“I didn't want any flowers, I only wanted To lie with my hands turned upand be utterly empty.How free it is, you have no idea how free - The peacefulness is so big it dazes you,And it asks for nothing. ~ Tulips (1961)”
Explore This Quote Further
-
Working on it...
-
Working on it...
-
Working on it...
Quote Analysis: Sylvia Plath's Tulips (1961)
This excerpt from Sylvia Plath’s poem Tulips reveals a poignant meditation on emptiness, freedom, and peace in the face of life’s demands. Plath expresses a deep desire for simplicity and surrender, rejecting external symbols of care ("I didn't want any flowers") in favor of a profound internal stillness.
The phrase "To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty" suggests complete openness and vulnerability—an intentional release of control and resistance. The speaker longs not for adornment or distraction but for an absolute emptiness, which paradoxically is experienced as freedom.
The lines "How free it is, you have no idea how free - / The peacefulness is so big it dazes you" emphasize the overwhelming scale of this serenity. Peace is not a passive state; it is something so vast it almost blinds the individual, conveying a powerful yet gentle transcendence from the burdens of existence.
Finally, "And it asks for nothing" highlights the unconditional nature of this freedom. Unlike human interactions or social conventions that require responses or actions, this peace demands nothing in return, reinforcing the theme of relinquishment and the desire to escape all obligations.
In sum, Plath’s words paint a complex portrait of seeking liberation through emptiness—a calm void that contrasts with the vibrant but burdensome world symbolized by the tulips. This tension between life’s noisiness and the stillness the speaker craves is central to the poem’s emotional resonance.
Similar quotes
“I didn’t want any flowers, I only wantedTo lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty.How free it is, you have no idea how free——The peacefulness is so big it dazes you,And it asks nothing, a name tag, a few trinkets.It is what the dead close on, finally; I imagine them Shutting their mouths on it, like a Communion tablet.--from "Tulips", written 18 March 1961”
“And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closesIts bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.--from "Tulips", written 18 March 1961”
“I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly, as the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands. I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions.”
“I Am VerticalBut I would rather be horizontal.I am not a tree with my root in the soilSucking up minerals and motherly loveSo that each March I may gleam into leaf,Nor am I the beauty of a garden bedAttracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,Unknowing I must soon unpetal.Compared with me, a tree is immortalAnd a flower-head not tall, but more startling,And I want the one's longevity and the other's daring.Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars,The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors.I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.Sometimes I think that when I am sleepingI must most perfectly resemble them--Thoughts gone dim.It is more natural to me, lying down.Then the sky and I are in open conversation,And I shall be useful when I lie down finally:The the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me."I Am Vertical", 28 March 1961”
“I wanted to tell her that if only something were wrong with my body it would be fine, I would rather have anything wrong with my body than something wrong with my head, but the idea seemed so involved and wearisome that I didn’t say anything. I only burrowed down further in the bed.”
“When they asked some old Roman philosopher or other how he wanted to die, he said he would open his veins in a warm bath. I thought it would be easy, lying in the tup and seeing the redness flower from my wrists, flush after flush through the clear water, till I sank into sleep under a surface gaudy as poppies.”