Knock Down and Rebuild

 Sylvia Plath, the writer well known for her deeply personal and striking themed pieces caught fire across the world for effortlessly yet intentionally drawing close vivid images to real occurring struggles in the mind of many. Initially, Plath was intrigued and inspired by multiple other poets such as Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson but experimented with multiple techniques until she found her own that allows her poetry to "escape ordinary analysis".  She wrote and published a series titled Ariel, consisting of multiple poems within the realm of mental health with focuses in illness, suicide, and oppression of which was conveyed through a unique style. Ariel is "a unique book..., cold gust of reality as though somebody had knocked out a window pane on a brilliant night" as Robert Penn Warren refers to it as. Lady Lazarus has a great plethora of metaphors encompassing her perspective and experience with suicide. Her life is similar to a cat with nine lives alluding to the idea of surviving multiple suicide attempts leaving her to be a "walking miracle" as she writes. Imagery of a pebble constantly being thrown and later referencing the idea of resurrection (in line with biblical title of Lazarus) fueling the idea of being rebuilt. The Edge was written just before Plath's passing -- even by a few months. The poem takes on the great despair and empty feeling of mental health and inescapable pain experienced. The edge is a vast piece of imagery alluding to the tip of the iceberg (if you will) of death and explicitly writing on the topic of suicide. "The edge of doom" is meant to act as the last straw before the weight of emptiness, depression, and pain are all over. As the reader moves through each stanza, the idea of death becomes more and more prominent as if it becomes the only option. Being blank and pure seems to only be reachable once death is achieved by Plath throughout the poem. The weight of her emotions continuously knock her down until there is nothing left but death to be the escape for rebuilding. Throughout the written pieces, Plath becomes openly vulnerable by expressing her emotions through metaphors and vivid imagery alluding to suicide and mental health challenges many experienced. Her work reached many battling the same emotions and continues to today leaving a mark on perspectives toward the world of mental health. 

https://www.thearticle.com/west-and-plath