Death and Rebirth in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath

One of the running themes in many of Sylvia Plath's poems is that of death, dying, and rebirth. Her fascination with mortality ranges from reluctant acceptance to longing. In this essay I will examine both her view of death and rebirth as well as her view of death as a state of perfection as portrayed in the poems "Lady Lazarus," "Tulips," and "Edge."
Published posthumously, "Lady Lazarus" paints a haunting portrait of a thirty year old woman who desperately longs for death, marking each decade with an attempt at suicide. The most obvious connection in this poem is that of the Bible's Lazarus of Bethany and Plath's title character. In the Bible when Lazarus dies Jesus raises him from the dead in front of a crowd so the non-believers may witness his powers. This parallels Plath's character of Herr Docktor, who resurrects Lady Lazarus in front of onlookers so as to advertise his power. …