The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels,
Her green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan
Of silver as the rondo slows; now reels
Begin on tilted violins to span
The whole revolving tall glass palace hall
Where guests slide gliding into light like wine;
Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall
Reflecting in a million flagons' shine,
And glided couples all in whirling trance
Follow holiday revel begun long since,
Until near twelve the strange girl all at once
Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince
As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.
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I am surprised at how touching this poem is. She did it with such imagery, and details in it. Wow.
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From guest ella (contact)
absolutely lovely; where it leaves the reader very much aware that it is refering to cinderella, plath sill manages to give an entirely new look to an old favorite. -
Thanks!
From guest Speedoo DeMonde (contact)
Always knew the poet's name, but never actually read any of her work. Quite moving! Sylvia has a new fan... -
Excellent
A superb sonnet!!! -
I think here she has used Cinderella to symbolize her own life. The brief fairy tale, the ticking of the clock to represent the cruel hand of fate that time is ticking away. She is aware of the time.
And the "trance," she describes reveals how isolated she might have felt, in knowing she was aware of the clock and of her decline, yet others remained oblivious.
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This is one of her better poems in terms of imagery and use of imperfect rhyme in the last 2 stanzas to parallel the frenzied countdown to midnight and the anxiety she feels. Maybe at one time Plath herself felt a little like Cinderella and the caustic ticking of the clock parallels her countdown to suicide. I think of this as one of her better poems.
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I think of it as a loss of time. Like every fairy tale must end especially with the last line. Sounds so lovely but you can't enjoy it because of time counting down.
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My first thought that this is the Cinderella story for adults, written for adults and it's beautiful.
Does she run down those stairs, I don't think so - that clock carries on ticking and ticking......
~Von~ -
As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.
curious.
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