Sylvia Plath's “The Applicant” is a free verse dramatic monologue in which a salesperson rigorously interviews a man who has applied to buy a wife. The poem satirizes rampant consumerism and patriarchy, exploring ways these forces pressure people to conform to narrow roles. "The Applicant" originally appeared in The London Magazine and is one of the first poems in Ariel, Plath’s seminal, posthumous collection of poetry published in 1965. Plath wrote most of Ariel's poems, including "The Applicant," in the highly productive five-month period before her death in February 1963.

• Read the full text of “The Applicant”

• “The Applicant” Summary

• “The Applicant” Themes

  • 

    Consumerism and Need

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-40
  • 

    Gender and Freedom

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-40

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Applicant”

  • Lines 1-6

    First, are you ...
    ... show something's missing?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-10

    No, no? Then ...
    ... Empty? Empty.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-14

    Here is a ...
    ... you marry it?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-18

    It is guaranteed ...
    ... from the salt.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-25

    I notice you ...
    ... you in it.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 26-29

    Now your head, ...
    ... ?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 30-35

    Naked as paper ...
    ... talk, talk, talk.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 36-40

    It works, there ...
    ... it, marry it.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Applicant” Symbols

  • 

    Prosthetics and Assistive Devices

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “glass eye,” “false teeth,” “crutch”
    • Line 4: “brace,” “hook”
    • Line 5: “Rubber breasts,” “rubber crotch”
  • 

    Clothing and Nakedness

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 19: “stark naked”
    • Line 20: “suit”
    • Line 23: “It”
    • Line 25: “it”
    • Line 30: “Naked”

• “The Applicant” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 31: “in”
    • Line 32: “In”
    • Line 34: “It can,” “it can”
    • Line 35: “It can”
    • Line 37: “You have a”
    • Line 38: “You have an”

  • Aporia

    

    

    

    

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    Where aporia appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-10: “First, are you our sort of a person? / Do you wear / A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch, / A brace or a hook, / Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch, / Stitches to show something's missing? No, no? Then / How can we give you a thing? / Stop crying. / Open your hand. / Empty? Empty.”
    • Line 14: “Will you marry it?”
    • Line 19: “I notice you are stark naked.”
    • Line 22: “Will you marry it?”
    • Line 26: “Now your head, excuse me, is empty.”
    • Lines 29-29: “Well, what do you think of  / that / ?”
    • Lines 39-40: “My boy, it's your last resort. / Will you marry it, marry it, marry it.”

