“Fever 103°” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Fever 103°”

“Fever 103°” Summary

“Fever 103°” Themes

• 

  Purity and Sin

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-7
  • Lines 14-15
  • Lines 15-22
  • Lines 25-27
  • Line 30
  • Lines 31-54
• 

  Lust and Desire

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Line 1
  • Line 7
  • Lines 11-13
  • Lines 23-27
  • Lines 28-30
  • Lines 34-54

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Fever 103°”

• Lines 1-7

  Pure? What does ...
  ... sin, the sin.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-15

  The tinder cries. ...
  ... their own element.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-22

  They will not ...
  ... Devilish leopard!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 23-27

  Radiation turned it ...
  ... sin. The sin.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 28-33

  Darling, all night ...
  ... make me retch.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 34-39

  I am too ...
  ... and infinitely expensive.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 40-45

  Does not my ...
  ... I love, I

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 46-50

  Am a pure ...
  ... pink things mean!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 51-54

  Not you, nor ...
  ... To Paradise.

  

  

  

  

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“Fever 103°” Symbols

• 

  Fire

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “The tongues of hell”
  • Line 8: “The tinder cries.”
  • Lines 9-10: “The indelible smell / Of a snuffed candle!”
  • Line 29: “I have been flickering, off, on, off, on.”
  • Lines 36-38: “ I am a lantern—— / My head a moon / Of Japanese paper,”
  • Line 40: “Does not my heat astound you! And my light!”
  • Line 42: “Glowing and coming and going, flush on flush.”
  • Lines 45-47: “The beads of hot metal fly, and I love, I / Am a pure acetylene / Virgin”
• 

  Virgin

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 46-47: “a pure acetylene / Virgin”
• 

  Leopard

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 22: “Devilish leopard!”

“Fever 103°” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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  Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “Pure? What does it mean?”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Lines 3-5: “dull as the triple / Tongues of dull, fat Cerberus / Who wheezes at the gate.”
  • Lines 11-13: “the low smokes roll / From me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright / One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel,”
  • Line 26: “Like Hiroshima ash and eating in.”
  • Line 31: “Three days. Three nights.”
  • Line 47: “Virgin”
  • Line 49: “by cherubim,”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “The tongues of hell”
  • Lines 5-7: “Incapable / Of licking clean / The aguey tendon, the sin, the sin.”
  • Lines 8-12: “The tinder cries. / The indelible smell / Of a snuffed candle! / Love, love, the low smokes roll / From me”
  • Lines 12-13: “I’m in a fright / One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel,”
  • Lines 15-25: “They will not rise, / But trundle round the globe / Choking the aged and the meek, / The weak / Hothouse baby in its crib, / The ghastly orchid / Hanging its hanging garden in the air, / Devilish leopard! / Radiation turned it white / And killed it in an hour. / Greasing the bodies of adulterers”
  • Line 29: “I have been flickering, off, on, off, on.”
  • Lines 36-39: “ I am a lantern—— / My head a moon / Of Japanese paper, my gold beaten skin / Infinitely delicate and infinitely expensive.”
  • Line 41: “All by myself I am a huge camellia”
  • Line 45: “The beads of hot metal fly,”
  • Lines 45-50: “I / Am a pure acetylene / Virgin / Attended by roses, / By kisses, by cherubim, / By whatever these pink things mean!”
  • Lines 53-54: “(My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats)—— / To Paradise.”

