Topic > Between Nature and Earth: A Comparison of "The Long Tunnel Ceiling" and "The Burnt Spa"

"As a species, we are most animated when our days and nights on Earth are touched by the natural world" - Richard Louv Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Plath and Hughes seem to have different relationships with nature; in The Long Tunnel ceiling Hughes, Hughes appears to gain a groundedness and sense of vitality when in a natural environment, while Plath presents an image of decay and disintegration when surrounded by the natural world. While Hughes observes the natural world to derive pleasure and grounding from its beauty, power, and ferocity, Plath uses nature in an attempt to understand herself and gain answers to the questions that have followed her throughout her life, particularly the reasons and causes of his mental illness. In Burnt out spa Plath sees an image of herself in the water which contrasts with Hughes who sees a trout crash; from the water. This symbolizes how Plath does not appear animated by nature, instead, as a confessional poet, she uses it to further her exploration of her internal thoughts. While Hughes seems to have more affinity with nature and derives a sense of salvation from the industrialization of the world when confronted with the natural world. Indeed, in horses Hughes uses the memory of the 'megalithic' environment to ground themselves whilst in vibrant man-made environments. For Hughes, the emphasis and purpose of his poetry was to convey the beauty of nature; it teaches us to understand how we can experience the outside world. Growing up in the countryside, he believed that nature offered a “subtle glimmer” that could be found “among the bad grind” that could nourish and bring beauty to our lives. This is compounded by the fact that "glitter" has connotations of celebration and festivity. Furthermore, Hughes gives the directly tangible image of nature by offering "the wild god that now blooms" by transforming the noun "flower", which is usually a property of nature, into a present participle verb. Hughes gives power to nature and shows it as an active being. Force. Hughes' appreciation for nature and how it animates us is heightened when he refers to nature as a "god", this alludes to how he worshiped and saw nature as the primary power in his life. This is in stark contrast to Plath's Burnt out Spa, which far from being about salvation through nature, is used as a vehicle to convey her inner world to enhance her understanding of herself, hence the use of the pronoun first person "I", this differs for Hughes who only uses a first person pronoun, "ignoring me", however, this is only used to give the trout a higher status by describing it as superior and unaffected by Hughes' presence (dell 'man). Plath's poetry also refers to itself as reflecting her "toneless" mind, so there are almost no active verbs. Instead they tend to refer to destruction; 'finished', 'melted', 'ruin' so this seems to deny the idea that we are most animated when touched by nature. The Burnt-Out Spa appears to present nature offering a possibility of salvation for Plath which is conveyed through the image of water as it "flows away" and becomes "toneless water", this conveys an image of progression and cycle of life . However, Plath rejects this development as she is instead "sitting under" the water. This is an image of contradictions with Plath inactive and still against the natural flow of water. The idea of ​​Plath's refusal to be animated by water is conveyed through the regularity of the quatrains, enclosed by one-line stanzas at the beginning and end of thepoetry that draws a distinction from Hughes' free verse and the lack of regular structure in his stanzas. These quatrains describe a methodical clinical way of looking at nature "like a doctor or an archaeologist". Thus suggesting that she is not enthusiastic about nature but is animated in a structured analysis. This is augmented by the simile "like a doctor or an archaeologist" as the connotations of the occupations are people who consider nature in a form of scientific analysis. This further shows the rigidity of Plath and her mind; she is not prepared for the change. The image of water is replicated by the presence of the canal in The Long Tunnel Ceiling. Initially, this water reflects the ugliness of the industrial environment through the long vowel sounds in "long gleam-ponderous" which create a languid effect that is compounded by the consonant sounds of "l" and "g". However, he transforms this opaque and passive image into exclamatory onomatopoeic phrases such as "Suddenly a crash!" although which nature emerges in the form of a trout. This reference to nature is considered a "Holy of Holies!" A treasure!' The exclamation points and alliteration of “ho” increase the excitement of the presence of the trout which can be considered synonymous with animation. This contrasts with Plath's morbid final line "Neither nourishes nor heals." The combination of the two negatives "neither" and "nor" with the explosive consonance of "n" gives a pessimistic view of the effect of nature. Alternatively, it could be argued that the image of the "fallen stones" is merely a metaphor for the spa and therefore the pessimistic tone is not a reflection of the impact of nature but a harsh indictment of the institutions that claim to heal . The context gives further weight to this notion as Plath had unsuccessful experiences resulting from repeated hospitalizations in mental health clinics. So the "finished old beast" may refer to itself ominously worn down to the "bones" by the "soft suede tongues" representing the doctors' hands. The hissing here has an ominous effect and justifies Plath's rejection of this image. Plath wrote because she desperately needed to reveal her inner secrets: Hughes said, "You can't overestimate her compulsion to write that way." He had to write those things, even against his most vital interests. She had to tell everyone." This conveys that her poem is about an introverted self-discovery, nature is not present in her poem to show the effect of the outside world on her but rather Plath's internal struggle to accept the world in in fact, in "Sheep in the Fog" he uses the colors represented in nature to show the darkening of his mind as he travels towards death: the purity of "white" transforms into "rust" which connotes disintegration, first that her world is seen as "blackened" in "dark water". with the suffix “ing” shows aggression and is in stark contrast to the usual connotations of “Morning”. By focusing on darkness, Plath rejects the possibility of nature of a new dawn and therefore of new opportunities. This theme of destruction through nature is emulated in the spa Burnt out, in fact through the similar image of water, which in both poems shows images of drowning and stagnation. This contrasts with Hughes who uses nature to show the possibilities of creation. In the fox of thought the night itself symbolizes the depth of the imagination; "The forest of this midnight moment" midnight represents being on the cusp of something new, this is an image that Hughes Latches contrasts with Plath who shuns the idea of ​​a.