Aftermath by Sylvia Plath - Summary - Explanation
The poem "Aftermath" is penned by Sylvia Plath.
The narrator describes a accident scene where crowd assemble to watch what's going on in the house where a calamity occured. They stare and roam there to get a preview on the inside. They are so occupied with the thoughts of getting real-time updates as if their own house is on the fire.
They predict that "some scandal" i.e. something bad might happen in the house. Their only concern to take a look at what happens. "Smoke-choked closet" refers to some secret or private thing. People in the crowd are keen to receive such information. Their contention is not with someone's well-being.
The narrator compares them with "hunters after an old meat/ Blood-spoor of the austere tragedies", in other words, these people care and trail hot or sensational news.
They are like scavengers, sufficing their appetite on dead.
In the next stanza, the narrator refers a lady named "Mother Medea" arrives and it is revealed that it is her whose apartment has ruined and she moves in to find her things – shoes, furniture etc. The hypocrite crowd visits here and heed their fake condolences and leaves her on her own.
Notably, the lady's name also "Medea" might also alludes to a figure in Greek mythology who was left by her husband for princess of Corinth. Medea took her revenge by murdering the princess and her own children too. Later, she moved to Athens to begin a new chapter of her life.
The narrator is satirizing the above mentioned crowd and their actions. They are not sympathetic to those who have faced something undesirable. It is their secret and spicy talks in which they are interested.
The narrator describes a accident scene where crowd assemble to watch what's going on in the house where a calamity occured. They stare and roam there to get a preview on the inside. They are so occupied with the thoughts of getting real-time updates as if their own house is on the fire.
They predict that "some scandal" i.e. something bad might happen in the house. Their only concern to take a look at what happens. "Smoke-choked closet" refers to some secret or private thing. People in the crowd are keen to receive such information. Their contention is not with someone's well-being.
The narrator compares them with "hunters after an old meat/ Blood-spoor of the austere tragedies", in other words, these people care and trail hot or sensational news.
They are like scavengers, sufficing their appetite on dead.
In the next stanza, the narrator refers a lady named "Mother Medea" arrives and it is revealed that it is her whose apartment has ruined and she moves in to find her things – shoes, furniture etc. The hypocrite crowd visits here and heed their fake condolences and leaves her on her own.
Notably, the lady's name also "Medea" might also alludes to a figure in Greek mythology who was left by her husband for princess of Corinth. Medea took her revenge by murdering the princess and her own children too. Later, she moved to Athens to begin a new chapter of her life.
The narrator is satirizing the above mentioned crowd and their actions. They are not sympathetic to those who have faced something undesirable. It is their secret and spicy talks in which they are interested.
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