The Greek goddess of fertility, Persephone, had a double existence. She lived above ground for six months of the year and in Hades for the rest of the year. In Judith Plath's poem, "Two Sisters of Persephone," structure, diction, and allusions to this goddess are used to enhance the communication of theme. The poem alludes to the two sides of Persephone to illuminate the connections between "shade and light" and to show the cyclical nature of life. Plath uses structure to both differentiate and bring together the two states of being while using diction to emphasize the characteristics of each state.

A major part of structure is organization. How a piece of literature is arranged has a profound effect on the meaning. In Plath's poem, the stanzas are set up in a balanced fashion. The "light" and "dark" sides of the poem each get the same quantity of...