Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Sylvia Plath's "Miss Drake Proceeds to Supper" vividly portrays the unnerving experience of a new woman navigating a psychiatric ward. The poem delves into the subject's internal and external struggles, painting a picture both realistic and nightmarish. Through elaborate language and symbolism, Plath explores the emotional tension that comes with being confined in such an environment.

"Miss Drake" opens with an introduction to the "new woman in the ward," identified by her purple attire. She is described as "no novice" in intricate rituals, suggesting that she has been around long enough to understand the careful diplomacy needed to navigate her surroundings. Her world is depicted as one of "knotted table and crooked chair," items we usually associate with comfort but which are here transformed into obstacles filled with "malice."

The poet makes use of detailed imagery to convey a sense of fragile danger, as if the protagonist is walking on a terrain of "eggshells" and "breakable hummingbirds." This terrain, though delicate, is also perilous. She tiptoes "sallow as a mouse" between "cabbage-roses," which are metaphorically waiting to consume her. The room itself seems alive, its inanimate objects appearing as though they are part of a grand, dangerous plan to pull her into the "carpet's design."

The poem is also rich in sensory imagery. The floorboards are covered with "perilous needles," and the air is "ambushed," "adazzle with bright shards / Of broken glass." Even though Miss Drake is cautious, taking "wary breath" as she moves, the environment itself is filled with "jag and tooth," making her journey to the dining room appear like an odyssey through a minefield. Plath effectively uses this dense imagery to give the reader a visceral sense of the emotional duress that accompanies life in such a confined setting.

The final lines reveal Miss Drake successfully reaching the "patients' dining room," but the sense of accomplishment is somewhat muted by the descriptive words "still, sultry weather." This phrase captures the oppressiveness and stagnation that characterize the environment, suggesting that while Miss Drake may have navigated one challenge successfully, the overall ambiance remains stifling.

In "Miss Drake Proceeds to Supper," Plath crafts an emotionally layered depiction of the experience of a woman in a psychiatric ward. She makes exquisite use of metaphor, simile, and intricate imagery to express both the physical dangers and psychological complexities of navigating such a space. It's an unsettling portrayal, one that blurs the boundaries between the realities of confinement and the mind's exaggerated perceptions of the same, echoing the distorted reflections that often occur in the depths of mental illness.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...