotomous feelings that Plath expresses to her
cannot be articulated by an objective or even by father through the colossus image. This poem
any subjective form. Poetry became an incarnation Colossus also speaks of a dilapidated fallen statue
as well as a vehicle of catharsis to her. No wonder of gigantic proportions, with weeds and wild grass
it is not through psychiatry but poetry that Plath growing all over it. Plath established a contrast
regains her mental equilibrium. between past glory and present downfall, and
If ever there was a poet within whose work one between big and small. In contrast between the
could count on findings examples of the poet’s self statues bulk and the attendant’s puniness one is
it certainly would be Sylvia Plath as almost all her reminded of swift’s portrayal of Gulliver in the
work is an open window to her life experiences, land of Lilliputians. The relationship between the
which is why she is labeled as a confessional poet statue and the attendants is akin to that between
by her critics. Her words and imagery depict her a master and his slave, the later in the servile
emotional self and are a vital part of this obedience to the former:
investigation. The research here is intended to Perhaps you consider yourself an oracle,
critically analyze her poetry and find out the
elements of her confession. The mouthpiece of the dead, or some god or other.

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Thirty years now I have labored Colossus [5]. In these, the feeling of death and
doom, and the usage of humour along with the
To dredge the silt from your throat. display of emotional conflict are the characteristic
(Plath, S. The Colossus, Lines 6-9) [5] themes.

There is an acceptance by the speaker of her Mostly, Plath’s initial poetry is death-oriented. In
inferior role, engaged in a thankless job, with no ‘Temper of Time’, she used somber terms to
hope of ever being free of it. She resigns herself to define the landscape. The Colossus was published
fate: in 1960, but she wrote numerous poems between
1960 and 1962. This period may be termed
My hours are married to shadow. transitional. This was the time when the poetess
continued her efforts to develop her own style.
No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel
Plath gained more structural freedom and
On the blank stones of the landing. flexibility. She gained a simpler, more direct verse
and she used rhythm and diction in a more
(Plath, S. The Colossus, Lines 28-30) [5] elementary manner. Her transitional poetry is
It is very much clear from these lines that it is her generally over intellectualized, humorless, and
personal experiences that she confessed but she lifeless. In fact, the figure described in Plath’s
took it beyond personal history and gave it transitional poetry are colorless and, two-
universal dimensions by employing the Electra dimensional. Plath continued to thread her
myth with the references to the Oresteia. trademark themes of death and doom and
emotional conflict through her late poetry. Most of
Similar Electra Complex has also been reflected in this fatalistic imagery was likely to grow from the
the lines of Daddy [4]. Her father died when she recollection of her childhood at sea. The theme of
perceived him as God. The bitter conflict was that conflict is as prominent in Plath’s later work as it
her daddy was a Nazi and her mother was a jew. is in her early work. In Plaster, she expressed her
These two strains marry and paralyze each other theme in a kind of schizoid manner.
in her. It may be noted, that the lines of ‘Daddy,’
though they storm and curse against one who “A Birthday Present” is the first amongst the thirty
betrayed the persona, count only be uttered by poems written on September 1962, just six
one who cares, one who has loved deeply and months before committing suicide. It is the topic
truly, and who is disheartened with the unfulfilled of research for me, that this poem was a
love. confession to death and here she confessed her
final plan to end her life.
In Lazy Lazarus, Plath speaks of her previous
suicidal attempts. Biographical accounts of Sylvia What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it
Plath tell us how the poet was fascinated with the beautiful?
idea of dying and attempted suicide more than It is shimmering, has it breasts, has it edges?
once. Plath’s first attempt was almost successful,
but she was discovered in the nick of time, I am sure it is unique, I am sure it is what I want.
hospitalized and saved. The confession of death by
When I am quiet at my cooking I feel it looking, I
her has now the wider applicability. In this poem
feel it thinking
Lady Lazarus, she invokes an Egyptian: the
legendary phoenix who periodically destroyed (Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8]
herself and then is born from the ashes. It is seen
that Plath is inspired by her own experience: Here, Plath presented a sense of surprise of her
strive for death time and again and then being hidden or veiled death, which she is known too.
symbolically reborn. She is describing it is as both ugly and beautiful at
the same time, means or can be interpreted that
Plath poetry progresses from early to late, from her plan of death and the demonstration of death,
experimentation to maturity, just like the work of i.e. putting her face on the stove, may seem ugly to
any poet. However, the themes she presented in the world but it is something beautiful for her as
her works remain fairly constant throughout. she sees it in the dimension of getting rid of all her
Plath’s initial works were between 1955 and worldly problem.
1959, including her early poetry known as The

