Lady Lazarus

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"Lady Lazarus" is a poem written by Sylvia Plath, and is commonly used as an example of her writing style. The poem is dark and ironic, yet confessional. The title is a religious allegory that compares Plath to the Biblical Lazarus. This reference becomes evident in the context of the poem as Plath describes how she dies and is resurrected like Lazarus. Plath speaks of her suicide attempts in the poem, which can be compared to the illness that killed Lazarus. She also speaks of the suicides as if they are put on public display, which is also similar to the story of Lazarus. Once resurrected, he is brought out in front of a crowd of Jewish mourners. Many other subtle similarities can be found in the wording of the poem and the story of Lazarus. She also uses several Nazi images, which have led many to call Lady Lazarus a companion poem to "Daddy".

Lady Lazarus

  "I have done it again.
  One year in every ten
  I manage it----
  
  A sort of walking miracle, my skin
  Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
  My right foot
  
  A paperweight,
  My face a featureless, fine
  Jew linen.
  
  Peel off the napkin
  0 my enemy.
  Do I terrify?----

  Yes, yes Herr Professor
  It is I.
  Can you deny 

  The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
  The sour breath
  Will vanish in a day.
  
  Soon, soon the flesh
  The grave cave ate will be
  At home on me
  
  And I a smiling woman.
  I am only thirty.
  And like the cat I have nine times to die.
  
  This is Number Three.
  What a trash
  To annihilate each decade.
  
  What a million filaments.
  The peanut-crunching crowd
  Shoves in to see
  
  Them unwrap me hand and foot
  The big strip tease.
  Gentlemen, ladies
  
  These are my hands
  My knees.
  I may be skin and bone, I may be Japanese.
  
  Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.
  The first time it happened I was ten.
  It was an accident.
  
  The second time I meant
  To last it out and not come back at all.
  I rocked shut
  
  As a seashell.
  They had to call and call
  And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
  
  Dying
  Is an art, like everything else,
  I do it exceptionally well.
  
  I do it so it feels like hell.
  I do it so it feels real.
  I guess you could say I've a call.
  
  It's easy enough to do it in a cell.
  It's easy enough to do it and stay put.
  It's the theatrical
  
  Comeback in broad day
  To the same place, the same face, the same brute
  Amused shout:
  
  'A miracle!'
  That knocks me out.
  There is a charge
  
  For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
  For the hearing of my heart----
  It really goes.
  
  And there is a charge, a very large charge
  For a word or a touch
  Or a bit of blood
  
  Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.
  So, so, Herr Doktor.
  So, Herr Enemy.
  
  I am your opus,
  I am your valuable,
  The pure gold baby
  
  That melts to a shriek.
  I turn and burn.
  Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
  
  Ash, ash ---
  You poke and stir.
  Flesh, bone, there is nothing there----
  
  A cake of soap,
  A wedding ring,
  A gold filling.
  
  Herr God, Herr Lucifer
  Beware
  Beware.
  
  Out of the ash
  I rise with my red hair
  And I eat men like air."

[edit] References to the Phoenix

The poem also alludes to the mythological bird called the Phoenix. The speaker of this poem describes her unsuccessful attempts at committing suicide not as failures, but as successful resurrections, like those described in the tales of the biblical character Lazarus and the Phoenix. By the end of the poem, the speaker has transformed into a firebird, effectively marking her rebirth, which some critics liken to a demonic transformation.