Edge

This a lyric poem because it’s short and reflects the personal perspective of the speaker and their subjective view of the dead woman. This also a confessional poem due to its connections to Plath’s life. Plath wrote “Edge” on February 6, 1963, and five days later, she died by suicide. In the context of the confessional genre, Plath is the speaker and the dead woman. She appraises her impending death and its meaning, writing about herself to try and fathom her fraught state. The confessional nature of the poem also taps into universal experiences of exhaustion, disillusionment, and the dark allure of finality. 

At the same time, Plath is not the inevitable speaker or dead woman. By separating Plath from the poem, the difference between Plath and her poetic persona is acknowledged. The speaker and dead woman are anonymous, so for a general analysis, the speaker and the dead woman can be nonsynonymous with Plath. This ambiguity allows the poem to serve as both a personal and collective meditation on death. The anonymity universalizes the experience, suggesting that the perfected woman could be any woman worn down by societal pressures or internal battles.