I Am Vertical But I would rather be horizontal. I am not a… - Sylvia Plath

" "
I Am Vertical

But I would rather be horizontal.
I am not a tree with my root in the soil
Sucking up minerals and motherly love
So that each March I may gleam into leaf,
Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed
Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,
Unknowing I must soon unpetal.
Compared with me, a tree is immortal
And a flower-head not tall, but more startling,
And I want the one's longevity and the other's daring.

Sylvia Plath

This quote has a book source. Sign up to see titles and page references

tree poetry

English

Collect this quote

About Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath (27 October 1932 – 11 February 1963) was an American poet, novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was the first wife of Ted Hughes.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Victoria Lucas • Sylvia Plath Hughes

All quotes from Sylvia Plath Similar Quotes by other Originators

Originators like Sylvia Plath:

Anne Sexton Henry Rollins Margaret Atwood Miranda July Franz Kafka

Additional quotes by Sylvia Plath

Ironically, Henry James' biography comforts me & I long to make known to him his posthumous reputation — he wrote, in pain, gave all his life (which is more than I could think of doing — I have Ted, will have children — but few friends) & the critics insulted & mocked him, readers didn't read him.

Don't talk to me about the world needing cheerful stuff! What the person out of Belsen — physical or psychological — wants is nobody saying the birdies still go tweet-tweet, but the full knowledge that somebody else has been there and knows the worst, just what it is like.

I am jealous of those who think more deeply, who write better, who draw better, who ski better, who look better, who live better, who love better than I.

I Am Vertical But I would rather be horizontal. I am not a tree with my root in the soil Sucking up minerals and motherly love So that each March I … - Sylvia Plath

About Sylvia Plath

Also Known As

Go Premium

Additional quotes by Sylvia Plath

Go Premium