17 pages • 34 minutes read
Two Sisters Of Persephone
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Symbols & Motifs
Poppies
Plath used poppies as a motif several times in her work, including in her poems “Poppies in October” and “Poppies in July.” In the Victorian language of flowers, poppies represented both extravagance and loss. To the Greeks, poppies were sacred to Morpheus, god of sleep, and China and Japan associated them with deep and passionate love.
Here in “Two Sisters of Persephone,” the poppies are notable for their shape and color: “their red silk flare / Of petalled blood” (Lines 17-18). This imagery conjures a billowing red skirt, as well as the blood of menstruation or making love for the first time. The choice of the word “silk” (Line 17) represents both freedom and luxury, conveying an image of loose silk against skin. The phrase “petalled blood” (Line 18) creates another layer of the image and a juxtaposition in tone. Normally blood is associated with violence, anger, passion, or fear, but here the adjective gives it an uncharacteristic softness. Here the poppies represent a transition from one state into another, as often distinguished by bloodshed of some type, but the transition is one of peace and beauty.
Poppies are also deeply associated with sleep and relaxation. Plath’s contemporaries would have likely been familiar with the famous poppy field of The Wizard of Oz, in which anyone caught in it falls into eternal slumber. The sister is “lulled” (Line 15) by their side, suggesting that her experience might take place in a half-world between awake and dreaming.
The House
The poem opens by referencing a house: “within the house / One sits; the other, without” (Lines 1-2). Although it is not directly mentioned again, the house provides the framework within which the rest of the poem is explored. One representation of the house is the constraints of society: The first sister stays within the boundaries of what is expected, while the other prefers to venture outdoors where the world is bigger and less controlled.
The house also represents the dynamic between limitation and safety. A house provides warmth, shelter, and protection from the elements. A house can be locked and shuttered, offering a peaceful refuge from the world outside. For many people, home is a safe place, somewhere to curl up when the world becomes too frightening. However, it also represents a very narrow corner of the world. There is no indication in the poem that either sister is trapped by their choice; the first can leave the house, if she wants to, and the second can return.
The Mathematical Machine
One sister spends her days indoors and “works problems on / A mathematical machine” (Lines 6-7). The poem illustrates this activity as unfulfilling, and even damaging: “Rat-shrewd go her squint eyes, / Root-pale her meager frame” (Lines 11-12). The choice of the word “root” (Line 12) is notable here, as it suggests the woman lives her entire life without sunlight—contrary to her sister, who grows tan from her time outdoors.
The “mathematical machine” might represent a calculator, or a cash register, or another device for correlating and recording accounts. Although the actual activity is briefly described—“she calculates each sum” (Line 9)—the machine symbolizes a larger idea about the way she lives her life. This sister might prioritize money and financial stability over freedom. Based on the tone and perspective of this part of the poem, this path appears the less fulfilling of the two; however, it is closer to the one many of us choose, seemingly out of necessity, in our own lives.
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By Sylvia Plath
