Plath - The Bee meeting

Question 1

About

Answer 1

the poem is seen as an exploration into identity via the poetical metaphor of the bees being analogous to critical elements within society and the speaker as the vulnerable Q. Bee

Question 2

S1

Answer 2

• First-person narrative

-The reader is enshrouded in the mental disillusionment of the narrator’s mind

Question 3

S2

Answer 3

-Free verse

-Liminality / consistent reminder of the bees always being present

-Plath suicide

Question 4

Critic

Answer 4

Kroll “Plath’s view of the divided self is based on literature and myth”

-First introduced in the Folkloric element of the poem

Question 5

P1

Answer 5

Folkloric motif emphasised in the rhetorical question “who are these people at the bridge”

-Symbolic “bridge” presents liminality between life and death whilst the ambiguous “these” alienates the protagonist

-Plath – Suicide

Question 6

P2

Answer 6

Triplet repetition of “my fear” potent imagery of the protagonist hyper-ventilating analogous to a complete psychological breakdown

Question 7

P3

Answer 7

“I am rooted” narrators’ trepidation they cannot move – paralyzed with fear

-“rooted,” some scholars think synonymous with Daphne who turns herself into Laurel tree to escape oppressors

-Electroshock

Question 8

P4

Answer 8

Yet Daphne imagery delegated to Hive “white hive is snug as a virgin” and identity is further stripped

Question 9

P5

Answer 9

-Metaphorical “white box” emblematic of a coffin

-Monosyllabic simplicity emphasises how the entrapment is unchallenging