Sylvia Plath's "Words" ruminates on the power and limitations of language. Words, the speaker says, are like the sharp thwacks of an ax into a tree, the "echoes" of which travel far and wide. While this might give the writer a sense of power and control, words can also quickly take on a life of their own—and ultimately become freer than the person who wrote them. The poem's meditations on the way words can become independent of their creators become all the more poignant when readers consider that Plath wrote "Words" on February 1, 1963, just 10 days before she died by suicide.

• Read the full text of “Words”

• “Words” Summary

• “Words” Themes

  • 

    The Power and Limits of Writing

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Words”

  • Lines 1-2

    Axes ...
    ... the wood rings,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-5

    And the echoes! ...
    ... center like horses.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-11

    The sap ...
    ... drops and turns,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-13

    A white skull, ...
    ... by weedy greens.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-17

    Years later I ...
    ... The indefatigable hoof-taps.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-20

    While ...
    ... Govern a life.

    

    

    

    

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• “Words” Symbols

  • 

    Echoes

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-5: “And the echoes! / Echoes traveling / Off from the center like horses.”
  • 

    The Water/Mirror

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 7-9: “like the / Water striving / To re-establish its mirror”
  • 

    The Skull and Greens

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 12-13: “A white skull, / Eaten by weedy greens.”

• “Words” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Axes / After”
    • Lines 4-5: “traveling / Off”
    • Lines 6-7: “sap / Wells”
    • Lines 7-8: “the / Water”
    • Lines 8-9: “striving / To”
    • Lines 9-10: “mirror / Over”
    • Lines 10-11: “rock / That”
    • Lines 14-15: “I / Encounter”
    • Lines 18-19: “While / From”
    • Lines 19-20: “stars / Govern”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “Echoes traveling / Off from the center like horses.”
    • Lines 6-11: “The sap / Wells like tears, like the / Water striving / To re-establish its mirror / Over the rock / That drops and turns,”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Axes / After whose stroke the wood rings,”
    • Lines 6-13: “The sap / Wells like tears, like the / Water striving / To re-establish its mirror / Over the rock / That drops and turns, / A white skull, / Eaten by weedy greens.”
    • Lines 16-17: “Words dry and riderless, / The indefatigable hoof-taps.”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Lines 6-11
    • Lines 16-17
    • Lines 18-19

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Axes”
    • Line 2: “After”
    • Line 10: “rock”
    • Line 11: “drops”
    • Line 13: “Eaten,” “weedy,” “greens”
    • Line 16: “dry,” “riderless”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “And the echoes! / Echoes traveling”
    • Lines 7-8: “Wells like tears, like the / Water”

• “Words” 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.

  • Sap
  • Re-establish
  • Encounter
  • Indefatigable
  • Hoof-taps
  • Govern
  • Fixed stars
  • (Location in poem: Lines 6-7: “The sap / Wells like tears”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Words”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Words” Speaker

• “Words” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Words”

• More “Words” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Plath's Life and Work — A biography of the poet and additional poems via the Poetry Foundation.

    • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to "Words" read aloud.

    • The Poet's Voice — Get a sense of Plath's own reading voice in this recording of her reading from Galway Kinnell's poem, "Flower Herding Pictures On Mount Monadnock."

    • Foreword to Ariel — Check out the foreword to the Restored Edition of Ariel, written by the poet's daughter, Frieda Hughes. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

    • Ariel

    • Cut

    • Daddy

    • Edge

    • Fever 103°

    • Kindness

    • Lady Lazarus

    • Mad Girl's Love Song

    • Metaphors

    • Mirror

    • Morning Song

    • Nick and the Candlestick

    • 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

    • You're

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