Revival in Lady Lazarus

Lady Lazarus is one of Sylvia Plath’s three holocaust poems, the others being Daddy and Mary’s Song.  Throughout the poem there are three separate instances where the narrator dies, and through no will of her own, is brought back to life.  These three different resurrections of the narrator are obviously in reference to Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead, mentioned by Plath in the title of the poem.  The poem has a much more morbid, darker tone than others we have read throughout this semester, dealing with the issue of death as though it is an art (line 44) that can be mastered by an individual, one that the narrator claims to do “exceptionally well” (line 45).  The poem is filled with allusion to Nazi Germany and the pain Jews suffered throughout the Holocaust.

A more subtle reference in the poem can be found near the end, where Plath alludes to the Phoenix.  The Phoenix is a mythical bird that was burned to death, and rose again from ashes.  The reference to this can found in the last few stanzas of the poem where the narrator is burned and comes “out of the ash.” The Phoenix itself symbolizes rebirth, immortality, and renewal, alluding to the overall theme of the rest of the poem.