Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Gold Mouths Cry," Sylvia Plath delves into the interplay of time, mortality, and the deceptive allure of eternal beauty, all under the symbolic light of "gold" and "bronze." The poem opens with "Gold mouths cry with the green young / certainty of the bronze boy," introducing a tension between the fleeting nature of youth ("green young") and the eternal, non-changing substance of "bronze." This initial juxtaposition acts as a lens through which the rest of the poem is to be read.

The "bronze boy," standing as a statue, becomes a symbol of eternal beauty, "remembering a thousand autumns" as "a hundred thousand leaves / came sliding down his shoulder blades." These leaves serve as metaphors for the passing of time, seasons, and perhaps lives that the boy has silently observed. Yet, there's an irony in the phrase "persuaded by his bronze heroic reason." The bronze boy is not alive; he possesses no capacity for reason. His immortality and perpetual youth are not choices but conditions imposed by the material of which he is made.

The speaker and, by extension, humanity, "ignore the coming doom of gold" and are "glad in this bright metal season." Plath suggests a willful blindness to the mortality and decay that eventually come to all things, including "gold" and "bronze," which are subject to tarnish and erosion. This deliberate ignorance mirrors the way society often turns a blind eye to its own impermanence, dazzled by the gleam of youthful beauty or wealth.

Interestingly, "Even the dead laugh among the goldenrod." Here, goldenrod, a flower commonly associated with healing and good fortune, becomes a symbol of the cycle of life and death. The dead find humor in the irony that even the living, so enamored by the brightness of gold, will join them someday. The brilliance of gold serves as a temporary distraction from the ultimate darkness that awaits everyone.

The closing lines return to the bronze boy who "stands kneedeep in centuries, / and never grieves." It's a powerful image, a figure frozen in eternal youth, eternally beautiful yet ultimately impassive. His blindness-"his eyes gone blind with leaves"-is both literal and metaphorical. He cannot see the leaves or the passage of time, nor can he understand or feel them.

By weaving these themes and symbols into "Gold Mouths Cry," Sylvia Plath crafts a complex meditation on the human condition. The poem reflects our own struggle with mortality, the ephemeral nature of beauty, and the seductive yet misleading glow of that which seems eternal. It serves as a poignant reminder to not only acknowledge but also deeply consider the impermanence that characterizes our existence, no matter how golden the present may appear.

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