The Colossus-FK

"The Colossus" is a poem written in 1959 by Sylvia Plath. The poem consist of thirty lines arranged in six cinquains. There seems to be no apparent rhyme scheme within the poem. The title of this poem is "The Colossus" which I believe is a reference towards Greek mythology. I looked up Colossus and found out that it was a statue of Greek god Helios. The poem is written in the narrators perspective towards her dad. For the most part I believe the narrator is comparing the building of Colossus to the narrators own troubles trying to construct and understand her fathers character as a person. The first stanza of this poem paints a picture of someone trying to construct a statue that they are never going to be able to complete the way they want to. In the second stanza the narrator admits to trying to piece together the statue for thirty years, but not being able to. The narrator uses the simile "I crawl like an ant in the mourning." Along with stanza three, this simile paints a picture of the narrator looking so small in compared to the statue he/she is trying to construct. In stanza four the narrator refers to the statue as his/her father. Stanzas four and five are a little confusing to me, but I believe the narrator is trying to get the point across that he/she is done trying to make this statue perfect. By the narrator implying that he/she is done trying to make this statue perfect I believe he/she is actually saying that he/she is done trying to understand his/her father because he/she is never going to see him as perfect.