'Cut' by Silvia Plath


Cut is a poem who was written by a female poet named Sylvia Plath. Cut is about Plath who slices her thumb off instead of an onion. There are also major mood changes in this poem. That is why she seems a bit like an insane person.


There were two techniques that stood out that the writer had used in the poem. One was her diverse use of metaphors and the other was her perfectly good use of similes.

One metaphor that helped me understand the poem was “a million soldiers run, Redcoats, everyone. It described how Plaths thumb was covered in red and that the blood was pouring all over. A simile that helped compare her thumb was “a flap like a hat” which states that there was a piece of skin flapping about when she had cut her thumb.

There was a major mood change when Plath had cut her thumb. In the beginning of the poem it said “what a thrill”. That quote had set the mood she was in. It says that Plath was excited to have had her thumb chopped off and it seemed ok with her. As the poem progressed she was staring to lose confidence in her self. Later on in the poem it says that she felt ill and a bit woozy. The quote “I am ill. I have taken a pill to kill. The thin papery feeling.” Helped me realise the mood change and also how she felt after the adrenaline feeling had gone. At the end of the poem it turned out that the mood was self-hate.

In my opinion this poem is well written as she describes her thumb a lot and compares it with various things. Although it may be hard to understand I thought that she used her metaphors and similes perfectly.