Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Sylvia Plath's "By Candlelight," the intimate ambiance created by a single candle serves as a metaphorical landscape in which love, vulnerability, and existential anxieties coalesce. The poem opens with a depiction of winter and night as a "small love," setting the tone for an intimate experience. Winter's barrenness is counteracted by the "green stars" that manage to penetrate the darkness, suggesting that even in the most desolate of conditions, there is a glimmer of hope or love.

The scene is set with a sense of lateness and quietude; time is marked by "dull bells" that "tongue the hour." The room's reflection is minimal, floated "at one candle power," capturing a sense of fragility. Here, the couple meets in what the speaker describes as "fluid," a "haloey radiance" that breathes and alters their shadows. The candlelight transforms them into "violent giants on the wall," a phrase that hints at the magnitude of emotion and potential for volatility in human relationships. With a single match, the speaker brings her companion to life; he becomes "real," just as the candle blooms to life after an initial struggle.

As the poem progresses, the language becomes more visceral. The loved one is likened to a "balled hedgehog, small and cross," bringing in the idea that vulnerability and emotional closeness can expose our rawest selves, our spikes and imperfections. The imagery of the yellow knife growing tall signifies that the light of the candle, and perhaps love itself, has the power to defend, to cut through darkness. It also might suggest a lurking potential for hurt.

The speaker describes how her "singing makes you roar," another line imbued with complexity. While singing is generally associated with harmony and unity, roaring brings in a note of aggression or pain. Here, Plath captures the duality of love: it can be both nurturing and devastating.

Towards the end of the poem, the image of a "brass man" holding a "white pillar" emerges, which keeps the "sack of black" at bay. This figure might symbolize the burdens we bear in life to keep chaos and darkness at a distance. The brass man is described as an "heirloom," the only thing the other person possesses. This heirloom comes with its own baggage, symbolized by "five brass cannonballs" - responsibilities, or perhaps emotional barriers that need to be juggled when "the sky falls."

The brilliance of Plath's "By Candlelight" lies in its ability to capture the inherent contradictions of human emotion - the beauty and the chaos, the connection and the isolation - all under the gentle yet exposing light of a single candle. The candle's flame is an ephemeral entity that can both illuminate and distort, a fitting symbol for love and life itself. Through this complex weave of imagery and metaphor, Plath provides a nuanced portrayal of love's intimacy and intricacies, set against the backdrop of existential uncertainty.

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