The Munich Mannequins

Sylvia Plath was an American poet and novelist. She is best-known for two published poetry collections, The Colossus and Other Poems in 1960 and the posthumously published Ariel in 1965, and her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar (1963). Published in 1981, her The Collected Poems posthumously received the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982. Her deeply personal confessional poetry reflects Plath’s troubled state of mind. Having died by suicide at the age of 30 in 1963, her death both informs and overwhelms her poetry.

“The Munich Mannequins” was published in Ariel. While “The Munich Mannequins” is not one of Plath’s most well-known poems, it does include some of Plath’s most famous lines, including the opening. In addition to being a feminist critique of a patriarchal society, this poem also reflects post-World War II tension and Postmodernism’s existential dread in response to the horrors of the first half of the 20th century.

Poet Biography

Born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts, Plath was born to Aurelia Schober Plath, a second-generation American Austrian, and Otto Plath, a German. Her brother, Warren, was born in 1935.

Plath’s relationship with her father was complex and complicated. Plath reckons with the legacy of his authoritarian parenting style and demanding attitude in her poetry, most explicitly addressing it in “Daddy” (1965). Her father died on November 5, 1940, just after Plath’s eight birthday, due to complications to untreated diabetes. His death also caused Plath to experience a loss of faith that resulted in a life-long religious ambivalence.

Plath began publishing in her childhood. At eight, her first poem was published in the Boston Herald’s children section. Just after her high school graduation, Plath was first nationally published in the Christian Science Monitor. By the time she entered college, she had written over 50 short stories and had been published widely in magazines.

At age 11, Plath began keeping a journal that she maintained up to her death.

In 1950, Plath began attending Smith College, a private women’s liberal arts college, where she majored in English. During her college career, she excelled academically and won many prizes and scholarships. She held the position of editor for The Smith Review and guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine. Her summer in New York City working for Mademoiselle inspired her novel The Bell Jar.

While at college, Plath made her first suicide attempt. Contributing to her mental state were a rejection to a Harvard writing seminar and a missed opportunity to meet poet Dylan Thomas. Plath was treated with electroconvulsive therapy, but soon made a second suicide attempt. She received six months of psychiatric care where she was treated with more electric and insulin shock treatment. Plath seemed to make a good recovery and returned to college.

In June 1955, Plath graduated summa cum laude from Smith. She then obtained a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Newham College, a women-only college at the University of Cambridge in England. While in school, she continued writing and publishing her poetry, including in the student newspaper Varsity.

On February 25, 1956, Plath first met poet Ted Hughes. They began a relationship and were married in June 1956. Their relationship was tumultuous, as Plath experienced abuse at his hands.

The next June, Plath and her husband moved to the U.S., where she taught at Smith College starting in the fall. Finding it hard to write while teaching, Plath and her family moved to Boston in 1958, and she began working as a receptionist in a psychiatric unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. In the evening, she attended creative writing seminars led by poet Robert Lowell, who greatly influenced her work. A fellow attendee, poet Anne Sexton, also encouraged Plath to write about her experiences and to write with a more distinctly female perspective. Plath, Lowell, and Sexton often discussed writing about the topic of suicide in her poetry. As a result, Plath started to consider herself a more serious and focused poet.

In December 1958, Plath resumed mental health treatment. Plath and her husband moved back to England in December 1959. Her daughter, Frieda, was born in April 1960. In October, she published her first poetry collection, The Colossus.

In February 1961, Plath had a miscarriage, which is address in many of her poems. Plath attributes this miscarriage to a beating by Hughes. Her son, Nicholas, was born in January 1962. In June, Plath attempted suicide by crashing her car. In July, Plath discovered her husband was having an affair and the couple separated in September.

That fall, Plath wrote at least 26 poems, published in her posthumous collection Ariel. In December 1962, she moved with her children to London. That winter was challenging, as it was one of the coldest winters in 100 years and her young children were often sick. In addition, her novel, The Bell Jar, published under the pen name Victoria Lucas, was met with critical indifference.

On February 11, 1963, Plath died by suicide. Her method of death, by placing her head in an oven in a sealed room to protect her children, has defined her legacy and sometimes overshadows her work. Plath was 30 years old.

Her tombstone has frequently been damaged. People have attempted to remove the name Hughes so that it only reads Sylvia Plath. After each attempt, Hughes removed the tombstone, often leaving it unmarked during the repair.

Hughes, despite being Plath’s estranged husband whom she was in the midst of divorcing, in many ways controlled her literary legacy. He admitted to destroying some of her journals, including the journal from the months leading up to her death, and some of her unpublished writing. Until his death, Hughes edited the manuscripts for books of her letters and journals. These choices combined with the alleged abuse have complicated biographers’ attempts to describe her life and scholars’ ability to fully understand her writing.

Plath’s reputation grew after her death. Not known outside of poetry circles before her death, Plath soon became an influential cultural icon. American second wave feminists felt she described their experiences. Women writing poetry, novels, and songs were inspired by her raw honesty and confessional style. This growing influence is best reflected by the 2018 publication of an obituary for Plath in The New York Times as part of the Overlooked history project.

Poem Text

Plath, Sylvia. “The Munich Mannequins.” 1963. Voetica Poetry.

Summary

The speaker of this poem, usually considered a version of Plath herself, walks through Munich on a snowy night. The poem begins with a statement that feminine perfection represented by mannequins is “terrible” (Line 1) because of its sterility. Their fertility is “tamp[ed]” (Line 2).

The speaker describes a woman’s uterus as a place of regeneration and rebirth, comparing it to “yew trees” (Line 3). She connects menstruation to a mother’s love and describes pregnancy as the “absolute sacrifice” (Line 7) as only her child matters now.

The speaker returns to her description of mannequins, saying that their physical perfection is toxic. These objects are exposed despite their lavish “furs” (Line 13). They are “[o]range lollies on silver sticks” (Lines 14), ready to be consumed.

The speaker finds looking at them “[i]ntolerable” (Line 15) due to their mindlessness.

It begins to snow and the city is completely empty as “[n]obody’s about” (Line 17). Instead, the speaker describes how hotel guests are getting ready for the next day by placing their shoes in the hallway to be polished by staff.

The speaker sees the city’s windows, which strike the speaker as artificially domestic. The curtains are “baby lace” and “green-leaved confectionery” are on display (Line 22). In the next line, the speaker describes how all of the citizens are “slumbering” while filled with civic pride (Line 23).

Returning her focus to her environment on the street, the speaker describes “black phones on hooks” (Line 24) that she sees on the street. These phones, while shining beautifully in the snowy night, are not being used. These phones are “digesting / Voicelessness” (Lines 26-27).

The speaker states that the snow is unable to speak.