The Guilty, Vivid, Suicidal, Exciting “Cut” Cutting her finger, although accidental, may have been exactly what Sylvia Plath wanted to distract her from the gripes of her battle with depression. In the first half of “Cut,” Plath uses diction with light connotation to describe an event that is not often seen as a pleasurable experience. In a frenzy of excitement followed by remorse caused by the of cutting her finger, Plath uses vivid tactile and visual imagery in combination with historical allusion in the form of overlapping metaphors to convey the experience of detachment and excitement stemming from visions of her own blood and near loss of a digit. Through doing so, she defamiliarizes an incident that would normally inflict fear. The use of varied metaphors rather than direct language in writing about her experience helps depict the perplexing emotions she felt during the experience. Additionally, graphic imagery using both literal and figurative diction makes the reader feel as if he or she were vicariously experiencing the episode,…show more content… However, the poet’s accounts of the incident defamilliarize the typical notion of what it means and how it feels to cut one’s thumb. While reading the poem, the reader is taken on Plath’s rollercoaster of emotions, coasting from the highs of excitement to the downtrends of remorse. This is accomplished through use of graphic imagery, as the reader is able to empathize with Plath’s sentiments during the event. The structure of the poem provides evidence to how Plath’s mind was plagued with thoughts of suicide and death. Furthermore, the manner in which the poet speaks of her dismembered thumb shows her emotional detachment from the incident. Ultimately, Plath’s use of metaphor and structure, express feelings from excitement to remorse in the experience of cutting her