by Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963)
The hanging man
Language: English
By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me. I sizzled in his blue volts like a desert prophet. The nights snapped out of sight like a lizard's eyelid: A world of bald white days in a shadeless socket. A vulturous boredom pinned me in this tree. If he were I, he would do what I did.
Text Authorship:
- by Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963), "The hanging man", appears in Ariel, first published 1965 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "The hanging man", published 1974 [ soprano, clarinet, and piano ], from Ariel: Five Poems of Sylvia Plath, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marjorie M. Rusche , "The hanging man", 1994 [ soprano, clarinet, violin, and cello ], from Songs of Love and Death, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-12-14
Line count: 6
Word count: 60