Simeon's+analysis

“The Colossus”, by Sylvia Plath, is a very depressing poem using the image of a tired, dejected, and fed up sculptist who tries and tries to fix a worn and torn statue. Although the sculptist admits to the knowledge that he will never be able to fully repair the statue, he continues in her vain attempts to refurbish the statue.

Plath initializes this depressed tone from the very beginning, and keeps it going for the length of the poem. Plath starts with "“I shall never get you put together entirely,/Pieced, glued, and properly jointed." This quotation depicts the speaker's negative mindset. This person has already conceded defeat to this statue. The constant circulation of the broken statue idea leads to a feeling of fruitfulness, as he sculptist will never be completely done. Plath ends the poem expressing his loneiness with

My hours are married to shadow. No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel On the blank stones of the landing.

This quotation expresses the speaker's feeling that they are on an island all by himself, and has abandoned the idea that a boat may come and rescue him. Ths quotation also depicts how loney he is by stating that his only friends are shadows. This whole poem gives a feeling of misery and despair.

Plath does give a hint of positivity and past prosperity of the statue in lines 16-18

A blue sky out of the Oresteia Arches above us. O father, all by yourself You are pithy and historical as the Roman Forum.

In this quotation, Plath shows how the statue was once great, like the Roman Forum. However, like the Roman forum, age, wear, and tear caused the statue to fall from greatness, into ruin, and like that of the Roman forum, has no hope of being restored to its past prime. Even though there are sparks of happiness, they are quickly covered up by expressions of age, ruin, anguish and desperation. Desperation can also be found with the autumn feel. Where spring would have signified happieness.

In conclusion, Sylvia Plath's "Colussus," is a rather depressing tale that translates how even something that was once great and masterful, can be ruined by time itself.