Hello HPPR Radio Readers, my name is Andrea Elise and I live in Amarillo, Texas.
I would like to talk today about Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Stars Over the Dordogne.”
Even if one does not know of Sylvia’s devastating history of depression and eventual suicide, it does not take long to realize the depth of sadness in her beautiful poem.
Sylvia begins by telling us that “stars are dropping thick as stones into the picket of trees whose silhouette is darker than the dark of the sky….”
Think about looking at the sky and watching something drop into utter darkness. You may remember a time in your life when a hard thud of emotions tumbled into a black pit. I know I do. Sylvia’s metaphor for that feeling is spot-on.
She conveys this emotion through confessional poetry, which is noted for its autobiographical nature. She is not afraid to let us know her pain, despite the chance that it might offend or scare the reader.
Another outstanding aspect of the poem are intentional pauses in parts of the text. The fourth line of the first stanza is a good example. She writes, “The woods are a well. The stars drop silently.” These are two very short sentences that ask the reader to slow down, experience what she is feeling.
Think about how deep a well can be. Think about how silently a star can drop. It can take your breath away if you pause long enough to contemplate.
Perhaps the most important facet of “Stars Over the Dordogne” is its allusion to Sylvia’s state of mind. When she talks about the deep hole that consumes the stars, she is letting us know that she is falling into darkness herself.
When she writes about the memory of home, only the sparsest stars are visible She says they are “wan” and tired. There are even stars that don’t appear at all.
Sylvia has lost all optimism and has moved to a place as far away from happiness, a place she can no longer reach.
Her use of the word “orphans” to describe the lost stars is heartbreaking. She is alone; she may even be afraid. She can only recognize the Big Dipper and admits that it might be her fault that she cannot find other stars.
Whether it is her fault or not, it is clear that the disappearance of light is out of her control.
In the fifth stanza, the poem moves to the present. Sylvia writes: “I shut my eyes and drink the small night chill like news of home.” Once again, she is confessing her feelings of hopelessness. She has given up and cannot find a way to improve her life.
Through use of half-rhyme (in other words, through the repetition of assonance or consonance), the reader has a sense of fluidity of thought and movement. We are on this path with Sylvia, as her mind journeys along a tragic road.
“Stars over the Dordogne” uses other literary and poetic techniques such as alliteration and enjambment. We can go through the poem line by line and examine these techniques.
However, it may be just as enlightening to learn more about a woman who graduated summa cum laude from Smith College, was an award-winning writer and painter and became a mother at a young age.
Even with her intellectual brilliance and creativity as part of her essence, Sylvia could simply not overcome the deepest despair that resulted in numerous suicide attempts, the final one killing her at age 30. She described her grief as “an owl’s talons clenching my heart.”
It is nothing short of astounding that a woman in so much pain could produce so many beautiful and varied achievements.
This is Andrea Elise for HPPR Radio Readers Book Club.
