Sheep in Fog
Sheep in Fog - context Summary
Published in Ariel, 1965
Published posthumously in the 1965 Ariel collection, "Sheep in Fog" frames a brief, bleak scene of whiteout and indistinct figures where the speaker feels isolated and disappointing to others. Sparse, urgent images—the train, a rust-colored horse, melting fields—suggest emotional paralysis and a threatened passage toward a cold, solitary afterlife. The poem resonates with themes of despair and alienation that recur in Plath's later work.
Read Complete AnalysesThe hills step off into whiteness. People or stars Regard me sadly, I disappoint them. The train leaves a line of breath. O slow Horse the colour of rust, Hooves, dolorous bells - All morning the Morning has been blackening, A flower left out. My bones hold a stillness, the far Fields melt my heart. They threaten To let me through to a heaven Starless and fatherless, a dark water.
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