Poem Analysis - Sheep In Fog

A Descent into Despair: An Overview

Sylvia Plath's "Sheep In Fog" is a stark and haunting poem, saturated with a sense of profound isolation and impending doom. The poem charts a journey, both physical and emotional, into a landscape of bleakness and despair. The initial mood is one of melancholic observation, which progressively darkens into a feeling of being unwanted, and then of yielding to a bleak destiny. The poem ultimately offers a glimpse into a potential "heaven" that is ironically joyless and devoid of comfort.

Plath's Dark Vision: Themes of Isolation and Disappointment

The central theme of "Sheep In Fog" is isolation. This is evident from the opening lines where the speaker is distinctly separated from the landscape: "The hills step off into whiteness." This distancing is further emphasized by the image of "People or stars/Regard me sadly, I disappoint them." The speaker feels like an outsider, observed and judged, yet failing to meet expectations. This isolation extends to a sense of disappointment, both of the speaker in herself and of others towards her. The feeling of being inadequate is a key component of the poem's despairing tone.

Symbolism of the Bleak Landscape

The poem is rich in symbolism, particularly through its use of vivid imagery of the natural world. The "fog" itself is a potent symbol of obscurity and uncertainty, obscuring the boundaries of the speaker's reality and emotional state. The "Sheep In Fog" further emphasizes this feeling of being lost and directionless. The "slow/Horse the colour of rust" can be interpreted as a symbol of decay, aging, and the exhaustion that comes with enduring suffering. The "flower left out," a symbol of beauty and potential, now abandoned and decaying, mirrors the speaker's own sense of neglect and fading hope.

Mortality's Shadow and the Allure of Nothingness

The specter of mortality looms large in the poem. The image of the train leaving "a line of breath" evokes a sense of transience and fading life. The "Morning has been blackening" directly confronts the inevitable progression towards darkness and the end of days. The lines "My bones hold a stillness, the far/Fields melt my heart" suggest a yielding to the pull of oblivion, a surrender to the vastness of the unknown. The final stanza, which speaks of a "heaven/Starless and fatherless, a dark water," presents death not as a comforting afterlife, but as a desolate, cold void, free from traditional notions of hope or divine presence.

Uncertain Destinations: A Final Impression

"Sheep In Fog" is a powerful exploration of despair, isolation, and the allure of nothingness. The poem's strength lies in its ability to create a visceral sense of the speaker's emotional landscape through vivid imagery and bleak symbolism. It leaves the reader with a lingering sense of unease and a chilling awareness of the potential for darkness within the human experience. Is the poem a literal desire for death, or a metaphorical expression of overwhelming emotional pain and a yearning for release, even if it is a joyless one?