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‘Is it shimmering has its breast, has its edge?’ why is she so anxious to prove herself good in all
the roles. Here, she is telling herself that once you
Maybe she had planned for death and the method decided to die, just be calm.
too, so she is watching herself dying in the flames
behind the curtains, seems shimmering for the Further, Plath confesses that she had made a fixed
outside world, again the next word is edges, decision to take up her life, still, she adhered to
maybe she demonstrating her plan to take her life fake rules of life and daily routine.
with some edging instrument, may be knife or cut
throat with it, but she is very sure this time that it Measuring the flour, cutting off the surplus,
will be a unique death. The poet has chosen, a Adhering to rules, to rules, to rules.
unique death for herself. If going into the
methodology of her suicide, everybody finds it an Is this the one for the annunciation?
extremely sad and unique way to burn herself by
My god, what a laugh!'
putting her face on the gas oven. Again, she
confessed that “I am sure it is what I want. Here, (Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8]
she shows her final decision of choosing death
over life. These lines depict her final decision These lines depict her final decision making
making. She used simple language without any because she is mocking herself to be under the
confess her plan, still the irony is she is left pressure of life and life routine when she has
unheard. The simplest message remained decided to die. Finally, according to her the end of
unheard. The use of language is deliberately all her sufferings is the end of this life in a unique
simple and lucid may be in the hope of being way and embrace her death in form of her
understood once. Plath builds up confusion and “Birthday Present”. It seems she is very much
surprise for her readers and has an urge to be aware that that was her last birthday as she is
interpreted right. If we examine the poem alive by accident.
linguistically, it finds out many lexemes that have I do not want much of a present, anyway, this
deviations from the semantics. The underlying year. After all I am alive only by accident.
meaning is shouting from the curtains to be heard
off. She describing herself as a busy domestic I would have killed myself gladly that time any
woman who appears docile but immensely strong- possible way.
headed and the plan of suicide is always on her
mind. Now there are these veils, shimmering like
curtains.
“When I am quite at my cooking,
(Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8]
I feel it looking, I feel it thinking –
The title of the poem, “A Birthday Present” is
Is this the one I am too appear for, conveying a lot about the confessional hypothesis.
It can be interpreted that her A Birthday Present
‘Is this the elect one, the one with black eye-pits is a gift to her agony and her final decision to die
And a scar? by embracing it uniquely. Here Plath divided
herself into two dimensions of self and conscience,
(Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8] she is convincing herself in these lines:
She describes it as death, and she is imagining Do not be mean, I am ready for enormity.
herself to be mocked by death, as death must be
thinking that, is this the elected Sylvia, the one Let us sit down to it, one on either side, admiring
whom it has come to take from this world who is the gleam,
so much under pressure of the patriarchal society The glaze, the mirrory variety of it.
of being a good mother, good wife, good orator,
good professor and above all a good poetess. She Let us eat our last supper at it, like a hospital
must be having sleepless nights under the plate.
pressure of writing, looking after the kids and
proving to be good mother, that she is having dark (Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8]
circles, she is somewhere not praise but mocked
by death too. Death seems to calm everything but

