Lady Lazarus Summary & Analysis
by Sylvia Plath

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Sylvia Plath wrote "Lady Lazarus" in 1962, during a creative burst of energy in the months before her death by suicide in 1963. The poem alludes to the biblical story of Lazarus, whom Jesus famously resurrected. The poem's female speaker also dies and is resurrected—multiple times, in fact, and not always happily. Each revival is akin to a circus performance for a voyeuristic, "peanut-crunching crowd" that's hoping for a glimpse of the speaker's "scars." The speaker ultimately warns that she will one day rise from the ashes of her death and devour "men like air." The dark poem provides insight into a suicidal mind, a glimpse at the horror of being a woman in a patriarchal world, and a critique of society's twisted fascination with suffering.

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