Yaddo : the Grand Manor
Yaddo : the Grand Manor - context Summary
Composed at Yaddo
Written during Plath's residency at the Yaddo artists' colony, the poem records a brief, observational snapshot of communal rural retreat. It balances outdoor rural details—woodsmoke, frost, garden harvests, pond fish—with warm interior comforts and studio life, suggesting a gentle tension between solitude, creative work, and domestic calm. The tone is quietly attentive, registering sensory specifics that evoke seasonal stillness and the disciplined, domestic rhythms of an artist community.
Read Complete AnalysesWoodsmoke and a distant loudspeaker Filter into this clear Air, and blur. The red tomato's in, the green bean; The cook lugs a pumpkin From the vine For pies. The fir tree's thick with grackles. Gold carp loom in the pools. A wasp crawls Over windfalls to sip cider-juice. Guests in the studios Muse, compose. Indoors, Tiffany's phoenix rises Above the fireplace; Two carved sleighs Rest on orange plush near the newel post. Wood stoves burn warm as toast. The late guest Wakens, mornings, to a cobalt sky, A diamond-paned window, Zinc-white snow.
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