16 pages 32 minutes read

Sylvia Plath

Lady Lazarus

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1965

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

Literary Devices

Form & Meter

“Lady Lazarus” is written in free verse without any consistent meter, but the poet often utilizes metric variations to place an emphasis on a particular word or idea. The poem contains 28 stanzas consisting of tercets, which are stanzas of 3 lines each. This form slightly evokes a terza rima form, which Italian poet Dante Alighieri employed in his famous work The Divine Comedy. Although “Lady Lazarus'' is not a terza rima because it lacks the typical iambic meter and structured rhyme scheme the form requires, the association between this work and The Divine Comedy links ideas of heaven and hell and punishment and redemption, as well as the ability to journey into the afterlife and return to the world of the living. In addition, allusions to Christianity are also observable in the use of the three-line stanza which some scholars associate with the Holy Trinity. In “Lady Lazarus” however, the speaker does mention God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, referring instead only to an unholy trinity of “Herr Enemy” (Line 66), “Herr God” (Line 79), and “Herr Lucifer” (Line 79).

Related Titles

By Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

Initiation

Sylvia Plath

Initiation

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

Sheep In Fog

Sylvia Plath

Sheep In Fog

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

The Applicant

Sylvia Plath

The Applicant

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

The Disquieting Muses

Sylvia Plath

The Disquieting Muses

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

The Munich Mannequins

Sylvia Plath

The Munich Mannequins

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

Two Sisters Of Persephone

Sylvia Plath

Two Sisters Of Persephone

Sylvia Plath

Study Guide

logo

Wuthering Heights

Sylvia Plath

Wuthering Heights

Sylvia Plath