Sheep in Fog by Sylvia Plath

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• Written in January 1963
• This was the coldest month in 100 years
• Electric was going off and on and the children were sick.

Question 2

Form and Structure

Answer 2

-Tercets has an effect of coldness
-Spondaic rhythms capture loneliness and despair of the speaker.
Dramatic monologue in present tense, coveys speaker who is so lonely that they lack all identity and individuality,
“I disappoint them”
-Plath is writing in the persona of the perfectionist who cannot live up to her own standards as well as other peoples
-Expansive use of spondees creates a monotonous effect

Question 3

Subject

Answer 3

This poem is about a speaker who lacks identity and individuality.

Question 4

Language Techniques

Answer 4

Imagery- colour imagery 
“Rust”- red, symbolic of the decay and stasis of the speaker’s situation.
-Water imagery,
“A dark water”
Symbolic of suicide.
-Father imagery,
“Fatherless”
A feminist reading of this poem could be that what isolates this speaker more than anything are absentee patriarchs-Hughes and Otto-who despite being absent still exert power over the speaker.