Vanity Fair

"Two Sisters of Persephone"

Vanity Fair written by Sylvia Plath

"Strumpet Song"

Poem composed in 1956; included as entry 14 in The Collected Poems, edited by Ted Hughes

Link to further information

Vanity Fair Through frost-thick weather This witch sidles, fingers crooked, as if Caught in a hazardous medium that might Merely by its continuing Attach her to heaven. At eye's envious corner Crow's-feet copy veining on stained leaf; Cold squint steals sky's color; while bruit Of bells calls holy ones, her tongue Backtalks at the raven Cleaving furred air Over her skull's midden; no knife Rivals her whetted look, divining what conceit Waylays simple girls, church-going, And what heart's oven Craves most to cook batter Rich in strayings with every amorous oaf, Ready, for a trinket, To squander owl-hours on bracken bedding, Flesh unshriven. Against virgin prayer This sorceress sets mirrors enough To distract beauty's thought; Lovesick at first fond song, Each vain girl's driven To believe beyond heart's flare No fire is, nor in any book proof Sun hoists soul up after lids fall shut; So she wills all to the black king. The worst sloven Vies with best queen over Right to blaze as satan's wife; Housed in earth, those million brides shriek out. Some burn short, some long, Staked in pride's coven. 1956

Works by this author are in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 62 years or less. cs | de | en | eo | es | fr | he | pl | ru | zh

  ▲ top