1. Mad Girls’ Song Love By Sylvia Plath Project by Sara Guinon and Anna DiStefano

2. 1. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again. 3. (I think I made you up inside my head.) 1. A subconsciously self-imposed isolation formed because of obsessive focus– this infatuation takes over her world and shuts everything else out. She is letting herself fall into a neurotic state, believing her life and everything around her to be meaningless (dead). By cutting herself off from reality, she’s allowing the fantasy to carry on and control her world, all because she shut her eyes, trying to escape her reality… 2. And then opens up again– she wakes up from a fine frenzy of insanity and the world is reborn; fresh, new and exciting again. She’s shaken, with the concept that her entire perspective on life could be so violently altered by one audacious impression. She’s coming to terms with reality.. 3. Because on some level she knew what she was doing. She openly addresses her out of control imagination. She was in love with an idea, something that never was nor could ever be in her real world.

3. 4. The stars go waltzing out in blue and red, An arbitrary blackness gallops in: 6. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. 4. The illusions ebb and flow as she tries to make sense of things, to find the line between reality and dreams. Stars symbolize imagination and romance, associated with candlelight and innocence. Blue and red are colors for masculinity and femininity– calm confidence and strong passion. Both are powerful extremes connected with emotion, as conflicting feelings overwhelm her.. 5. Suddenly, her chaotic fantasy relationship is abruptly taken over by blackness, a symbol of confusion and depression. In context with the stars, it could be space; cold, infinite and awe-inspiring. It adds another layer of mystery, something that she doesn’t understand yet… 6. So she tries even harder to block it out, and run away from reality in all shapes and forms. The parenthesis are gone this time, making the action bold and definitive. She’s deliberately shutting her eyes, not willing to let go of her fantasy just yet.

4. 7. I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane. 9. (I think I made you up inside my head.) 7-9. Feeling out of control, she projects control onto her imagined lover. She is looking for somewhere to place blame for her losing sight of reality, when in truth everything has only happened inside her head. She places everything outside her control, using dreams and magic as a shield against an unforgiving truth. She feels her own insanity, and tries to rationalize it away instead of facing it head on. She wants something real; she wants her dreams to become reality. But deep down she can feel the truth, that this is not reality. It’s a threat to reality. Her infatuation is strongly taking control.

5. 10. God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: Exit seraphim and Satan's men: 12. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. Here we open with the eternal battle between good and evil, God and hell fire. Her delusions are falling away into ambiguity; no clear winner is shown. Her life feels meaningless, with no influence good or bad. She has no inspiration, no spark to motivate her to get up in the morning. 10. Everything falls away, leaving an empty purged area for her imagination to run wild with. Seraphim literally means burning ones, and usually the word is used in reference to angels. It’s an interesting combination, giving the dangerous and assertive qualities of fire to pure innocence and virtue. Fire is a major symbol in this stanza, representing a struggle for power, control, and dominant sensuality. It’s passion run amok, like the obsessive quality of this imagined “perfect” love. 11. 12. The curtains are closing on her own fabricated façade. She’s losing faith, particularly in her perception of reality. She shuts eyes, again deliberately, this time to hide from her own confusion and sense of insignificance. Plath herself suffered from depression and a lack of faith; this can be seen as a personal expression of those things. This time when she shuts her eyes, she’s trying to ground herself. She feels her perception of reality is wrong and tries shut it out to find the truth.

6. 13. I fancied you'd return the way you said, But I grow old and I forget your name. 15. (I think I made you up inside my head.) 13. The “you” was a fantasy from the beginning; like a dream, it’s impossible to go back and relive the moment. There is no return. Nothing can live up to her expectations, because she hasn’t been living in the real world. She’s built up impossibly high expectations whilst hiding away from reality. 14. She’s starting to pull away from the fantasy. She’s beginning to go ahead with her life, and regain her sanity. Yet a small part holds on to the delusion, the fake perfection and happiness. Her progress isn’t exactly voluntary, it’s more the irrepressible effects of time. Still time passes, it becomes easier to ignore that stubborn irrational part of her head and truly move on. 15. She’s coming to the slow realization that she wasn’t in love with a real person, but with an idea, a concept of utopic love. She’s been caught up in fantasy for so long she’s forgotten true happiness, and real love. She’s obstinately fixated, even as it slips beyond her control.

7. 16. I should have loved a thunderbird instead; 17. At least when spring comes they roar back again. 18. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. 19. (I think I made you up inside my head.) 16-17. She regrets her “love”; all the time and energy spent on something that never existed. She should have gone for something obtainable, and ignored the intoxicating idea of wanting more. A thunderbird, a sports car, would have been a tangible desire. It represents security, and stable love that may not be as “perfect” but can’t let her down. It would always be there, time after times, for better or worse. She’d have a permanent, infallible source of happiness. It’s almost a symbol of true love. 18-19. The last lines of the poem are repeated again. She closes to reality again, this time with a feeling of disappointment. Not only can she not return to her imagined love, but now she has these impossible expectations for reality. The last line is in parenthesis, as if she realizes reality but is unwilling to accept it as true. She can feel the truth, but regret from idyllic memories holds her back from pursuing it. The poem ends with her in this painful limbo, the line between dream and veracity hopelessly distorted.

9. Conveys the power of love to lead to madness

11. Mad Girls’ Love Song This poem is about fearing love, losing faith and blurring the lines of reality. It follows a girl’s journey from infatuation to unhealthy obsession, without a satisfying recovery. She comes to regret her choice to follow a delusion into a fantasy world, but still seems to want to cling to that surreal place. All In All…