Stars over the dordogne

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Applied Humanities

Learning to Read Reading Plath By Eric Steineger 1 Module One: Introduction to the Humanities / Page 1.3.3 Reading Plath On this page: 0 of 3 attempted (0%) | 0 of 1 correct (0%) Objective: Use the strategies discussed in the previous pages to analyze a poem by Sylvia Plath.

Now that you’ve gone through John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” let’s try analyzing poems that come from different eras and focus on different subjects. This next poem is by Sylvia Plath, a confessional poet from the 1950s and ’60s. While the Romantics broke ground by writing about emotion, a previously taboo subject, confessional poets made it okay to use “I” and discuss the self, sometimes overtly.

This is a photograph of a man standing on a wooden deck looking up at a star-filled sky. He is wearing a jacket, jeans, and hiking boots. His back is to the viewer. He is shining a flashlight into the sky and looking in that direction. There are evergreen trees in front of him. The sky is dark purple above the man and fades to a lighter purple toward the horizon.

A man gazes up at a night sky akin to the one that inspired Sylvia Plath’s “Stars Over the Dordogne.”

Dino Reichmuth

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Analyze a Poem

On this page, you will use the strategies you’ve learned to analyze a poem by Sylvia Plath. Answer the questions as you analyze the poem.

Before you begin, remember the tips offered on the earlier page about how to read literature:

1. Don’t Be Intimidated 2. Read the Poem Aloud 3. Establish Context 4. Identify Key Aspects 5. Form an Impression

To help guide your analysis of this poem, consider the following question:

There are two sets of stars mentioned. Which set does Plath relate to, and why?

Stars Over the Dordogne

By Sylvia Plath

Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy Picket of trees whose silhouette is darker Than the dark of the sky because it is quite starless. The woods are a well. The stars drop silently. They seem large, yet they drop, and no gap is visible. Nor do they send up fires where they fall Or any signal of distress or anxiousness. They are eaten immediately by the pines.

Where I am at home, only the sparsest stars Arrive at twilight, and then after some effort. And they are wan, dulled by much travelling. The smaller and more timid never arrive at all But stay, sitting far out, in their own dust. They are orphans. I cannot see them. They are lost. But tonight they have discovered this river with no trouble, They are scrubbed and self-assured as the great planets.

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The Big Dipper is my only familiar. I miss Orion and Cassiopeia’s Chair. Maybe they are Hanging shyly under the studded horizon Like a child’s too-simple mathematical problem. Infinite number seems to be the issue up there. Or else they are present, and their disguise so bright I am overlooking them by looking too hard. Perhaps it is the season that is not right.

And what if the sky here is no different, And it is my eyes that have been sharpening themselves? Such a luxury of stars would embarrass me. The few I am used to are plain and durable; I think they would not wish for this dressy backcloth Or much company, or the mildness of the south. They are too puritan and solitary for that— When one of them falls it leaves a space,

A sense of absence in its old shining place. And where I lie now, back to my own dark star, I see those constellations in my head, Unwarmed by the sweet air of this peach orchard. There is too much ease here; these stars treat me too well. On this hill, with its view of lit castles, each swung bell Is accounting for its cow. I shut my eyes And drink the small night chill like news of home.

“Stars Over the Dordogne” from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF SYLVIA PLATH, edited by Ted Hughes. Copyright (c) 1960, 1965, 1971, 1981 by the Estate of Sylvia Plath. Editorial material copyright (c) 1981 by Ted Hughes. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Response Board What stands out to you in this poem? Are there any phrases you especially like? Is there anything particularly confusing?

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Before jumping into analysis, our first responsibility is to see what’s there. As we’re assuming the “I” is Plath, let’s jump to the second stanza. She’s not at home, and she’s

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wondering about home while looking at these stars zip, leap, and fall over a river called the Dordogne. (Note: “Dordogne” is pronounced “door-dohn.” The river runs through a rural region in France, also called Dordogne, that is known as a place to vacation.) We don’t know why she’s away—no matter. But we do know these infinitesimal stars can disappear, or not; there are many of them. Or maybe the narrator is unreliable or is still figuring things out: “Or else they are present, and their disguise so bright / I am overlooking them by looking too hard.” Either way, Plath is comparing the permanence of these stars to the stars she can see from home.

Plath’s poem sounds much different from Keats’s. You might describe its tone as having an edge. Keats’s language is softer by comparison, though no less profound. Now that you’ve read the poem, you’ve probably noticed a few things:

There are many stars, active in the sky. The dark of the sky conceals light. Yet Plath can see they are moving, dropping. At home, she’s used to a few, dependable stars. She feels that those stars (the stars she’s used to) would not want the attention.

As a matter of fact, if a star back home were to shoot across the sky, it would leave a void, “a sense of absence in its old shining place.” Furthermore, Plath believes that these stars, as seen from “the peach orchard… with its view of lit castles… treat me too well.”

Multiple-Choice Question

According to our introduction, what distinguishes poetry of this period from the poetry of Keats’s era?

a willingness to embrace topics unrelated to the church the use of “I” the end of romantic notions and investigation of emotion a focus on real people and places

Finally, we get to the last line. Now, what does that say about Plath? What does it suggest about the message or purpose of this poem?

Short-Answer Question

Time to revisit our opening question: There are two sets of stars mentioned. Which set does Plath relate to, and why?

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