Sleep in the Mojave Desert and Crossing the Water

The speaker in these two poems by Sylvia Plath is an outsider within a natural setting. Plath establishes a certain mood, or emotional quality or atmosphere, in each poem through her word choice and use of various literary devices, such as repetition. Write a brief essay in which you respond to the following questions: How does the mood of each poem contribute to the poem’s meaning and to the portrayal of the speaker’s interaction with nature? Before you draft your essay, you might review Plath’s word choice to better understand the mood she establishes in each poem. Create a list of words and phrases that you think contribute to the mood of the poem; note how they do so, and how they support the poem’s message. Then, as you draft your essay, cite these references as evidence to support your ideas.