oem is no doubt about Plath's third attempt at suicide and her subsequent resurrection. The speaker gives clues that this is her third suicide attempt, yet she casually talks about it as if it were nothing. She says "I have done it again. One year in every ten [she manages] it."(1-2) We know this is her third time because she compares herself to a "cat" with "nine lives to die."(21) She goes on to say "this is number three."(22) The beginning of the poem is also where Plath first uses the metaphor of the nazi death camps. She compares herself to "a sort of walking miracle, [her] skin as bright as a nazi lampshade"(4-5), an obvious reference to the products made from Jewish prisoners in world war two. This is not the last time this metaphor is used in this poem. Through out the first few stanzas, Plath concentrates on the violence she causes upon herself by attempting suicide.In "A Far Cry from Africa", Walcott characterizes the African Kikuyu in a negative light. He compares them to "flies" who are "batten upon the bloodstream of the veldt."(3) He goes on to compare the struggle between the two cultures as a "gorilla [that] wrestles with superman."(25) Obviously Walcott could see the futility of the Africans attempts to battle with the English. Although he is aware of the blatant slaughter by the British, he tries to remain steadfast in his belief that the colonization is for the good of humanity, even if humanity must suffer in order to accomplish it. He comments on the nature of violence itself and brings to question his alliances when he concludes "The violence of beast on beast is read as natural law, but upright man seeks his divinity by inflicting pain."(15-16) This comment sparks a change in the kind of violence he faces, the change from the external battle with the Africans to the internal battle that Walcott has with himself over his involvement in the slaughter.Much of the remaining violence happening in "Lady...
