The American poet Sylvia Plath wrote "Cut" in 1962. After suddenly slicing her thumb while chopping an onion, the poem's speaker compares her bloody wound to a series of surreal, disturbing, and darkly comic images. The speaker calls the shocking moment both a "thrill" and a "celebration" and addresses her injured thumb directly, as though it were an independent "little man." "Cut" suggests how trauma (physical or emotional) can alienate someone from their own body and perhaps even from reality itself. The poem can also be read as an intimate portrait of someone whose inner self-loathing has materialized into an act of conscious or unconscious self-harm. The poem was published posthumously in 1965, in Ariel.
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The Full Text of “Cut”
The Full Text of “Cut”
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“Cut” Summary
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“Cut” Themes
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Shock, Trauma, and Separation
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-28
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Self-Harm and Self-Hatred
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-40
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Cut”
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Lines 1-2
What a thrill— ...
... of an onion. -
Lines 3-8
The top quite ...
... that red plush. -
Lines 9-13
Little pilgrim, ...
... from the heart. -
Lines 14-17
I step on ...
... celebration, this is. -
Lines 18-21
Out of a ...
... are they on? -
Lines 22-26
O my ...
... Papery feeling. -
Lines 27-32
Saboteur, ...
... tarnishes and when -
Lines 33-37
The balled ...
... How you jump— -
Lines 38-40
Trepanned veteran, ...
... Thumb stump.
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“Cut” Symbols
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The Speaker's Thumb
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 2-16
- Lines 18-20
- Lines 22-23
- Lines 27-40
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“Cut” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Lines 3-8: “The top quite gone / Except for a sort of hinge / Of skin, / A flap like a hat, / Dead white. / Then that red plush.”
- Lines 9-16: “Little pilgrim, / The Indian's axed your scalp. / Your turkey wattle / Carpet rolls / Straight from the heart. / I step on it, / Clutching my bottle / Of pink fizz.”
- Lines 18-20: “Out of a gap / A million soldiers run, / Redcoats, every one.”
- Lines 25-26: “The thin / Papery feeling.”
- Lines 29-34: “The stain on your / Gauze Ku Klux Klan / Babushka / Darkens and tarnishes and when / The balled / Pulp of your heart”
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Line 6: “A flap like a hat,”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 9-16: “Little pilgrim, / The Indian's axed your scalp. / Your turkey wattle / Carpet rolls / Straight from the heart. / I step on it, / Clutching my bottle / Of pink fizz.”
- Lines 18-20: “Out of a gap / A million soldiers run, / Redcoats, every one.”
- Lines 27-31: “Saboteur, / Kamikaze man— / The stain on your / Gauze Ku Klux Klan / Babushka”
- Lines 33-36: “The balled / Pulp of your heart / Confronts its small / Mill of silence”
- Line 38: “Trepanned veteran,”
- Line 40: “Thumb stump.”
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Irony
Where irony appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “What a thrill— / My thumb instead of an onion.”
- Line 17: “A celebration, this is.”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 2: “thumb,” “onion”
- Line 3: “top,” “gone”
- Line 4: “hinge”
- Line 5: “skin”
- Line 6: “flap,” “hat”
- Line 7: “Dead”
- Line 8: “red”
- Line 9: “Little,” “pilgrim”
- Line 16: “pink,” “fizz”
- Line 17: “this,” “is”
- Line 19: “run”
- Line 20: “one”
- Line 23: “ill”
- Line 24: “pill,” “kill”
- Line 25: “thin”
- Line 28: “man”
- Line 30: “Klan”
- Line 32: “Darkens,” “tarnishes”
- Line 33: “balled”
- Line 35: “small”
- Line 37: “jump”
- Line 38: “Trepanned,” “veteran”
- Line 39: “Dirty,” “girl”
- Line 40: “Thumb,” “stump”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “thrill”
- Line 2: “thumb,” “instead,” “an onion”
- Line 3: “gone”
- Line 4: “hinge”
- Line 5: “skin”
- Line 8: “plush”
- Line 9: “Little pilgrim”
- Line 10: “axed,” “scalp”
- Lines 11-12: “turkey wattle / Carpet rolls”
- Line 13: “Straight,” “heart”
- Line 14: “step”
- Line 15: “Clutching”
- Line 16: “pink fizz”
- Line 17: “celebration, this is”
- Lines 19-20: “soldiers run, / Redcoats, every one”
- Lines 22-23: “my / Homunculus”
- Line 23: “am ill”
- Line 24: “pill,” “kill”
- Line 28: “Kamikaze man”
- Line 29: “stain”
- Lines 30-32: “Ku Klux Klan / Babushka / Darkens”
- Line 32: “tarnishes”
- Lines 33-34: “balled / Pulp”
- Lines 35-36: “Confronts its small / Mill”
- Line 36: “silence”
- Line 37: “jump”
- Line 38: “Trepanned veteran”
- Line 39: “Dirty girl”
- Line 40: “Thumb stump”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 3-4: “gone / Except”
- Lines 4-5: “hinge / Of”
- Lines 11-12: “wattle / Carpet”
- Lines 12-13: “rolls / Straight”
- Lines 15-16: “bottle / Of”
- Lines 18-19: “gap / A”
- Lines 22-23: “my / Homunculus”
- Lines 24-25: “kill / The”
- Lines 25-26: “thin / Papery”
- Lines 29-30: “your / Gauze”
- Lines 30-32: “Klan / Babushka / Darkens”
- Lines 32-33: “when / The”
- Lines 33-34: “balled / Pulp”
- Lines 34-35: “heart / Confronts”
- Lines 35-36: “small / Mill”
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“Cut” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Hinge
- Plush
- Turkey wattle
- Bottle of pink fizz
- Redcoats
- Homunculus
- Saboteur
- Kamikaze man
- Gauze
- Ku Klux Klan
- Tarnishes
- Babushka
- Pulp
- Mill
- Trepanned
- Veteran
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(Location in poem: Lines 4-5: “Except for a sort of hinge / Of skin”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Cut”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Cut” Speaker
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“Cut” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Cut”
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More “Cut” Resources
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External Resources
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A Recording of the Poem — Listen to a recording of Plath reading "Cut."
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A Look at the Poet's Life — A biography of Plath, and additional poems, from the Poetry Foundation.
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Two Versions of Plath's Ariel — A 2004 Slate article discussing the controversy surrounding the ordering and re-ordering of Plath's Ariel manuscript, in which "Cut" was first published.
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An Introduction to Confessional Poetry — The Poetry Foundation breaks down what made confessional poetry—the mode Plath's work is most often grouped with—so fresh and compelling.
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The Poet's Process and Influences — A 1962 interview with the BBC in which Plath talks about what interests her as a poet.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
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