• Epizeuxis

  

  

  

  

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  Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “dull, dull”
  • Line 7: “the sin, the sin.”
  • Line 11: “Love, love,”
  • Line 27: “The sin. The sin.”
  • Line 33: “Water, water ”
  • Lines 51-52: “nor him / Nor him, nor him”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “does,” “it”
  • Line 2: “tongues ”
  • Line 3: “dull, dull,” “triple”
  • Line 4: “Tongues ,” “dull”
  • Line 5: “wheezes ,” “gate. Incapable”
  • Line 6: “clean”
  • Line 7: “sin,” “sin”
  • Line 8: “tinder ”
  • Line 9: “indelible ,” “smell”
  • Line 10: “Of,” “snuffed ”
  • Line 11: “Love, love,” “ low smokes roll”
  • Line 12: “like,” “Isadora’s,” “in,” “fright”
  • Line 13: “catch ,” “anchor ”
  • Line 14: “Such ,” “sullen ”
  • Lines 16-17: “ globe / Choking”
  • Line 17: “meek”
  • Line 18: “weak”
  • Line 19: “ in its ,” “crib”
  • Line 20: “orchid”
  • Line 21: “Hanging,” “its,” “hanging ,” “in ”
  • Line 22: “Devilish ”
  • Line 23: “Radiation,” “it ”
  • Line 24: “killed it in”
  • Line 25: “Greasing ”
  • Line 26: “Hiroshima ,” “ash,” “and,” “eating ,” “in.”
  • Line 27: “sin,” “sin”
  • Line 30: “heavy ,” “lecher’s ”
  • Line 34: “too,” “pure,” “you”
  • Lines 38-39: “skin / Infinitely delicate”
  • Line 39: “infinitely expensive.”
  • Line 41: “by,” “ myself I”
  • Line 42: “Glowing ,” “going”
  • Line 43: “I ,” “think I ,” “going ”
  • Line 44: “I think I ,” “rise”
  • Line 45: “fly,” “ I ,” “ I”
  • Line 49: “kisses,” “cherubim”
  • Line 50: “these,” “pink ,” “things ,” “mean”
  • Line 51: “him”
  • Line 52: “him,” “him”
  • Line 53: “dissolving”

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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  Where anaphora appears in the poem:

  • Line 43: “I think I”
  • Line 44: “I think I”
  • Line 49: “By,” “ by”
  • Line 50: “By ”

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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  Where diacope appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “dull ”
  • Line 4: “dull”
  • Line 21: “Hanging ,” “hanging ”
  • Line 29: “off, on, off, on.”
  • Line 31: “Three ,” “Three ”
  • Line 32: “water”
  • Line 33: “Water”
  • Line 36: “Hurts ,” “hurts ”
  • Line 39: “Infinitely ,” “infinitely ”
  • Line 42: “flush ,” “flush”
  • Line 45: “ I,” “ I”

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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  Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