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She is convincing her conscience, who might be If you only knew how the veils were killing my
restraining her to take her life, time and again, as days.
she is a wife, a mother too maybe she is finding it
her weakness that due to this consciousness, she To you they are only transparencies, clear air.
is not succeeding in her previous attempt of (Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8]
suicide. She is convincing her like a soulmate
friend. Saying,’ let’s sit down to it, one on either Here, she is trying to tell that being alive is much
side,’ like a true deal maker. All these show her difficult for her than to die, all her problems and
efforts how she is marking out the actual reason pressures are very well depicted in these lines
behind the failure to take her life, it may be her
But my god, the Clouds are like Cotton
weakness as a mother so we can say the poem is
final decision making and confession to death. Armies of them, they are carbon monoxide
I will only take it and go aside quietly. Sweetly, sweetly I breath in
You will not even hear me opening it, no paper Filing my veins with invisible with millions
crackle,
These lines can be interpreted as her confession
No falling ribbons, no scream at the end. to the methodology of her death. She has finalized
her plan and method of suicide and here she is
I do not think you credit me with this discretion.
living the future imagery when she will be dying
(Plath, S, The Birthday Present) [8] of the smoke chocked in her throat, carbon
monoxide is the gas evolved by burning. So, we
Further, she is saying that I will receive the gift of can say the plan here was taking her life through
death without much known to the outside world. burning herself into ashes.
The chaos inside will not make any noise outside.
I will not let anybody know may be saying so that Here the plan is to embraced death finger by
I cannot be saved. Previous attempts of her suicide finger. A painful death is desired by her. We can
failed because she was rescued at the last moment trace the intensity of her painful life that she
of the accident and send to the hospital but this wants to compensate with the pain of her death.
time, she planned it differently without letting Her desire is not to have a simple death but a
anybody know. I am just thrilled to record her painful and unique one. Obviously, death by
calm lexemes are shouting in semantics. The burning is the most painful ever. So the decision
hidden veiled message, her confession can be very making can be very well traced from the present
well recorded from these lines. She had no plans investigation into the confession of the poet and
to save herself now the plan is final. the final decision making to end her life most
painfully and uniquely. Although she was the most
Her words in the poem are so intense, it seems she successful among the American poets of the time,
is imagining herself as tearing up like paper, her still the crisis and conflicts of her life, the societal
body has been burned in the fire, making a pressure to be the good mother, wife, teacher,
crackling sound as usual burning does. She is daughter, and professor is never compensated by
imagining “no falling ribbons” the lexical meaning her and compelled her to choose between painful
here is telling us the ribbon of the gift wrap but life or painful death. The poetess chose the latter
can be interpreted as the ribbon of the shroud on and this is recorded as the final draft of her
her dead body after her suicide. As it is the confession to death and decision making in the
ceremony of funeral it seems that she has no plan poem, “A birthday present”.
to let her body in form, but to burn it bit by bit,
avoiding the sound of crackle leaving only ashes REFERENCES
to cover no shape or solid material will be left that
[1] S. Z. Abbas “Sylvia Plath, the Well-Bred
can confirm to save her life from death again, the
Malaise, and its Confession in ‘Daddy’”.
decision is final.
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary
I do not think you credit me with this discretion. Studies in Humanities. 11(2): 1-20. 2019.
[2] T. MacNeil, “Appropriating Plath:
Reclaiming The Role Of Author In Ted
Hughes' S Birthday Letter”, MA Thesis,

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Memorial University of Newfoundland.

2008.
[3] D. Hunter and D. Middlebrook, “Her
Husband: Hughes and Plath: A Marriage”,
Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 23:
386. 2004.
[4] S. Plath, “Daddy” from Collected Poems.
HarperCollins Publishers. 1965.
[5] S. Plath, “The Colossus” Knopf. 1962.
[6] S. Plath, “The bell jar” Heinemann. 1963.
[7] S. Plath, “The Collected Poems”, Harper &
Row. 1981.
[8] S. Plath, “Ariel: poems”. New York (N.Y.:
Harper and Row. 1966.

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