Sheep In Fog

Plath’s focus is on the feeling of despondent isolation created by depression, which is metaphorically expressed in the descriptions of the landscape around her. The “fog” she experiences is both literal and mental, and it doesn’t allow her to see beyond it. This creates a deep sense of loneliness. The “hills step off into whiteness” (Line 1), or oblivion, and Plath can’t see where they land. The “far / Fields” (Line 11-12) beneath the “hills” (Line 1) feel “threaten[ing]” (Line 13) to her because they can’t be anticipated. She can’t see or imagine what they hold. There may be green meadows, “a heaven” (Line 14), or just as likely “a dark water” (Line 15) to drown in. Her avenues for escape are limited. “The train” (Line 4) has left, and she’s on a “slow / [h]orse” (Line 6) whose cadence reminds her of “dolorous bells” (Line 7), a sound echoing a funeral procession. Her sense of isolation is enhanced by the fact she feels judged by “people or stars” (Line 2) who she feels she has failed. Like a single “flower” (Line 10), she feels “left out” (Line 19) to “blacke[n]” (Line 9). Even her “bones” (Line 11) are consumed by “stillness” (Line 11), a stasis that keeps her from moving forward.