Sylvia Plath wrote "A Secret" in 1962 after separating from her husband Ted Hughes due to his affair. The poem uses ambiguous imagery and shifting perspectives to represent Plath's struggle with the betrayal and her desire to conceal the "secret" of Hughes' infidelity. Throughout the poem, the narrator worries that the secret will be exposed and the consequences will destroy her, as represented by increasing unrest and violence in the imagery. By the end, the secret is revealed against the narrator's wishes, and she is left feeling weak and unable to cope with the fallout of the exposure.

1. A Secret
A Poem by Sylvia Plath

2. Context
Written on October 10th 1962, a year before her death in 1963
Sylvia Plath wrote “A Secret” just after she separated from her husband Ted Hughes as his secret was out
about his affair with friend Assia Wevill.
Plath wrote the poem as part of the ‘Ariel’ collection, however following her death Hughes removed it from
the published collection
Plath and Hughes’ son was born in January of 1962, however Ted seemed disappointed with the baby and treated
him coldly - Ted’s affair began to dawn on Plath at this point as he would openly seem to flirt with Assia.
This poem is known as being one of Plath’s most cryptic and ambiguous poems as the real meaning behind it
remains a secret due to Plath’s death and the removal from the ‘Ariel’ collection

3. About the Poem
Offers a grotesque take on Plath’s classic themes throughout the ‘Ariel’ collection: female subjectivity,
scrutiny of femininity, fertility, family, revelation and betrayal
Plath’s poem also has three perspectives, with its narrator and two speakers.
Plath wrote “A Secret” in quatrains
“A Secret” is certainly modern love gone wrong
The imagery throughout the poem has no coherence, only Plath’s bitter sarcasm and this dirty secret
Critics regard this poem as as a piece of ‘cryptic fury’ due to it’s riddle like nature which makes the poem
difficult to understand - this riddle like nature means that the poem has to be picked apart to begin to gain
an understanding

4. A secret! A secret!
How superior.
You are blue and huge, a traffic policeman,
Holding up one palm—
A difference between us?
I have one eye, you have two.
The secret is stamped on you,
Faint, undulant watermark.
The secret is permanent, forever
branding them with the burden of
keeping this secret and dealing with
the consequences
The anger and frustration is shown
progressively through the close
rhyme words (Highlighted in red) -
similar to the you/do rhymes in
‘Daddy’
Mythological cyclops - imperfect vision
suggesting that she has been tricked or mislead
- Links to Ted’s manipulation of Plath whilst he
cheated on her
The baby is described as having a ‘big blue head’ in
stanza 7
The secret prevents her from moving on with her
life, it takes dominance over her much like the
authoritative figure of a policeman
Repetition - the speaker sets a
tone of anticipation for the reader,
a desire to uncover the secret
The Bloody
Chamber - the
blood key stain on
her forehand,
makes her feel
shame
The Bloody
Chamber -
Had to
discover what
was behind
the door

5. Will it show in the black detector?
Will it come out
Wavery, indelible, true
Through the African giraffe in its Edeny greenery,
The Moroccan hippopotamus?
They stare from a square, stiff frill.
They are for export,
One a fool, the other a fool.
The animal pattern of the baby’s crib, suddenly
becoming very menacing from a child’s
viewpoint - Imagination gone wild
A childish rhyme
Worried about their secret being
uncovered by others, scared of society’s
reaction
Definitions -(of ink or a pen)
making marks that cannot be
removed OR not able to be
forgotten.
Will stand out from it’s surroundings much like their secret
Symbolically giraffes
connote perception
"Water Horse" - very substantial in physical
terms, connotes a guide in grounding ourselves
so we can face and dissolve emotional issues
Both parents are at fault here, the speaker
realises that they are both to blame and burdened
with this secret/child

6. A secret… An extra amber
Brandy finger
Roosting and cooing ‘You, you’
Behind two eyes in which nothing is reflected but monkeys.
A knife that can be taken out
To pare nails,
To lever the dirt.
'It won’t hurt.’
An accusation, passing the blame onto
one person in particular
Adding to previous disagreements
or difficulties the couple have to
face - the secret only fuels their
arguments and unhappiness
Most likely referring to the eyes of the baby
Connotes the baby’s innocence as it cannot
see the darker reality that the parents
constantly face throughout the poem - Much
like Plath’s children as their father was having
an affair and their mother attempting suicide
Hinting that the secret
is a baby
Repetition of
title - Hinting at
the reveal,
anticipation
A knife - Gossip/back-stabbing
The ‘dirt’ on a person - The
speaker’s shameful secret,
the baby
Attempts to offer reassurance knowing it will be a painful
experience, possibly in a more emotional manner
The Bloody Chamber - The
Marquis attempts to calm the girl
when he discovers her secret
(Using the key) and reveals he will
have to kill her

7. An illegitimate baby—
That big blue head—
How it breathes in the bureau drawer!
'Is that lingerie, pet?
'It smells of salt cod, you had better
Stab a few cloves in an apple,
Make a sachet or
Do away with the bastard.
Not dealing with the issue but
instead attempts to hide it - Links to
Plath ignoring the signs that Ted
was having an affair
A large chest of drawers -
attempting to conceal the baby
which connotes shame
A dishonour to the mother, acts
as a constant reminder of the
secret
Considered to be a product of lust
instead of love
Lust - links to Stella and
Stanley’s relationship
The father’s secret desire, to do away
with the baby and all reminders of this
secret
Illegitimate to the father could
suggest that he had disowned the
baby due to this dishonour
The baby is being controlled whilst
being hidden as their secret
The Snow Child -
the father destroys
all evidence of the
girl’s existence as
she melts away
An act of
desperation
The Snow
Child - The
count and
countess

8. 'Do away with it altogether.’
'No, no, it is happy there.’
'But it wants to get out!
Look, look! It is wanting to crawl.’
My god, there goes the stopper!
The cars in the Place de la Concorde—
Watch out!
A stampede, a stampede!
Linking back to the animals mentioned in
the previous stanzas - An unstoppable
force
A sudden violent rush
- a comparison to the
sudden rush of cars
when the traffic lights
change
A contrast between
imagination (The child’s
animals) and reality (The
sudden cars)
The secret/baby has torn the two
apart leading to their
arguments/disagreements - Much
like Plath and Hughes
Stella and Stanley -
Blanche also begins to
tear the two apart
especially with Stanley’s
aggressive nature
Link to ‘Sow’ - Wants to escape/be
free from constraints of their
‘owners’

9. Horns twirling and jungle gutturals!
An exploded bottle of stout,
Slack foam in the lap.
You stumble out,
Dwarf baby,
The knife in your back.
'I feel weak.’
The secret is out.
a harsh grating quality made
from within the throat (Like
Tarzan’s roar)
Links back to animal
imagery - desires to be free
as the baby crawls and the
secret risks exposure
Links to the father - the child appears to be
disowned or ‘dead’ to the father, presenting him as
a backstabber in regards to the child’s mother
A very final ending - the speaker knows there is nothing more that can be
done and must learn to deal with the constant reminders and the reactions
of those she wanted to hide away from, society
Public vs private
Wolf Alice - Her desire to be
free from the nuns after they
hide her away due to her
animalistic ways