Winter Trees
Winter Trees - context Summary
Published in Ariel, 1965
Published posthumously in the 1965 Ariel collection, "Winter Trees" frames bare trees as mythic, resilient figures whose ringed growth evokes memory and continuity. Plath contrasts their effortless seeding and otherworldliness with human frailty, invoking Leda and layered maternal images. The poem reflects her recurring fascination with myth and nature and resonates with her personal struggles, using stark winter imagery to suggest endurance, transformation, and a haunted, inward gaze.
Read Complete AnalysesThe wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve. On their blotter of fog the trees Seem a botanical drawing. Memories growing, ring on ring, A series of weddings. Knowing neither abortions nor bitchery, Truer than women, They seed so effortlessly! Tasting the winds, that are footless, Waist-deep in history. Full of wings, otherworldliness. In this, they are Ledas. O mother of leaves and sweetness Who are these pietas? The shadows of ringdoves chanting, but chasing nothing.
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