Sylvia Plath and Abraham Lincoln

¶ … Sylvia Plath and Abraham Lincoln wrote about suicide, and therefore both undoubtedly contemplated the act. Plath did end her own life, though, whereas Lincoln's life ended by his homicide at the hands of John Wilkes Booth. Suicide and its accompanying emotional components are not novel topics for poets. Poetry is defined by its emotionality and hyperbole. Suicide is, however, a taboo topic in American culture because of the ingrained optimism that is a part of the country's worldview. Manifest Destiny and the American Dream preclude morbid thinking and so suicidal ideation is not widely expressed in American literature. Therefore, Plath's and Lincoln's poetry both bear the mark of taboo American literature given the frank nature of their discussions of self-annihilation. Written over one hundred years apart, Plath's "Edge" and Lincoln's "Suicide's Soliloquy" each offer unique perspectives on death and suicide. The differences between Plath's and Lincoln's poems can not necessarily be attributed to different social norms, as suicide was as taboo in the nineteenth as the twentieth century. Rather, Plath and Lincoln both write about suicide using the literary conventions typical of their generation. Plath relies on the unconventional meter and subtle allusions common to modern free verse whereas Lincoln wrote with strong poetic structure and more straightforward references to the core subject matter. Even though Lincoln uses poetic language and literary devices that are outmoded, his writing is equally as accessible as Plath's.

During the nineteenth century, the Romantic Movement swept across the Western world. Poetry and prose contained melodramatic elements including hyperbole, allusions to ancient Greek, Roman, or Egyptian civilizations, and extended metaphors. The twentieth century's two world wars gave rise to a much greater literary cynicism. By the time Plath wrote her verses, the conventions of poetry Lincoln still ascribed to including formal rhyme schemes had all but vanished. Plath's "Edge" is wholly without a rhythm or rhyme scheme. A free verse poem, "Edge" is also highly personal. However, Lincoln's "Suicide's Soliloquy" reveals as much personal information about the poet's state of mind as Plath's. In both "Edge" and "Suicide Soliloquy," the narrators directly address the taboo topic of death.

Lincoln's poem is far more direct and more straightforwardly about suicide than Plath's is. The title of Lincoln's poem reveals the main subject matter immediately. Plath's poem offers a metaphor for being on the "edge" of sanity and also of being close to death. Her poem is also written in third person, whereas Lincoln's is told in first person perspective. Therefore, Lincoln's poem seems more personal and intimate because the poet and his narrator establish a close relationship with the reader. Plath's unnamed narrator and the unnamed woman she describes lend an air of mystery to the poem. The reader must search for the theme of the poem, and only from learning about Plath's own life can ascertain that the subject. Plath's esoteric references are less accessible than Lincoln's musings about suicide, death, and hell. However, both Plath and Lincoln do directly mention death in their poems. Lincoln's narrator mentions in line two of "Suicide's Soliloquy" his "carcass" and then in line three, the "buzzards" that "pick my bones." Likewise, in the second and third lines of "Edge," Plath describes "Her dead / Body."

Both poets focus on physical mortality with graphic descriptions of darkness and despair. Both also weave imagery of life and death to create complexity and lure the reader. Plath's subject matter is a dead woman who "wears the smile of accomplishment" after her death (line 3). Yet her life is "over" and references to blood and bones provide morbid motifs. Lincoln's first-person narrator is ruminating over his possibly spending eternity in hell. The narrator of "Suicide's Soliloquy" does not embrace death as readily as the woman in "Edge" but nevertheless does mention the relief from pain that death provides. For example, the narrator speaks about that which will "ease me of this power to think," and also refers to being "driven...to this end." Plath's narrator claims that the dead woman was "used to this sort of thing."