First Verse Paragraph: “Two, of course there are two”
The speaker in Sylvia Plath’s “Death & Co.” asserts, “there are two,” referring to the two individuals who make up the entity called “Death & Co.” She comments that it is natural that there would be two, as most companies are made up of at least two people.
She begins to describe the two; one of them “never looks up” which would suggest he is either shy or trying to hide something. But she claims his “eyes are lidded / And balled like Blake’s.” This line wants to sound clever, but it misses the mark as all human eyes have lids, and they are all “balls,” hence “eyeballs.” If she is referring to the poet William Blake, she does succeed in making a proper connection.
Second Verse Paragraph: “The birthmarks that are his trademark”
The individual “exhibits // birthmarks,” and the speaker asserts that they are “his trademark.” This claim subsumes the title of the poem, metaphorically revealing a business whose name is “Death & Co.” One of the birthmarks resembles “the scald scar of water,” and the other looks like an aged South American coin that features a vulture imprint. The speaker chooses the term “verdigris,” which means “Grecian green” instead of merely bluish green, and later she refers again feebly to Greek culture.
The attempt to unify her narrative is not effective however. The possible reminder of a Greek tragedy leaves the poem unwieldy yet shallow with its lack of a tragic character. Her attempt to assign herself in that role looks pathetic, as it becomes clear that she is merely blaming a created entity she calls “Death & Co.” for her own doubts and fears.
The speaker then places herself center stage in her Greek tragedy when she says, “I am red meat.” The reader realizes that the condor of the birthmark on the individual she is describing has become a symbol for the speaker’s fear of this person.
Third Verse Paragraph: “Claps sidewise: I am not his yet”
The speaker reports that the “beak” of the condor, which at this point must be assumed as the manner of the first feared individual, “claps sidewise.” A “sidewise” grasp by a bird’s beak would fail to secure its attack, and thus “I am not his yet.”
Now the speaker reveals her reason for describing this individual so negatively: “He tells me how badly I photograph.” He also tells her, “how sweet / The babies look in their hospital / Icebox.” Of course, death would find dead babies “sweet.”
Fourth – Seventh Verse Paragraphs: “Frill at the neck”
The speaker has given birth to twins (at least twins, since she refers to them as “babies”), who were still born. They lie in “their Ionian / Death-gowns” in a container the speaker calls “hospital / Icebox.”
The speaker then very briefly describes the other member of “Death & Co”: he has long hair, he is a bastard, and he wants to be loved. But the speaker will not respond to either of these death entrepreneurs. She will remain cold, watching as “frost makes a flower” and “dew makes a star.” She will listen for “the dead bell” twice, and realize that “Somebody’s done for.” The flippant final remark assures the reader that the melodrama is all fantasy. There may, in fact, be no dead twins, no death—just empty rhetorical gestures from two people she does not respect.
Other Plath Articles
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
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