Sylvia Plath's "Kindness" personifies kindness itself as a "nice" woman who's trying to help the morbidly unhappy speaker. The sweetness and comfort "Dame Kindness" offers is no "cure" for the speaker's distress, however; even the speaker's love for her children may not be enough to soothe her anguished mind. The only outlet for her overpowering pain seems to be "poetry," which flows as unstoppably from the speaker as her suffering. One of the last poems Plath wrote before her tragic death by suicide, "Kindness" draws heavily on the poet's experience and is associated, like most of her work, with the movement called Confessional poetry. It was collected in her posthumous volume Ariel (1965).
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The Full Text of “Kindness”
The Full Text of “Kindness”
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“Kindness” Summary
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“Kindness” Themes
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Deep Love vs. Shallow Kindness
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-20
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Art and Anguish
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 9-11
- Lines 14-20
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Kindness”
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Lines 1-5
Kindness glides about ...
... filling with smiles. -
Lines 6-8
What is so ...
... has no soul. -
Lines 9-11
Sugar can cure ...
... a little poultice. -
Lines 12-15
O kindness, kindness ...
... any minute, anesthetized. -
Lines 16-20
And here you ...
... children, two roses.
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“Kindness” Symbols
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Sugar
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 9-11: “Sugar can cure everything, so Kindness says. / Sugar is a necessary fluid, / Its crystals a little poultice.”
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“Kindness” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 1-5: “Kindness glides about my house. / Dame Kindness, she is so nice! / The blue and red jewels of her rings smoke / In the windows, the mirrors / Are filling with smiles.”
- Lines 9-13: “Sugar can cure everything, so Kindness says. / Sugar is a necessary fluid, / Its crystals a little poultice. / O kindness, kindness / Sweetly picking up pieces!”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 2: “Kindness,” “so nice”
- Line 3: “red,” “rings”
- Line 5: “filling,” “smiles”
- Line 6: “so real,” “cry,” “child”
- Line 7: “rabbit's cry,” “wilder”
- Line 8: “soul”
- Line 9: “can cure,” “so Kindness says”
- Line 10: “necessary”
- Line 11: “Its crystals,” “little poultice”
- Line 12: “kindness, kindness”
- Line 13: “Sweetly picking up pieces”
- Line 14: “Japanese silks, desperate butterflies”
- Line 15: “pinned any minute, anesthetized”
- Line 16: “come,” “cup”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Kindness glides,” “about,” “my,” “house”
- Line 2: “Kindness,” “nice”
- Line 3: “blue,” “jewels,” “rings,” “smoke”
- Line 4: “In,” “windows”
- Line 5: “filling with”
- Line 6: “cry,” “child”
- Line 7: “cry,” “wilder”
- Line 9: “Sugar,” “cure”
- Line 11: “Its crystals,” “little”
- Line 13: “Sweetly,” “pieces”
- Line 14: “desperate”
- Line 15: “pinned,” “any,” “minute,” “anesthetized”
- Line 16: “come,” “cup,” “tea”
- Line 17: “Wreathed,” “steam”
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Kindness”
- Line 2: “Kindness”
- Line 6: “cry”
- Line 7: “cry”
- Line 9: “Sugar,” “Kindness”
- Line 10: “Sugar”
- Line 12: “kindness, kindness”
- Line 20: “two,” “two”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 3-4: “The blue and red jewels of her rings smoke / In the windows,”
- Lines 10-11: “Sugar is a necessary fluid, / Its crystals a little poultice.”
- Lines 12-13: “O kindness, kindness / Sweetly picking up pieces!”
- Lines 14-15: “My Japanese silks, desperate butterflies, / May be pinned any minute, anesthetized.”
- Lines 18-19: “The blood jet is poetry, / There is no stopping it.”
- Line 20: “You hand me two children, two roses.”
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Apostrophe
Where apostrophe appears in the poem:- Lines 12-13: “O kindness, kindness / Sweetly picking up pieces!”
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Rhetorical Question
Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:- Line 6: “What is so real as the cry of a child?”
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Lines 1-20
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 3: “red,” “rings”
- Line 9: “can cure,” “so,” “Kindness,” “says”
- Line 11: “crystals”
- Line 12: “kindness, kindness”
- Line 13: “picking,” “pieces”
- Line 16: “come,” “cup”
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“Kindness” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Dame Kindness
- Smoke
- Rabbit's cry
- Poultice
- Anesthetized
- Japanese silks
- Pinned
- Blood jet
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(Location in poem: Lines 1-2: “Kindness glides about my house. / Dame Kindness, she is so nice!”; Line 9: “Sugar can cure everything, so Kindness says.”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Kindness”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Kindness” Speaker
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“Kindness” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Kindness”
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More “Kindness” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poet's Life — Read about Plath's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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Plath on Living and Parenting Abroad — Listen to a 1962 interview in which Plath explains why she and Ted Hughes chose to live and raise children in England.
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"The Blood Jet Is Poetry" — Read a 1965 Time magazine review, titled after a line from "Kindness," that helped shape Plath's posthumous reputation.
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Jillian Becker on Plath's Last Days — Jillian Becker, thought to be the model for "Dame Kindness" in "Kindness," recalls taking care of Plath shortly before the poet's death. [Content Warning: depression, suicide]
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Confessional Poetry — Read Poetry Foundation's introduction to Confessionalism, the literary movement with which Plath's work is often associated.
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"Difficulties of a Bridegroom" — More information on one of the inspirations for "Kindness": a radio play written by Plath's estranged husband, Ted Hughes.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
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