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-40

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 23-24: “It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof / Against fire and bombs through the roof.”
    • Lines 31-32: “But in twenty-five years she'll be silver, / In fifty, gold.”
    • Lines 34-35: “It can sew, it can cook, / It can talk, talk, talk.”
    • Lines 36-38: “It works, there is nothing wrong with it. / You have a hole, it's a poultice. / You have an eye, it's an image.”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “First,” “are,” “our,” “sort,” “person”
    • Line 2: “wear”
    • Line 3: “or,” “crutch”
    • Line 4: “brace or,” “hook”
    • Line 5: “Rubber breasts or,” “rubber,” “crotch”
    • Line 6: “Stitches to,” “something's missing”
    • Line 10: “Here,” “hand”
    • Line 11: “fill,” “willing”
    • Line 12: “bring,” “roll”
    • Line 13: “tell”
    • Line 14: “Will”
    • Line 18: “make,” “stock,” “salt”
    • Line 19: “notice,” “stark naked”
    • Line 20: “this,” “suit”
    • Line 21: “Black,” “stiff,” “but,” “bad,” “fit”
    • Line 23: “waterproof,” “shatterproof,” “proof”
    • Line 24: “fire,” “bombs,” “roof”
    • Line 25: “Believe,” “bury”
    • Line 28: “Come,” “closet”
    • Line 32: “gold”
    • Line 33: “living,” “doll,” “look”
    • Line 34: “can,” “can cook”
    • Line 35: “can talk, talk, talk”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “person?”
    • Line 3: “crutch,”
    • Line 4: “hook,”
    • Line 5: “crotch,”
    • Line 7: “thing?”
    • Line 8: “crying.”
    • Line 9: “hand.”
    • Line 13: “it.”
    • Line 14: “it?”
    • Line 17: “sorrow.”
    • Line 18: “salt.”
    • Line 19: “naked.”
    • Line 20: “suit——”
    • Line 21: “fit.”
    • Line 22: “it?”
    • Line 24: “roof.”
    • Line 25: “it.”
    • Line 26: “empty.”
    • Line 27: “that.”
    • Line 28: “closet.”
    • Lines 29-29: “that / ?”
    • Line 31: “silver,”
    • Line 32: “gold.”
    • Line 33: “look.”
    • Line 34: “cook,”
    • Line 35: “talk.”
    • Line 36: “it.”
    • Line 37: “poultice.”
    • Line 38: “image.”
    • Line 39: “resort.”
    • Line 40: “it.”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 18: “We make new stock from the salt”
    • Line 31: “she'll be silver”
    • Line 32: “gold”
    • Line 33: “A living doll”
    • Line 37: “it's a poultice”
    • Line 38: “it's an image”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “Rubber,” “rubber”
    • Line 6: “No,” “no”
    • Line 9: “hand”
    • Line 10: “Empty,” “Empty,” “hand”
    • Line 14: “Will you marry it”
    • Line 22: “Will you marry it”
    • Line 23: “waterproof,” “shatterproof,” “proof”
    • Line 35: “talk,” “talk,” “talk”
    • Line 40: “Will you marry it,” “marry it,” “marry it”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “Stitches,” “show,” “something's,” “missing,” “No, no”
    • Line 7: “give,” “thing”
    • Line 11: “fill it,” “willing”
    • Line 12: “bring,” “away headaches”
    • Line 13: “do,” “whatever,” “you,” “tell,” “it”
    • Line 16: “thumb shut”
    • Line 17: “dissolve,” “sorrow”
    • Line 18: “stock,” “salt”
    • Line 21: “Black,” “stiff,” “bad,” “fit”
    • Line 22: “Will,” “it”
    • Line 23: “waterproof,” “shatterproof,” “proof”
    • Line 24: “through,” “roof”
    • Line 25: “Believe me,” “you,” “in it”
    • Line 30: “Naked,” “paper”
    • Line 33: “look”
    • Line 34: “cook”
    • Line 39: “boy,” “your,” “resort”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “wear / A”
    • Lines 6-7: “Then / How”
    • Lines 10-11: “hand / To”
    • Lines 11-12: “willing / To”
    • Lines 12-13: “headaches / And”
    • Lines 15-16: “guaranteed / To”
    • Lines 16-17: “end / And”
    • Lines 23-24: “proof / Against”
    • Lines 30-31: “start / But”

• “The Applicant” 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.

  • Stock
  • Stark
  • The ticket
  • Living doll
  • Poultice
  • (Location in poem: Line 18: “stock”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Applicant”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Applicant” Speaker

• “The Applicant” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Applicant”

• More “The Applicant” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Sylvia Plath Reads "The Applicant" — Listen to the author read the poem aloud.

    • "1940s, Cold War and Consumerism" — An overview of the explosion of advertising and the "new media" in post-war America from Ad Age.

    • Sylvia Plath's Biography — A detailed look at the author's life and work, including links to her poems and other related resources from Poetry Foundation.

    • A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry — A concise account confessional poetry's emergence, including an explanation of what makes a poem "confessional."

    • 50 Years of Ariel — A 21-minute podcast episode in which writers examine the legacy of Plath's book Ariel, the collection in which "The Applicant" appears.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

    • Ariel

    • Cut

    • Daddy

    • Edge

    • Fever 103°

    • Kindness

    • Lady Lazarus

    • Mad Girl's Love Song

    • Metaphors

    • Mirror

    • Morning Song

    • Nick and the Candlestick

    • Poppies in July

    • Poppies in October

    • Sheep in Fog

    • Sow

    • The Arrival of the Bee Box

    • The Moon and the Yew Tree

    • The Munich Mannequins

    • The Night Dances

    • Tulips

    • Words

    • You're

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