Edge

I.A Brief Introduction about Sylvia Plath

As a representative of Confessional School，Sylvia Plaths poems are thought as “glorious pain and sacred howl”.As her friend Alvarez said，Plath makes poetry and death an inseparable integrity.It is generally said that all Confessional School poets are more or less suffering from mental diseases，including Sylvia Plath，who tried to commit suicide in 1953.With a great obsession with suicidal，she finally committed suicide at the age of thirty.

Plath's higher consciousness is her poetic imagination，she made efforts to imagine and describe her death，by which her insoluble conflict can be temporarily escaped.For Plath，only during writing，she can get a temporary detachment from the cruel reality.

It is generally believed that Edge is Plaths last poem，which is considered as philosophy of her life.As its title suggest，the poem exists on the border--between life and death，art and life，artefact and prophesy，the lyric and the dramatic，and poetry and morality.It is a beautiful，sensuous poem，about a woman who has died along with her two children.Now lets read the poem in detail.

II.Analysis of Edge

Edge

The woman is perfected.

Her dead

Body wears the smile of accomplishment，

The illusion of a Greek necessity

Flows in the scrolls of her toga，

Her bare

The first stanza is narrated in the third person，describing a womans death，and sharing the finality with us.It is easier for us to understand if we put the second and third stanza together and analyse.With the description of the dead body and her dress，which may remind us of the legend of Medea.Medea is Aeetes daughter and she can cast spells.She falls love with Jason at the first sight when he looks for the golden fleece.She helps Jason finish the impossible task her father sets for him.After getting the golden fleece，Medea and Jason get prepared to return to Greece.Medeas father hears that，so he sends Medeas brother to chase her.Medea kills her brother and dismembers his body into several parts.Her brothers blood splashes on her dress and while her father is busy searching for his sons body，Medea and Jason escape immediately.

Medea and Jason settle down in Corinth.Corinth King welcomes them and as time goes by，Corinth King wants Jason to marry his daughter，Creusa.Jason agrees and Corinth King drives Medea into exile.Medea begs Corinth King to give her one more day.Taking advantage of that day，Medea weaves a golden dress with strong poison for Creusa.Creusa feels happy and immediately tries on，and dies soon.Corinth King is inconsolable and once he touches the dress，he also dies.Jason sees this and resents Medea.He looks for Medea and when he opens the door，a horrific scene presents right before him that his two sons are lying in blood，and Medea is taking the chariot she calls.She says that she curses Jasons life with no child.Finally，Jason lives in despair and dies.

With the help of Medea legend，we can understand “The illusion of Greek necessity/ flows in the scrolls of her toga” actually refers to Medeas brothers blood that splashes on Medeas dress.So from here，we can see the woman who died in the first stanza should be Medea.And now lets proceed to the fourth stanza.

Feet seem to be saying：

We have come so far，it is over.

Each dead child coiled，a white serpent，

One at each little

The fourth stanza uses personification and presents a kind of finality，and a sense of the inevitability of death.It feels like that life of each person is like a journey，before we die，we are always on the way.When we are dying，our journey is tend to end.We have walked a long way，it is finally over.The fifth stanza is identical with Medeas legend in the second and third stanza.When Medea dies，she also kills her two sons in fear of her children will be killed by other people.In addition，she kills their sons as a retaliation for Jason and curses his life with no child.In this stanza，the dead children refers to Medeas children who are compared to white serpents.Moreover，the image of white serpents is horrific，and it is the typical simile Plath will use.

Pitcher of milk，now empty.

She has folded

Them back into her body as petals

Of a rose close when the garden

Stiffens and odors bleed

From the sweet，deep throats of the night flower.

Reading the sixth and seventh stanzas with the first，third and fifth stanzas above，we can feel that all that is left is the 'dead'，the 'bare' and the 'empty'，which give us an impression of desolation.“The folding of them back into her body” is a portrayal of the picture that reverses the process of death and the process of birth in order to reconstitute the mother identity.In addition，the process of folding children back into her body is compared to the process that the petals of rose close.

Edge also embodies the pallor，coldness and eeriness such as “odors bleed”，and references to the moon，bone，the toga，the children as white serpents，and effectively blanch the site of suicide and infanticide.“Stiffens” shows a feeling of coldness and “the night flower” gives an impression of fragrance.However，if we try to envisage this picture，we can not only see the frozen site but also nose an odor both sweet and bloody.

III.Conclusion

In the first four stanzas，the poem depicts the picture from a perspective of a stranger，describing the womans body，her toga and her feet.In the last six stanzas，the poem depicts from the perspective of the moon，and the site changes.In this world，life unexpectedly and uncannily moves，speaks and acts in the guise of the bleeding roses，the scented night flowers.

The dead woman which refers to Medea is a kind of statue，a monument to Plath herself，watched by the old moon in her hag phase.However，different from Medea，Plath finally chooses to die alone.As what Plaths short essay 'Ocean 1212-W' had called the 'beautiful fusion with the things of this world' may be permanently achieved in death.Plaths life end with consummation.

References：

[1]Harold Bloom.Harold Blooms Critical Views：Sylvia Plath-Updated Edition[M].Yale University.2007.

[2]Jo Gill.Introduction to Sylvia Plath[M].Cambridge University Press.2008.

[3]Peter.K.Steinberg.Great Writers Sylvia Plath[M].Chelsea House Publishers.2004.

[4]Susan Bassnett.Sylvia Plath：An Introduction to the Poetry Second Edition[M].Palgrave Macmillan.2005.

作者简介：崔阳，女，（1992.3），汉族，湖北黄陂人，陕西师范大学在读研究生，研究方向：翻译理论与实践。