9/26/13

"Frog Autumn" By Sylvia Plath
Summer grows old, cold-blooded mother.
The insects are scant, skinny.
In these palustral homes we only
Croak and wither.
Mornings dissipate in somnolence.
The sun brightens tardily
Among the pithless reeds. Flies fail us.
he fen sickens.
Frost drops even the spider. Clearly
The genius of plenitude
Houses himself elsewhere. Our folk thin
Lamentably.

   I would like to start off by saying that Sylvia Plath's poems are extremely interesting to read.  They are not completely straight forward, and it is hard to figure out the meaning of the poem by only reading it once.  It was difficult to pick out one poem from the long list of her poems, but "Frog Autumn" stuck out to me.  I not only picked it because it was one of the shorter poems, but I picked it because after I read this poem and continued looking at other poems in the list, I could not get "Frog Autumn" out of my mind.  The title itself is what drew my attention.  "Frog Autumn."  Autumn is the season that comes after summer, and it is usually a transition season where weather begins to change and elements of life begin to change.  But why did Plath add the word frog?  The definitions of frog are: 1. tailless amphibian with smooth skin with long legs for leaping 2. person who is characterized as repulsive in appearance or character 3. a french person 4. thing used to hold something 5. raised area on a surface.  When I first read the word "Frog" I thought this poem could possibly be about a frog, the amphibian, in autumn.  After looking up the definition, I think that definition number four could be the possible definition that goes along with the poem as a whole.
  I decided that before I could analyze this poem, I needed to define the words that I did not know. Here is the list of definitions I found:
1. palustral: living in or pertaining to marshes
2. dissipate: scatter or disperse
3. somnolence: sleepy state; sleepiness
4. pithless: weak; lacking strength
5. fen: low, marshy area; frequently flooded area of land
6. plenitude: abundance
7. lamentably: deplorably; unfortunate manner; deserving strong condemnation
Without looking up these words, I would not have been able to fully understand the poem.  In the first line of the poem, Plath uses the word mother.  I believe that mother could be referring to mother nature because the summer is growing cold.  Mother nature is turning cold blooded as fall and winter approach.  Insects begin to die when the weather turns cold.  Plath seems to be utilizing the word palustral to create a marshy, dark, cold, swamp imagery for the environment.  The people who live in the marshy home live in the middle of nature.  They are being affected by mother nature just as the insects and the weather are.  It does not seem to have a positive connotation because the imagery is dark and damp.  The mornings during autumn disperse in a sleepy state indicating that nature and life and in the swampy area are in a sleepy state.  This puts an image in my mind of an early morning when the sun is rising and the grass has dew on it and it is cold and damp and there is a slight fog in the air.  The mornings seem to scatter without anyone noticing.  The shift to colder weather has put everyone in a sleepy dreamlike state.  The sun rises late like it is in no hurry to light up the sky indicating a perpetual dreamlike state.  The flies are dying, and the plants are weakening.  The "he" before fen seems to give it a human like quality.  The life of the marshy are begins to sicken as the cold weather descends in the area.  Even the genius spiders begin to die.  They attempt to house themselves in places that they hope are safe from the cold, but even the most genius insects cannot save themselves from the frost of the coming season.  The family is also affected.  The folk thins in an unfortunate manner.  When I read this line, I think of family members retreating into themselves during the cold months.  They tend to be in a sleep like state, and want to be by themselves.  They want to survive on their own during the changing season.
  The definition of "Frog" that best fits this poem is: a thing used to hold to something.  Elements in the swampy area try to hold on to life during the shift of mother nature.  The weather is changing and life seems to be dying.  The spiders try to hold on to life, but even the genius spiders cannot survive the changing season.  Overall, this poems seems to shine a negative light on the changing season.  It describes a swampy area with life dying all around.  Families disperse, and nature and organisms seem to be in a sleep like state.  I love this poem, and enjoyed reading it. I love the eerie feeling it gives to autumn.  I always thought of winter as being the season where everything dies.  But now, I can picture an early fall morning that is quiet and serene.  Life seems to be still and silent, and even though everything seems to be dying, the morning has a peaceful quality that I can relate to when I think of autumn.

*definitions found on google.com definitions*