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I created this spoken word video back in 2016… I was looking for a poem very different from my own writing. I found a spoken word poem on a You Tube channel by the Radio Theatre Group, the poem was Sylvia Plath’s ‘Lady Lazarus‘ read by Natalie Clark. I had previously read Sylvia Plath’s poetry but didn’t find I fully related to her subjects. But it’s amazing how after hearing a poem spoken with perfect emphasis, the kind of feeling and emotion Natalie Clark so expertly conveys in her reading, it completely changed my perception of Sylvia Plath and her poetry. Perhaps hearing a human voice speaking the words makes a good connection and turns what can be a cold poem into warm reality.
I reread some of Sylvia’s poems, they began to speak to me in a more vivid way. Mad Girl’s Love Song stood out as a poem I might want to try reading, partly because of it’s popularity but also the poem intrigued me as to what it was about. On the surface it appears to be about a failed relationship, a disappointment in a lover, at least that is what is generally assumed for the poem. As I began to read it out loud for the recording I felt a little confused at what I was reading… phrases such as
‘God topples from the sky, hell’s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan’s men.’
I had trouble seeing how those strong, slightly biblical statements had anything to do with a disappointment in a lover.
Something in the back of my mind didn’t feel right… I felt foolish reading a poem I was not entirely convinced of its true meaning. I’ve never done that before. I like to fully understand a poem so I can read it with the right emphasis. I carried on reading, ignoring the little voice telling me “you can’t read that, you don’t even know what it’s about!”🙄
After reading it at least six times, it suddenly hit me… maybe it was not about bitter disappointment in a human lover, but coming to a point in life where belief in God no longer feels real.
God topples from the sky, hell’s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan’s men
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I fancied you’d return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
Don’t worry… I’m not about to analyse if God is real or not, or suggest my theory on the meaning of the poem is 100% correct. But just point out some interesting facts I discovered about Sylvia Plath that may make a bit more sense of my theory.
I searched online for poetry analysis of ‘Mad Girl’s Love Song’ and found the same unconvincing explanation many times… it was about Sylvia Plath’s disappointment in her marriage, or maybe an earlier relationship. When I delved deeper to when the poem was first published, I found she wrote the poem in 1951, age 24, while attending Smith College. It was first published in 1953 in a magazine called Mademoiselle. She didn’t marry the poet Ted Hughes until 1956. So the poem couldn’t possibly be about her marriage. It’s also interesting to note… at 8 years old Sylvia’s father unexpectedly died due to complications after surgery. She experienced a loss of faith after her father’s death and remained ambivalent about religion throughout her life. (Wikipedia)
I can’t prove my theory is correct, but there is one thing I know for sure… after seeing a deeper meaning in the poem, I was able to read it in a very different way. For a few minutes I felt that state of mind, the cold disappointed honesty in admitting something wholeheartedly believed might not be true… they didn’t show up, and never would because it was just a comforting invention of the mind, nothing more than a way of coping.
It’s also intriguing the poem comes to a close with the mention of a thunderbird… a North American legendary creature considered to be a supernatural being with power and strength. “The Ojibwe version of the myth states that the thunderbirds were created by Nanabozho for the purpose of fighting the underwater spirits. They were also used to punish humans who broke moral rules. The thunderbirds lived in the four directions and arrived with the other birds in the springtime. In the fall they migrated south after the ending of the underwater spirits’ most dangerous season.” (Wikipedia)
If you find the subject of interest and you wish to do your own research, you might find this analysis of the poem worth reading. I thought it was excellent and had some similar suggestions close to my own feelings on the meaning of Mad Girls Love Song.
But I feel it’s right to state that only Sylvia Plath really knew what the poem was about. And maybe it is a poem intentionally written, like some song lyrics, to be interpreted in more than one way.
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Sylvia Plath Biography (You Tube)
Sylvia Plath Biography (Neurotic Poets)
Nick Mount On Sylvia Plath’s Ariel (You Tube)
Sylvia Plath Reading Her Poems 1958 (You Tube)
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I no longer have comments on my posts… I guess you’ve all noticed. But don’t feel shut out, if you’d like to say something relating to this post… any post, or just drop by and say hello, you’re welcome to leave a message on my about page. The next post will be my own poetry… just in case it looks like I’ve given up writing my own material. No, not at all, I’ve just been busy with photography and… well, life! 😊
This year I bought a 
WordMusing 