All The Dead Dears, Sylvia Plath, Analysis & Summary

All The Dead Dears, Sylvia Plath, Analysis & Summary

"All the Dead Dears" by Sylvia Plath is a poem that explores the theme of death and the connection between the living and the dead. The poem depicts an old woman lying dead, surrounded by the relics of small animals that had once fed on her. The speaker reflects on the power of the dead to haunt the living and how they can grip us through "think and thick". Plath's use of vivid imagery, including the description of the dead woman's "granite grin" and the "barnacle dead" that cling to us, adds to the eerie and unsettling atmosphere of the poem. Ultimately, the poem suggests that the dead are never truly gone and continue to exert a powerful influence over the living. All The Dead Dears: Poem Text Rigged poker -stiff on her back With a granite grin This antique museum-cased lady Lies, companioned by the gimcrack Relics of a mouse and a shrew That battened for a day on her ankle-bone. These three, unmasked now, bear Dry witness To the gross…