  • Line 11: “Love, love, ”
  • Line 28: “Darling”
  • Line 34: “you ”
  • Line 35: “Your body”
  • Line 40: “you”
  • Line 51: “Not you”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “hell / Are ”
  • Lines 3-4: “triple / Tongues”
  • Lines 4-5: “Cerberus / Who”
  • Lines 5-6: “Incapable / Of ”
  • Lines 9-10: “smell / Of ”
  • Lines 11-12: “ roll / From”
  • Lines 12-13: “ fright / One ”
  • Lines 14-15: “smokes / Make”
  • Lines 16-17: “globe / Choking”
  • Lines 18-19: “weak / Hothouse ”
  • Lines 20-21: “orchid / Hanging ”
  • Lines 23-24: “white / And ”
  • Lines 25-26: “adulterers / Like ”
  • Lines 28-29: “night / I”
  • Lines 32-33: “chicken / Water”
  • Lines 35-36: “body / Hurts ”
  • Lines 37-38: “moon / Of ”
  • Lines 38-39: “ skin / Infinitely”
  • Lines 41-42: “camellia / Glowing”
  • Lines 45-46: “I / Am ”
  • Line 46: “acetylene”
  • Lines 47-48: “Virgin / Attended”
  • Lines 51-52: “ him / Nor”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “Pure? What ”
  • Line 3: “dull, dull ”
  • Line 4: “dull, fat ”
  • Line 5: “gate. Incapable”
  • Line 7: “tendon, the sin, the”
  • Line 11: “Love, love, the ”
  • Line 12: “scarves, I’m”
  • Line 15: “element. They”
  • Line 27: “ sin. The”
  • Line 28: “Darling, all”
  • Line 29: “ flickering, off, on, off, on”
  • Line 31: “ days. Three”
  • Lines 32-33: “water, chicken / Water, water ”
  • Line 36: “God. I ”
  • Line 38: “paper, my ”
  • Line 40: “you! And ”
  • Line 42: “going, flush”
  • Line 45: “fly, and,” “love, I”
  • Line 49: “kisses, by”
  • Line 51: “you, nor”
  • Line 52: “him, nor”
  • Line 53: “dissolving, old ”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “tongues ,” “hell”
  • Line 3: “dull,” “dull,” “triple”
  • Line 4: “Tongues ,” “dull,” “fat ”
  • Line 5: “at,” “gate,” “Incapable”
  • Line 6: “licking,” “clean”
  • Line 7: “tendon”
  • Line 8: “tinder ”
  • Line 9: “indelible smell”
  • Line 10: “candle”
  • Line 11: “Love, love,,” “low ,” “smokes,” “roll”
  • Line 12: “like,” “Isadora’s scarves,,” “fright”
  • Line 13: “scarf ,” “will,” “catch ,” “anchor ,” “wheel”
  • Line 14: “Such ,” “yellow,” “sullen smokes”
  • Line 15: “Make ,” “element,” “will”
  • Line 16: “trundle round,” “globe”
  • Line 17: “Choking ,” “meek”
  • Line 18: “weak”
  • Line 19: “Hothouse,” “crib”
  • Line 20: “ghastly orchid”
  • Line 21: “Hanging,” “hanging,” “garden”
  • Line 22: “Devilish ,” “leopard”
  • Line 23: “Radiation ,” “turned”
  • Line 24: “And ,” “killed ”
  • Line 25: “bodies ,” “adulterers”
  • Line 26: “Hiroshima ash ,” “in”
  • Line 27: “sin,” “sin”
  • Line 28: “night”
  • Line 29: “been,” “flickering, off,” “on,” “off,” “on”
  • Line 30: “sheets ,” “lecher’s,” “kiss”
  • Line 33: “make me”
  • Line 36: “Hurts ,” “hurts ”
  • Line 37: “head ”
  • Line 38: “beaten skin”
  • Line 39: “Infinitely,” “infinitely”
  • Line 41: “camellia”
  • Line 42: “Glowing ,” “coming ,” “going”
  • Line 43: “am ,” “going ”
  • Line 44: “may ”
  • Line 45: “metal ”
  • Line 50: “these ,” “things ”
  • Line 53: “selves dissolving,” “petticoats”
  • Line 54: “Paradise”

“Fever 103°” 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.

• Pure
• Tongues
• Cerberus
• Aguey
• Tinder
• Indelible
• Isadora's Scarves
• Element
• Trundle
• Meek
• Hothouse
• Ghastly
• Orchid
• Hiroshima
• Lecher
• Camellia
• Flush
• Acetylene
• Cherubim
• Petticoats

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “Pure”; Line 34: “pure ”; Line 46: “pure ”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Fever 103°”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Fever 103°” Speaker

“Fever 103°” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Fever 103°”

More “Fever 103°” Resources

• External Resources

  • Sylvia Plath's Life and Work — A detailed yet accessible introduction to Plath's life and career.

  • Reconstructing Plath's Original Vision for Ariel — Plath's own daughter discusses the controversy over Ted Hughes's version of Ariel, and how Plath's own version was reconstructed.

  • Sylvia Plath reading "Fever 103°" — Listen to the author read the poem for the BBC.

  • Interview with Plath and Hughes — A rare recorded interview with the two poets.

  • Carol Ann Duffy on Sylvia Plath — The UK's former poet laureate describes her relationship with Plath's work.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

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  • Morning Song

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  • Poppies in July

  • Poppies in October

  • Sheep in Fog

  • Sow

  • The Applicant

  • The Arrival of the Bee Box

  • The Moon and the Yew Tree

  • The Munich Mannequins

  • The Night Dances

  • Tulips

  • Words

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