'The Table' is a poem in the collection 'Birthday Letters', which contains eight eight poems detailing the life Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes had together before their deaths Plath's premature birth. In particular, “The Table” is a poem about the desk that Ted Hughes made for his then-wife, Sylvia Plath, who ended up revealing all the darkness of her father as he wrote poems on it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The main metaphor of the poem is that the writing desk equates to a door that opened the darkness within Plath and the memories of her father. The lines: "I didn't know / I knew I had built and fitted a door / That opened downward into your father's tomb" cause Hughes to openly acknowledge his mistake, his role in Plath's downfall, though he was none of it aware at that moment. The adjective “adapted” tells the reader that this door was carefully crafted, but Hughes was blissfully unaware of what the devastating repercussions would be. "Opening Down in Your Father's Tomb" refers to the way in which the "ghost" of Plath's late father was resurrected through Plath's writings – he is not literally resurrected, but the connection that Plath establishes with her father through her poetry almost seems to reduce the boundary between her and her. world and the spiritual realm in which his father resides. The adverb “down” refers to the grave, which is literally underground. However, I also believe that the sentence is written with hindsight; Hughes is saying that Plath walked through that door herself to be with her father in death, and Hughes cannot give up his role in his death. The verse shows his hindsight, his remorse for what he has done, similar to the poem "Mistake" which acknowledged the move to Devon as one of Hughes' biggest mistakes in his marriage. There, Hughes asks, "What wrong fork / Had we taken?" which is a rhetorical question since he knows he is at fault for taking her to Devon. This idea of ​​the many roles that Hughes plays in Plath's life is explored from another angle in the second stanza, during her nightmare, where Hughes uses the analogy of an actor comparing himself to “an actor with his script / Blindfolds through the mirror". The use of figurative language in the verb "blindfolded" refers to Hughes' lack of control, his inability to see and carry out the script of their life correctly. I think this is perhaps his way of trying to deny any responsibility on his part for what happened to Plath, mainly out of guilt and grief. He realizes how much she meant to him, for now only he remains "on the empty stage", sour and alone, and now that the show is over he is left with the surprising and somewhat tragic awareness that he is not the hero of the movie. his own life, but instead is simply the supporting actor in Plath's life. One of the main themes explored in "The Table" is the idea that Plath's father still plays a prominent role in Plath's life, especially when she was writing poetry and could finally truly explore the repressed emotions she had regarding his father. The metaphor "Your daddy is risen" makes this seem like a curse, an unwanted infestation by some ghostly apparition rising from the dead, invading the world of Hughes and Plath, especially since the emphasis falls on the word "Daddy", so as. the bitter taste in Hughes' mouth. This idea continues when Hughes writes, “As I slept he huddled / Trembling between us,” a haunting image conjured in the reader's mind. "He" refers to the father and.