I dont get the Two Views of a Cadaver Room by Sylvia Plath?
What does it mean? Please give a good interpretation if youre like knowledgeable in this stuff.
The day she visited the dissecting room
They had four men laid out, black as burnt turkey,
Already half unstrung. A vinegary fume
Of the death vats clung to them;
The white-smocked boys started working.
The head of his cadaver had caved in,
And she could scarcely make out anything
In that rubble of skull plates and old leather.
A sallow piece of string held it together.
In their jars the snail-nosed babies moon and glow.
He hands her the cut-out heart like a cracked heirloom.
(2)
In Brueghel's panorama of smoke and slaughter
Two people only are blind to the carrion army:
He, afloat in the sea of her blue satin
Skirts, sings in the direction
Of her bare shoulder, while she bends,
Finger a leaflet of music, over him,
Both of them deaf to the fiddle in the hands
Of the death's-head shadowing their song.
These Flemish lovers flourish;not for long.
Wow, what a poem. She's comparing the scene of an autopsy room, probably medical students, with a painting from the famous 16th cent Dutch painter Brugel, "The Triumph of Death."
The painting is this complex panorama scene in which the 2 characters appear in the lower right corner. They're an island of serenity surrounded by death - "smoke and slaughter." She might be talking about how we humans think we can control death - i.e., the way we medically categorize and evaluate death as a phenomenom - by understanding it. But really we have no control over it at all. She views the lovers as surrounded by and doomed to death. Even love doesn't conquer it. Pretty gloomy. But marvelous.
links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brugel
 |
 Candlewick Satin 3 Heirloom Quilt Machine Embroidery CD 12 designs in 4 sizes $20.00 Time Remaining: 5h Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 CANDLEWICK SATIN HEIRLOOM Designs 8 sets489 designs + gift w purchase thread $99.95 Time Remaining: 1d 19h 15m Buy It Now for only: $99.95 |
 Candlewick Satin 3 Heirloom Quilt Squares Design CD 12 designs in 4 sizes $9.99 Time Remaining: 1d 23h 47m |
 Candlewick Satin Heirloom Hearts Machine Embroidery CD 10 designs 4 sizes $9.99 Time Remaining: 2d 12h 8m |
 Candlewick and Satin Heirloom Roses Machine Embroidery CD 12 blocks 4 sizes $25.00 Time Remaining: 3d 9h 32m Buy It Now for only: $25.00 |
 Candlebeading Heirloom Satin Heart Shaped Pillow Kit $4.99 Time Remaining: 3d 20h 10m |
 Candlewick Satin Heirloom Hearts Machine Embroidery CD 10 designs in 4 sizes $20.00 Time Remaining: 7d 3h 44m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 Candlewick Satin 1 Heirloom Quilt Squares CD 11 designs 4 sizes 4x4 to giga $20.00 Time Remaining: 9d 9h 26m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 Candlewick and Satin Heirloom Borders Corners Frames CD 70 designs 4x4 to giga $22.00 Time Remaining: 11d 9h 32m Buy It Now for only: $22.00 |
 Candlewick Satin 2 Heirloom Quilt Square CD 10 designs 4 sizes 4x4 to giga $20.00 Time Remaining: 13d 9h 31m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 Candlewick Satin 3 Heirloom Quilt Square CD 12 designs 4 sizes 4x4 to giga $20.00 Time Remaining: 15d 9h 36m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 Candlewick Satin Heirloom Rose Blocks Machine Embroidery CD 12 blocks 4 sizes $25.00 Time Remaining: 16d 8h 40m Buy It Now for only: $25.00 |
 Candlewick Satin Heirloom Hearts Machine Emb Design CD 10 designs in 4 sizes $20.00 Time Remaining: 22d 3h 49m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 Candlewick Satin 1 Heirloom Quilt Square Machine Embroidery CD 44 designs $20.00 Time Remaining: 24d 3h 37m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 Candlewick and Satin Heirloom Borders Corners Frames CD 70 designs 4x4 to giga $22.00 Time Remaining: 26d 9h 38m Buy It Now for only: $22.00 |
 Candlewick Satin 2 Heirloom Quilt Square Machine Embroidery CD 10designs4sizes $20.00 Time Remaining: 28d 10h 13m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |