17 pages • 34 minutes read
Sylvia PlathTwo Sisters Of Persephone
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1957A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Duality
There is likely no mythological figure in any culture more deeply and timelessly associated with the concept of duality than Persephone, who lives half her life in light and the other half in shadow. The “sisters” in the poem might be interpreted as two literal sisters or two possible life paths that stem from different choices.
In the opening stanza, the recurring idea of duality is presented with “within the house / One sits; the other, without; / Daylong a duet of shade and light” (Lines 1-3). Immediately, the poet uses the image of indoors and outdoors to create a divide between the two girls; furthermore, they are referred to as contrasting “shade and light” (Line 3), again creating a strong sense of duality. However, the poet chooses the word “duet” here (Line 3), which impacts the meaning behind the words. A duet refers to two things that come together in harmony, suggesting that while these two girls have marked differences and polarities, they are not in conflict with one another.
Later, there is duality in the actions and appearances of the two girls. One girl is pale and waif-like, spending her days indoors at her “barren enterprise” (Line 10). The other is tan and peaceful, accomplishing little of practical use but enjoying the tranquil summer day. This once again underlines the values of light and dark. Small details like “wainscotted room” (Line 5) also create depth; the reference to a manufactured, decorative architectural motif contrasts the beauty of the other sister’s natural world. Then later, the prudent sister finally experiences the world outside from her plot in a graveyard.
Societal Expectation
The poem deals strongly with society’s expectations of women. Plath wrote the poem in the 1950s, a time when most women felt pressured to focus on marriage and family. However, there were soon stirrings of another shift like that not seen since the suffragette movement, which would lead into the feminist revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Contraception was quietly becoming more commonplace, and young women were questioning the dynamics of their parents and grandparents. The duality presented in the poem highlights some of the polarities that women were exposed to, along with the social expectations of hard work, dedication, and chastity. In the poem, one sister focuses on her duties at the expense of real-life experiences, and the other sister enjoys the sunshine and gives herself over to her passions.
This contrast between women is not new, and it likely wasn’t new in the time of the Brothers Grimm, but here we see the traditional fairy-tale motif inverted. Many stories, such as Cinderella (among other variants), show the hardworking woman rewarded by a shift of fortune. Plath disagrees. The poet argues that a life given over to hard work only to be starved of passion is no life at all, barely even womanhood: “Worm-husbanded, yet no woman” (Line 28). This begs the question—what, then, is it to be a woman?
In the final stanza, the poet attempts to address this question by the words written across the first sister’s headstone: “While flowering, ladies, scant love not / Lest all your fruit / Be but this black outcrop of stones” (Lines 30-32). This line is particularly powerful because it comes from one woman to all other women who will come after and who might learn from her life. Though this is up for interpretation, one reading of the poem is that the second sister of the poem, who disregarded societal convention in regard to hard work and attitudes toward sex, is the happier and more fulfilled of the two.
Work-Life Balance
Moving from a 1950s perspective to a modernist lens, this poem becomes a cautionary tale championing the benefits of a healthy work-life balance. Today, the roles of women in society are more complex than ever before. Realistically, both sisters discussed in the poem would have their share of unhappiness and unique challenges were they to lead these lives today.
The first sister is fully absorbed in her career—though not precisely specified, we know that she engages with “calculations” and a “mathematical machine” (Lines 7, 9); we can imagine her as an office worker or an academic. The struggle she faces of prioritizing career over mental and spiritual well-being is something we have become all too familiar with. Here we see that her lifestyle, starved of love, has made her “bitter / And sallow as any lemon” (Lines 24-25). Duty and ambition alone might not be enough to sustain a happy life.
However, the second sister’s life presents its own set of challenges. Languishing her life away in hedonic freedom, she “bears a king” (Line 24). The hyperbolic language shows that, from this point forward, her life will belong to her child and her place in a family. Were this woman to live in contemporary society, would she be any happier than her sister? While love appears essential to overall happiness, one might need more to live a truly fulfilled life.
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By Sylvia Plath
