The arrival of the bee box

1
The arrival of the bee box..

• In 1962 Plath and Hughes decided to take up bee
  keeping.
• The primary metaphor in the poem is the Bee Box
  itself.
• On one level its just a box full of bees.
• On another, deeper level, it may represent
  Plaths inner self, her subconscious, her mind.
• Lots of intense, disturbing imagery suggesting
  lots of inner angst and turmoil.
• The box is locked, inaccessible, dangerous,
  chaotic.
• She is drawn to and repelled by the box.
• Plath tries to assert her control over the box /
  bees, does she succeed?
• 7 five line stanzas. Follwed by a single,
  isolated line.

2
Stanzas 1 - 3

• Straightforward opening a simple description of
  the box,
• Followed immediately by images of death and
  deformity and the reference to noisenot the
  assonant I in din in it.
• The box is locked, inaccessible. And whats
  inside is dangerous.
• She cant keep away from itit fascinates her.
• There are no windows.This may be a metaphor for
  her inability to really understand whats going
  on inside herself. She is essentially blind to
  whats going on inside. Blindness has always been
  associated with lack of understanding.
• Next she closely examines the box. She senses the
  oppressive atmosphere inside. Note the
  disturbing, dark imagery.
• She looks into the little grid but cant actuall
  see anything, its dark, dark.
• Instead she has a vague sense of whats inside.
  Its very claustrophobic. Note the repetition of
  black and the deliberate clumsiness of angrily
  clambering.
• The bees are aggressive and menacing.

3
Stanzas 4 - 6

• Plath is horrified most of all by the noise
  inside the box. Does this refer to her own
  internal chaos? This is often the experience of
  someone suffering from anxiety or depression.
  Its like a Roman mob! Individually managable,
  but my god, collectively terrifying.
• Note the brilliant unintelligible syllables
  whose sound mimics the very thing being
  described.
• Stanza 5 shows the speaker wrestling for
  control over the bees. The din is furious
  Latin. She says she can send them back or
  let them die. Is this self-destructive. If
  the box represents her mind and the bees , her
  chaotic thoughts, does the death of the bees
  represent the loss of her mind? Insanity? A
  series of statements seeking control. (24/25)
• Then the tone seems to relax a little. She
  begins to wonder. The imagery is more attractive,
  less threatening. She thinks about simply
  opening the box and letting them out, whilst,
  interestingly, she turns into a tree. The
  gentler imagery (the laburnum / blond collonades
  / petticoats of the cherry) masks a darker
  possibility turning into a tree may represent
  loss of personal identity. Becoming a tree, she
  is no longer a person.

4
Final stanza and last line

• Plath continues to reassure herself that all may
  be well. She reasons that the bees may ignore
  her because she is no source of honey. She is
  not something, she tells us, that they can feed
  on.
• why (therefore) should they turn on me.
• Note the imagery used heremoon suit refers to a
  bee-keepers suit. Funeral veil refers to the
  special veiled head covering bee keepers wear
  when attending bees. But why funeral veil?
  Again, the language / imagery suggests the
  possibility of something darker, more painful at
  work.
• She will be sweet God and set them free. But
  what exactly does setting free mean. What if
  we consider that it is God who has power over
  life and death.
• The box is only temporary..could we substitute
  mindor.life for box?

5
Concluding points

• This poem could be read on a purely literal
  level. But knowing how everything is symbolised
  in Plaths work the box may be regarded as a
  metaphor for the poets unconscious mind and the
  angry, threatening bees as the dark, destructive
  aspects of her own personality.
• This suggest, then, that Plath was both drawn
  to.and afraid of exploring the depths of her
  psyche because this wuld involve unleashing the
  terrible demons that lurked within.