This presentation analyzes Sylvia Plath's poem "The Arrival of the Bee Box" using psychoanalytic and stylistic approaches. It discusses how the poem depicts Plath as mentally disturbed and suffering from a split personality. The bee box represents Plath's troubled mind, which is locked away and filled with dark, swarming thoughts that terrify her. Through imagery of darkness and repetition of "dark" and "black", the poem conveys the intensity of Plath's negative feelings. The analysis finds that Plath used the poem to explore her darkest unconscious thoughts and inner demons through her poetic art.

1. The Arrival of the Bee Box
Psychoanalytic and Stylistic Analysis

2. Introduction
Group II
Literary Seekers
Ayesha Rauf
Tehreem Rahat

3. Abstract
This presentation deals with the application of a few psychoanalytical aspects. Like;
personality disorder and study of unconscious mind. For this purpose, we have taken a
few extracts; to be more specific: first three stanzas from the poem “The Arrival of
the Bee Box” by a famous American poet Sylvia Plath. Moreover, it also deals with
the application of some stylistic devices in order to analyze the parallelism between
mental state and poetic artistry of the poet.

4. Data Analysis
 Unconscious Mind
 The unconscious mind comprises mental processes
that are inaccessible to consciousness but that
influence judgements, feelings, or behavior
(Wilson, 2002).
 The unconscious contains all sorts of significant and
disturbing material which we need to keep out of
awareness because they are too threatening to
acknowledge fully.

5.  Split Personality
 It is also called Dissociative identity disorder (DID).
 It is a condition that is characterized by the presence of at least two clear
personality states, called alters, which may have different reactions, emotions,
body functioning.
 Formerly, it is also known as called multiple personality disorder.

6. Application of Psychoanalytic Theory
 The poems as a whole depicts metaphorically that Plath is confused, mentally
disturbed, in utter panic, fearful and a victim of split-personality.
I ordered this, clean wood box
Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.
I would say it was the coffin of a midget
Or a square baby
Were there not such a din in it.
 The first stanza, is clearly denoting that the poet is confused about the wooden box
she ordered.
 We can say that the clean wood box is the poet’s mind. The mind is heavy with
disturbing thoughts. There is a lot of noise in it. Her past memories are haunting
her towards suicidal acts. She is claiming her responsible for the ordering of
wooden box; frustrating thought. She is under control of her miseries. She is fearful
of the content of her mind.

7. The box is locked, it is dangerous.
I have to live with it overnight
And I can't keep away from it.
There are no windows, so I can't see what is in there.
There is only a little grid, no exit.
 She is scared as the content in her mind is dangerous and she has to keep it with
her whole night. She is too disturbed due to her mental state that she is feeling
miserable to keep it even for a night. The box seems like a pandora’s box. It
contains evil aspects of her life
 There is no outlet to lessen the intensity. She is even incapable in order to peep
into the contents so that she might be able to sort out things to positive
 She is surrendering to the fact that she can not escape from constantly troubling
thoughts.
 Here we can also analyze that the poet is unable either to comprehend her
illness or escape from it.

8. I put my eye to the grid.
It is dark, dark,
With the swarmy feeling of African hands
Minute and shrunk for export,
Black on black, angrily clambering.
 She tries to see the content of the box; her mind. It’s all dark. She cannot
comprehend it. Rather, she is speculating the intensity of the darkness, tense
 At first, she feels powerless on her ability to decipher herself. Then, she is
herself as the master of African slaves, whom she thinks she has captured at last.
 The thoughts in the mind are uncountable. They are jammed. They are
evil and pitiful. She wishes to get rid of them by sending them far away.
 She is terrified to set them free as well. Because she is aware of their anger and
is fearing that the swarm might attack her when she let them go. Now she is at
peak of fear.

9. Stylistic Analysis
 Imagery of Bee Box and darkness
 The bee box and bees, as a whole, fear her. Her dark thoughts scare her. Her dark
thoughts conjure up feelings of fear and trauma for her. She knows they are
necessary to reveal (to herself). She hopes once she addresses these dark,
“clambering” thoughts she will be freed...
 The bee box is a metaphoric representation of the Plath’s mind, suffering from
anxiety and depression.
 Repetition
 “It is dark, dark”
 “Black on black, angrily clambering”
Repetition of word ‘dark’ and ‘black’ show the intensity of negative, disturbed feelings.

10.  She has ordered a “clean wood box.” The irony is that her situation and state of
mind are far from simple.
 Plath uses a simile in which she compares the box to a square chair:
'square as a chair’
 She then uses some unusual comparisons or metaphors for the box:
“coffin of a midget or a square baby…”
 These morbid images show her attitude to the bee box. The words ‘coffin’ and
‘square baby’ show that Plath looks at the bee box in a disturbed and disturbing
way. She is puzzled herself.
 The word “eye” has a double meaning; a homophone. When taken non-literally, it
suggests that she sizes up the bees just as she sizes up the “I”; herself.
 The tone of the stanzas is, no doubt, calm. But the undertone of fear and power is
also considerable.

11. Findings
 This poem could deal with poetry and the unconscious mind. Plath believed it was
necessary to explore the darkest part of the mind to write poetry. She felt this was
a dangerous business for it risked disturbing all kinds of inner demons.
 The stanzas artistically highlights the unconscious effects of turmoil and tragedies,
Plath went through her life.
 The poet is successful in articulating the emotions of a person suffering through
depression and anxiety through vivid imagery and a skillful use of metaphor.

12. Conclusion
 Bee-box can be taken as hidden aspect of the mind. Bee-box might be our
innermost thoughts – ones we ignore unless we begin to explore them.
 Plath is disgusted by bee-box, disgusted by inner thoughts. So, she is venturing to
Unleash inner demons through poetry.

13. References
 http://slideplayer.com/slide/6082749/
 https://beamingnotes.com/2017/08/02/summary-analysis-arrival-bee-box-sylvia-
plath/
 https://engzone.weebly.com/the-arrival-of-the-bee-box.html
 http://www.markedbyteachers.com/international-baccalaureate/languages/sylvia-
plath-arrival-of-the-bee-box.html
 https://genius.com/6323943
 http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/plath/arrival.htm
 https://collectifbdp.com/the-arrival-of-the-bee-box-by-sylvia-plath/
 https://www.medicinenet.com/dissociative_identity_disorder/article.htm#dissociativ
e_identity_disorder_did_facts

14. Questions!