21 pages • 42 minutes read
Wuthering Heights
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“The Great Carbuncle” by Sylvia Plath (1957)
One of Plath’s Yorkshire poems, “The Great Carbuncle” juxtaposes the beauty of the moors with the danger posed by nuclear weapons. Plath imagines “eight pilgrims” (Line 10) or missiles headed toward the green moors; the light of the missiles transforms the faces and hands of people and the scenery. The gorgeous landscape is described as “the great jewel” (Line 11) that will be annihilated by the great festering sore of the missiles. The poem is notable for its politics; its surreal, weird imagery; and its ambiguity regarding the landscape, which is beautiful yet doomed.
“I am Vertical” by Sylvia Plath (1961)
Written in 1961 but published posthumously in the collection Crossing the Water (1971), this poem is an example of Plath’s use of spatial imagery to depict mental states. Like in “Wuthering Heights,” there exists a tension between being vertical while bearing responsibilities, and being horizontal, which is to be annihilated and exist as a part of nature.
“The Glass Essay” by Ann Carson (1994)
Carson’s poem is written over three decades after Plath’s work and shares with it powerful moorland imagery. While Plath’s poem is told by a single speaker, Carson’s longer poem switches between personae. Carson also engages with Emily Brontë and her works more directly than Plath.
“Wuthering Heights” by Ted Hughes (1998)
Hughes’s poem is a response to his deceased wife’s writing about moors. Hughes also treats Plath and her poetic process as a subject, tracing a connection between Plath’s love for the work of Emily Brontë, her expectations of the highlands, and her subsequent terror of the landscape.
Further Literary Resources
Peter Orr was the head of the British Council’s recorded sound department from 1955 to 1975, during a period in which he interviewed 200 poets. This transcript of his interview with Plath contains many insights about the themes and images that inform her poetry, including being both American and English, and finding solace in nature.
“In the Footsteps of Sylvia Plath” by Karen V. Kukil (2016)
Plath expert Kukil, who compiled the poet’s unabridged journals for publication, traces Plath’s Yorkshire landscape for Smith College. This photo-essay explores the connection between Emily Brontë’s novel, Plath’s identification with Brontë’s characters, and Plath’s love of the moors. Kukil makes the world of “Wuthering Heights” come alive for the reader, noting that “the wind did indeed pour by me ‘like destiny’” (Line 12).
“How Sylvia Plath’s profound nature poetry elevates her writing beyond tragedy and despair” by Nassim Jalali (2023)
Writing for The Conversation, Plath scholar Jalali explores Plath’s nature poetry, arguing that her works have great ecological significance. Jalali illustrates her thesis with examples from poems like “Wuthering Heights,” “Mushrooms,” and “Two Campers in Cloud Country.”
Listen to Poem
A reading of Plath’s poem accompanied by the imagery she experienced while walking in the Yorkshire moors, excerpted from “A poet’s guide to Britain” with Owen Sheers.
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By Sylvia Plath
