A Secret

A Poem by Sylvia Plath

ContextWritten on October 10th 1962, a year before her death in 1963

Sylvia Plath wrote “A Secret” just after she separated from her husband Ted Hughes as his secret was out about his affair with friend Assia Wevill.

Plath wrote the poem as part of the ‘Ariel’ collection, however following her death Hughes removed it from the published collection

Plath and Hughes’ son was born in January of 1962, however Ted seemed disappointed with the baby and treated him coldly - Ted’s affair began to dawn on Plath at this point as he would openly seem to flirt with Assia.

This poem is known as being one of Plath’s most cryptic and ambiguous poems as the real meaning behind it remains a secret due to Plath’s death and the removal from the ‘Ariel’ collection

About the PoemOffers a grotesque take on Plath’s classic themes throughout the ‘Ariel’ collection: female subjectivity, scrutiny of femininity, fertility, family, revelation and betrayal

Plath’s poem also has three perspectives, with its narrator and two speakers.

Plath wrote “A Secret” in quatrains

“A Secret” is certainly modern love gone wrong

The imagery throughout the poem has no coherence, only Plath’s bitter sarcasm and this dirty secret

Critics regard this poem as as a piece of ‘cryptic fury’ due to it’s riddle like nature which makes the poem difficult to understand - this riddle like nature means that the poem has to be picked apart to begin to gain an understanding

A secret! A secret!

How superior.

You are blue and huge, a traffic policeman,

Holding up one palm—

A difference between us?

I have one eye, you have two.

The secret is stamped on you,

Faint, undulant watermark.The secret is permanent, forever branding them with the burden of keeping this secret and dealing with the consequences

The anger and frustration is shown progressively through the close rhyme words (Highlighted in red) - similar to the you/do rhymes in ‘Daddy’

Mythological cyclops - imperfect vision suggesting that she has been tricked or mislead - Links to Ted’s manipulation of Plath whilst he cheated on her

The baby is described as having a ‘big blue head’ in stanza 7

The secret prevents her from moving on with her life, it takes dominance over her much like the authoritative figure of a policeman

Repetition - the speaker sets a tone of anticipation for the reader, a desire to uncover the secret

The Bloody Chamber - the blood key stain on her forehand, makes her feel shame

The Bloody Chamber - Had to discover what was behind the door

Will it show in the black detector?

Will it come out

Wavery, indelible, true

Through the African giraffe in its Edeny greenery,

The Moroccan hippopotamus?

They stare from a square, stiff frill.

They are for export,

One a fool, the other a fool.

The animal pattern of the baby’s crib, suddenly becoming very menacing from a child’s viewpoint - Imagination gone wild

A childish rhyme

Worried about their secret being uncovered by others, scared of society’s reaction

Definitions -(of ink or a pen) making marks that cannot be removed OR not able to be forgotten.

Will stand out from it’s surroundings much like their secret

Symbolically giraffes connote perception

"Water Horse" - very substantial in physical terms, connotes a guide in grounding ourselves so we can face and dissolve emotional issues

Both parents are at fault here, the speaker realises that they are both to blame and burdened with this secret/child

A secret… An extra amber

Brandy finger

Roosting and cooing ‘You, you’

Behind two eyes in which nothing is reflected but monkeys.

A knife that can be taken out

To pare nails,

To lever the dirt.

'It won’t hurt.’

An accusation, passing the blame onto one person in particular

Adding to previous disagreements or difficulties the couple have to face - the secret only fuels their arguments and unhappiness

Most likely referring to the eyes of the baby

Connotes the baby’s innocence as it cannot see the darker reality that the parents constantly face throughout the poem - Much like Plath’s children as their father was having an affair and their mother attempting suicide

Hinting that the secret is a baby

Repetition of title - Hinting at the reveal, anticipation

A knife - Gossip/back-stabbing

The ‘dirt’ on a person - The speaker’s shameful secret, the baby

Attempts to offer reassurance knowing it will be a painful experience, possibly in a more emotional manner

The Bloody Chamber - The Marquis attempts to calm the girl when he discovers her secret (Using the key) and reveals he will have to kill her

An illegitimate baby—

That big blue head—

How it breathes in the bureau drawer!

'Is that lingerie, pet?

'It smells of salt cod, you had better

Stab a few cloves in an apple,

Make a sachet or

Do away with the bastard.

Not dealing with the issue but instead attempts to hide it - Links to Plath ignoring the signs that Ted was having an affair

A large chest of drawers - attempting to conceal the baby which connotes shame

A dishonour to the mother, acts as a constant reminder of the secret

Considered to be a product of lust instead of love

Lust - links to Stella and Stanley’s relationship

The father’s secret desire, to do away with the baby and all reminders of this secret

Illegitimate to the father could suggest that he had disowned the baby due to this dishonour

The baby is being controlled whilst being hidden as their secret

The Snow Child - the father destroys all evidence of the girl’s existence as she melts away

An act of desperation

The Snow Child - The count and countess

'Do away with it altogether.’

'No, no, it is happy there.’

'But it wants to get out!

Look, look! It is wanting to crawl.’

My god, there goes the stopper!

The cars in the Place de la Concorde—

Watch out!

A stampede, a stampede!

Linking back to the animals mentioned in the previous stanzas - An unstoppable force

A sudden violent rush - a comparison to the sudden rush of cars when the traffic lights change

A contrast between imagination (The child’s animals) and reality (The sudden cars)

The secret/baby has torn the two apart leading to their arguments/disagreements - Much like Plath and Hughes

Stella and Stanley - Blanche also begins to tear the two apart especially with Stanley’s aggressive nature

Link to ‘Sow’ - Wants to escape/be free from constraints of their ‘owners’

Horns twirling and jungle gutturals!

An exploded bottle of stout,

Slack foam in the lap.

You stumble out,

Dwarf baby,

The knife in your back.

'I feel weak.’

The secret is out.

a harsh grating quality made from within the throat (Like Tarzan’s roar)

Links back to animal imagery - desires to be free as the baby crawls and the secret risks exposure

Links to the father - the child appears to be disowned or ‘dead’ to the father, presenting him as a backstabber in regards to the child’s mother

A very final ending - the speaker knows there is nothing more that can be done and must learn to deal with the constant reminders and the reactions of those she wanted to hide away from, society

Public vs private

Wolf Alice - Her desire to be free from the nuns after they hide her away due to her animalistic ways