Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"The Babysitters" by Sylvia Plath offers a poignant reflection on the passage of time and the existential disappointments that often accompany it. Written with Plath's characteristic blend of vivid imagery and emotional intensity, the poem explores the speaker's relationship with her sister and their shared experiences during a specific summer. The pair were babysitters for two different families living in lavish homes in Swampscott, Massachusetts. As the poem progresses, it becomes evident that the youthful expectations and emotions of that summer have given way to a more somber reality, distanced by time and space.

The poem opens with a vivid memory of rowing to Children's Island ten years ago. The sisters wore "black glasses" to hide their eyes because they were "always crying," suggesting an underlying sense of sadness or unease even amidst their idyllic summer surroundings. One striking element is the speaker's internal tension between the beauty of the affluent world they are temporarily a part of and their inability to fully embrace or enjoy it. Phrases like "eleven rooms and a yacht" and "rose garden and a guest cottage" indicate material wealth, but these external luxuries serve as a backdrop to the speaker's emotional turmoil. In a particularly bitter moment, she reveals her inexperience with domestic chores and writes "spitefully" in her diary, fingers marked by scalding iron.

The shift from past to present comes with an emotionally charged question: "O what has come over us, my sister!" The interrogative begs an evaluation of the inevitable transformations time imposes. In the past, they were young, innocent, and brimming with expectations. Their adventurous spirit led them to "lift" a sugared ham and pineapple and row to a deserted island. On the island, they were "inseparable-two cork dolls," buoyed by the "thick salt" of the water and their closeness as sisters.

However, time has aged them and distanced them onto "opposite continents." It is this passage of time and life's subsequent events that form the crux of the poem's emotional weight. The once inseparable sisters are now separated by life itself-"Everything has happened," the poem ambiguously states, summarizing the myriad events and changes that life imposes on relationships.

The dissonance between youthful expectation and the ultimate disappointments or challenges of adulthood is starkly evident. This sentiment encapsulates the essence of much of Sylvia Plath's work, which often delves into the complexities and struggles of navigating womanhood, identity, and emotional health. "The Babysitters" becomes not merely a reminiscence of a shared past but also a meditation on the chasm between past and present, between expectation and reality. The sisters may wave and call to each other "from our opposite continents," but the door to their past has irrevocably "shut," leaving them to grapple with the person they have become versus the person they thought they would be.

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