 Plath’s poem “Wreath for a Bridal” was written on May 17, 1956 and is often read strictly discussing marriage and physical union. That is of course a small part of Plath’s meaning, but as with so many of her poems, it is more substantial than simply her own autobiography.
It should not be overlooked that on January 21, 1956, Plath read August Strindberg’s 1902 play, The Bridal Crown, aka, The Crown Bride. Strindberg’s tale is a dark one, incorporating Swedish folklore, where a young girl kills her baby from her premarital affair with a man of high society in order to wear a virginal crown at her wedding. She confesses while walking to the church, and falls through the ice and dies. Strindberg’s story most certainly had bearing on at least the title of Plath’s “Wreath for a Bridal.” When looking at the political events of the time, Plath used this title also as a metaphor for the marriage of nations: the Warsaw Pact, which had been signed almost exactly a year earlier. Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, the Czechoslovak Republic, and the German Democratic Republic were under Soviet Union control. Trouble began when Hungary wanted out of the Pact. Plath also plays with definitions of the bridal symbol in her “Wreath for a Bridal” poem. The homophone of bridal is bridle, to steer and control a horse’s head; and the wreath is the metaphoric territory that has become the Soviet’s prize under this guise of protection. The word “pact” is evident in the poem, as are Soviet stars and Chinese dragon teeth, and the conditions that went from a lovely pastoral to “stinging nettle” in Plath’s second stanza, as it might feel to fall through Strindberg’s ice. ALBANIA, AUGUST STRINDBERG, BULGARIA, COMMUNISM, CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC, EARLY POEM, GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, HUNGARY, PLATH POEM, POLAND, ROMANIA, SOVIET UNION, STRINDBERG PLAYS, SYLVIA PLATH, THE BRIDAL CROWN, THE CROWN BRIDE, WARSAW PACT, WREATH FOR A BRIDAL
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