Sheep In Fog

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1963

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“Sheep in Fog” is a poem of 15 lines without even meter, or beats, per line. The poem is arranged in five stanzas of tercets, or lines of three. The stanzas are organized by pairing an image and a feeling. The first explains the foggy landscape, and how Plath feels she’s disappointed people. The second describes the “train” (Line 4) and the “slow” (Line 5) treading of the “Horse” (Line 5), emphasizing feelings of isolation. The third notes the repetitive sound of the “hooves” (Line 7) and the emotional “blackening” (Line 9) of the day. The fourth stanza details the decaying “flower” (Line 10) and the “stillness” (Line 11) inside Plath. As the poem progresses, there is a speeding up of connections between stanzas as the unseen “far / fields” (Lines 11-12) of Stanza 4 are linked to the “threat” (Line 13) they hide in Stanza 5. That final stanza also leads to a discussion of what the “fields” (Line 12) do really hold: a “heaven” (Line 14) or a hellish “dark water” (Line 15)? Plath unifies the first and fifth stanzas by remarking on the presence or absence of stars. She also creates circularity with the imagery of color and the repetition of sounds to enhance her themes of isolation and despair.

Imagery of Color

Part of the bleak feeling of “Sheep in Fog” is created by Plath’s careful attention to creating a white and black world. While Plath claimed the poem was set in December, it is not clear from the poem itself; however, whiteness pervades the poem. The “sheep” and “fog” both give a sense of white or a light gray color. The “hills step off into whiteness” (Line 1), which is presumably another description of the “fog.” It is either foggy enough or cold enough for the “train” (Line 4) to “leav[e] a line of breath” (Line 6). Another image of whiteness appears later as Plath remarks on her “bones” (Line 11). The absence of color is replaced with its opposite as the morning is “blackening” (Line 9), the decaying “flower left out” is recorded (Line 10) and the “dark water” (Line 15) is as “starless” (Line 15) as a night sky. The only color conveyed is a dark red-orange, the color of blood, as the “train” (Line 4) and “horse” (Line 6) are simultaneously described. The “flower” (Line 10) also is part of this long image (Lines 5-10), and it also could possibly be red in tone. As an image of depression and suicide, one can see the red line through the middle of the poem like a vein cutting (perhaps like the railroad track) through the landscape’s skin.

Repetition in Sound

The dreary quality of “Sheep in Fog” is enhanced by Plath’s used of the repetitive sound techniques of assonance and consonance. These repetitions create a sense of the sounds of an animal in pain. The first repetition occurs with the consonance of “s”: “The hills step off into whiteness / People or stars / regard me sadly” (Lines 1-3). This slow hiss of s is then exacerbated by the repeated vowel sound of long “o”: That assonance can be seen in “O slow / Horse the colour of rust, // Hooves, dolorous bells” (Line 5-7). Notice, too, in these lines that the “s” sound remains. Plath uses this to convey the sound of a hissing moan. Another sound in Lines 5-7 is the consonant “r” in the words “horse” (Line 6), “colour” (Line 6), “rust” (Line 6), and “dolorous” (Line 7). The consonance of “r” is also seen in “regard” (Line 3), “train” (Line 4), the twice-used “morning” (Lines 8, 9), in “flower” (Line 10), “far” (Line 11), “heart” (Line 12), “threaten” (Line 13), and “through” (14), until it culminates in the ending line: “Starless and fatherless, a dark water” (Line 15). This suggests both a sense of something being ripped apart as well as a grinding sound. All this musicality adds to a feeling of inevitable destruction which is at the forefront of the poem.