According to Plath's husband, poet Ted Hughes, "Blackberrying" was written in 1960 after the couple's return to England and the birth of their daughter. It was not included in Plath's 1960 collection Colossus, however, but was first published in 1971, in the posthumous volume Crossing the Water.
With its long narrative lines, "Blackberrying" takes the reader on a journey from an external experience to an internal one. Immersed in the details of her blackberry-picking expedition, the speaker leads readers to an understanding of certain fears and foreboding without ever having to spell it out. Plath uses language and imagery in a very controlled way, leading the reader to see that every word has a possible double meaning and every image may bring to mind something internal, some inner working of the speaker. Plath has often been categorized as being a "confessional" poet who deals with painful personal experiences in her poetry; however, it is not necessary to view the speaker of this poem as Plath herself, even though it uses the first person point of view.
This complete Introduction contains 176 words. This
study guide contains 9,228 words (approx. 31 pages at 300
words per page).
