Nick and Candlestick — Sylvia Plath — THEME

The poem Nick and the Candlestick is a wonderful example of Plath’s style as a confessional poet. The poem is directly addressed to her son Nicholas Hughes. The very title of the poem suggests a tone of simplicity. The poem in its plot also follows the same idea as it has a crystal clear plot. However, the poem is hovered with opaque phrases and startling imageries. In this poem, she describes what early motherhood is like and uses figurative language to make the experience more vivid. The poem has two parts and each is loaded with a contrasting tone. The poem is written in dramatic monologue. 

The poet here speaks about motherhood and the purpose of life. These two things are tied together in this poem. This becomes quite clear towards the end in which Plath states that her child is her reason for being in the world. He makes sense of the world for her. Although these days of early motherhood are difficult for her, she is trying to navigate them to the best of her ability even when the process exhausts her. Throughout the poem, there are images of depletion, exhaustion, and allusions to a transformation of a woman’s body. She has been consumed by this child and not every image she creates of this process is a positive one.

The theme of the poem quite is simple but the portrayal of this central idea is done with moving electrified imageries which are often revolutionary. The emotions are made to play freely which takes a simple idea to enormous heights. The mother being disgusted with the world and hopeless with humanity is searching her identity and solace within her baby. She is weaving her whole world around her baby which is the only hope, the candle of her life.  However, her tone at points also suggests that her anxiety is not separated from her pregnancy and motherhood. As various imageries suggests that her pregnancy has snatched her freedom, pushing her into a claustrophobic boredom.  

The use of repetitive words shows her frustrations. The religion which brings peace in many hearts has failed to do so with the poet as instead of providing solace, it is slowly extracting out the pureness and life out of the poet, again reflecting towards her loss of faith in worldly institutions. Critics have often suggested various co-themes hidden within the poem because of her choice of phrases and imageries.

The imageries used in the poems along with the language and the diction surfaces the poet’s contradictory ideas about motherhood. It depicts both the positive side and negative side of motherhood. The dictions used are vivid and strong. Something so beautiful and lovely can also be dangerous and lifeless. Perhaps the message that the poet wants to convey is that there are ups and downs of motherhood, nothing is perfect.