Black Rook in Rainy Weather
Sylvia Plath
Pg. 177
Journals, April 1953
• “‘If only something would happen!’ Something
being the revelation that transfigures
existence; works a miraculous presto-chango
upon the mundane mortal world – turning the
toads and cockroaches back into handsome
fairy princes.”
Context:
• Sylvia Plath was always aware of the need for
inspiration to trigger her creative impulse: she
hoped for a moment of insight, a ‘miracle’,
enabling her to create. Plath wrote this poem
at a time when she was finding it a struggle to
write, despite her conviction that writing was
her life’s work. The poem comes from Plath’s
first collection “The Colossus”.
To note:
• Plath’s poetry is usually focused on her inner
self, her feelings and thoughts – even when
she appears to be writing about the outside
world. She uses her immediate surroundings
as a metaphor for her feelings and ideas.
Poem in a nutshell!
• This is a poem about poetry, about the
agonising wait for inspiration that makes a
poem possible. Throughout history, poets
have been inspired by nature, by birds, storms
and sunsets. In this poem Plath longs the
nature to ‘speak’ to her, to provide her with
inspiration for a poem.
Poem’s title
• The title sets the tone and atmosphere of this poem,
with both adjectives ‘Black’ and ‘Rainy’ suggesting
gloom. The bird she sees is also dark and forbidding
and the opening lines give us an image of something
dull and almost boring
“On the stiff twig up there
Hunches a wet black rook
Arranging and rearranging its feathers in the rain.”
• The title sets the scene for the poem’s content.
Verses – in detail
• It is late autumn or early winter, what Plath
memorably describes as the “season of
fatigue”.
• The weather is “desultory” - dull, miserable,
“wet”.
• The speaker is looking at this weather and the
countryside which is “a dull ruinous
landscape” – she sees a black rook drenched
by the rain and hunched over on a branch.
Verse One
• Plath’s mood is low-key; lacking in expectation
and hope. Nothing wonderful or special is
expected here.
• “I do not expect a miracle
Or an accident
To set the sight on fire
In my eye……………”
Verse Two
• Plath seems to be saying that inspiration has
deserted her – her imagination cannot create
more from what she sees.
• She also seems to be saying that she is not
even looking for this to happen.
Verse Three
• There is a slight change in tone indicated by the
word “Although” and the “I admit, I desire”
which follows this suggests a quiet longing – the
commas here also adding a hesitancy to the line.
• Plath would like nature to inspire her, to give her
“some backtalk”.
• She has experienced such moments of ‘backtalk’
before. They are ‘minor’, but nonetheless, have
been significant to her.
Verse Four: Inspiration
• To be inspired is to experience a “radiance”
• This visionary experience is described in terms of
heavenly generosity and love, highlighted by the
religious/spiritual vocabulary.
• Plath seems to be implying here that poetic
inspiration is a gift from heaven; it is not within
the control of the poet to decide when she will be
inspired. She must just wait for it to happen,
remaining aware that it may come at any time.
Verses Five-Eight
• The final section of the poem describes that
awareness, that waiting for an inspired moment
to come – until then she cannot write.
• She is waiting for an “angel” to “flare” something
inspired her way.
• The “angel” symbolises inspiration or vision for
the poet. The tone of the poem lifts a little here –
there is a growing optimism, albeit it tempered
by words such as “sceptical” and “even”.
• It is at this point in the poem that the rook is
mentioned again – this time more positively.
• Plath is more certain that this image can
inspire and her language here is much more
positive, particularly in the use of verbs –
“ordering”, “shine”, “seize”, “haul”
N.B. Verse Seven
• “A brief respite from fear
•
Of total neutrality………”
• These two lines are the emotional centre of
the poem. Plath is showing us that without
the inspiration to write, her life will be nothing
– a blank. She will exist in a state of non-being.
Verse Eight
• Plath is determined to be positive, to be
inspired as “miracles occur”
• She is determined overcome neutrality, to
seek inspiration by “trekking stubborn”
through this dull time.
• “Trekking” - brilliantly captures the effort and
determination involved in pushing herself
forward
Ending
• The poem ends with her patiently waiting for the
descent of the angel – inspiration. It may be rare
and random, but without it, there is nothing.
• Plath’s choice of the word “rare” suggests not
just that inspiration does not come often, but
that when it does come, it is something special
and precious.
• This allows the poem to end on a significantly
more optimistic note than it began.
LANGUAGE
• The poem has a hidden rhyme scheme in which
the first lines of each stanza rhyme or almost
rhyme (there-fire-desire-chair) as do the second
lines and so on...
• This even flow – resembles the flow of inspiration
the poet seeks in a random and chaotic world.
• Adjective “dull”, “ruinous” depict the gloomy
atmosphere. Leaves and rain falling – nature is
also worn out, tired.
• Use of PERSONIFICATION: Inspiration (an abstract
quality) is depicted as a kind of person – a
supernatural angel who descends from heaven.
• Religious Imagery for someone who said she
would “never speak to God again”
• -she refers to artistic inspiration 3 times as a
“miracle”
-Twice refers to “angel”
• To Plath, her poetry and her artistic inspiration is
her religion.
Assonance VS Alliteration
• Inspiration (an abstract quality) is depicted as
a kind of person – a supernatural angel who
descends from heaven.
• ALLITERATION:
-Seen in lines 29-30 with repeated “s” sounds
-Seen in line 40 with its repeated “r” sounds
This creates a pleasant verbal music which suits
the change in tone – hopeful, optimistic – as
she awaits inspiration.
THEMES:
1. Poetic Inspiration – Plath sees poetic inspiration
as rare, yet awe-inspiring.
• To her, it is a holy and sacred event and
associated with the descent of angels.
• When inspired Plath sees thing in a new light
captured in Plath’s imagery of “incandescent”
burning and brightness.
• It is also important to note that Plath sees
inspiration as random or “an accident”.
• It is not something we can actively seek out – we
must be in the right place, at the right time.
2. Mental Anguish: One of Plath’s most recurring
themes is evident here.
• This poem depicts artistic insecurity.
• Plath dreads the sense of “total neutrality”, losing
her poetic talent. It is a time when she
experiences writer’s block.
• This despair linked to the grey, blank and
passionless scene set in Verse One.
• She fears this scene will never be interrupted by
light or inspiration, leaving her in a limbo.
3. Psychic Landscapes: Plath uses “psychic
landscapes” – scenes from nature – to convey
her inner state of mind.
• Here, the speaker’s dull and uninspired state
of mind is reflected in the “dull ruinous
landscape”
• The speaker’s dark, dull mind symbolised by
the rook.