Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Last Words," Sylvia Plath delves into the unsettling and yet intimate relationship between life and death. The poem serves as a meditation on mortality, exploring the passage from life into death with Plath's characteristic blend of visceral imagery and emotional depth. Plath doesn't merely want a "plain box" for her final resting place; she demands a "sarcophagus," an elaborate and grand tomb, evoking ancient burial practices. This desire not only serves as a critique of the mundanity and perhaps even sterility of modern death customs but also reveals an aspiration for a legacy that transcends time and place.

The speaker's visualization of her sarcophagus with "tigery stripes, and a face on it / Round as the moon" shows a yearning for aesthetic beauty, symbolism, and even a sense of vigilance in death. The moon-like face on the sarcophagus will stare up, watching those who come to observe her in her final state. She envisages these future visitors as "pale, star-distance faces," as though they are unfamiliar beings from another realm, detached from the emotional baggage of being close relatives or friends. These observers are "nothing," not even "babies"-potentially not human or earthly. This thought pattern highlights Plath's existential concern about the meaning and impact of her life. She ponders, "They will wonder if I was important." This line resonates with the universal human quest for significance, the fear that our lives may not leave a lasting impression.

In her typical vivid style, Plath confronts the reader with the idea that life is fleeting. The metaphor, "My mirror is clouding over," serves as an image of diminishing self-awareness and fading life. This fogging mirror is paired with the image of whitening flowers and faces, symbolic of life draining away. However, what sets this poem apart is the speaker's detailed articulation of how she wants her afterlife to be.

"I do not trust the spirit. It escapes like steam," says the speaker, wary of the immaterial essence of life. In contrast, she finds comfort in material objects- "copper cooking pots," "rouge pots," and the "blue eye of my tortoise." These "small things" with their "little particular lusters," are what make her existence tangible, and she wishes to carry them into her afterlife. These objects are warmed "by much handling" and "almost purr," encapsulating the emotional weight and near-animated spirit that material things can acquire through human interaction.

Plath's poem culminates in a hauntingly beautiful line: "the shine of these small things sweeter than the face of Ishtar," referring to the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, beauty, sex, and war. Here, the speaker finds more solace and beauty in these personal, tactile objects than in the countenance of a goddess, underlining the deep emotional attachment we can have to material belongings and the mundane details that compose our lives. It poses a poignant question: do these material objects serve as mere comfort or do they in some way contribute to our understanding of life and its ephemeral nature?

By juxtaposing the ethereal with the tangible, the grand with the mundane, and life with death, Sylvia Plath's "Last Words" creates a resonant, multi-layered dialogue about human existence, capturing the complexities and paradoxes that make life both harrowing and beautiful.

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