Sylvia Plath's poem "Words" ?

Question:The last part of her poem, where it says "from the bottom of the pool, fixed stars govern a life", what does that mean? I know it's the last poem she wrote, so is it her way of saying she has no choice but to die, or is it relating more to the poem in sort of saying that no insults or harsh criticism can stop her reaching her destiny? And how does this line relate to the rest of the poem?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The last part of her poem, where it says "from the bottom of the pool, fixed stars govern a life", what does that mean? I know it's the last poem she wrote, so is it her way of saying she has no choice but to die, or is it relating more to the poem in sort of saying that no insults or harsh criticism can stop her reaching her destiny? And how does this line relate to the rest of the poem?

wow she is one of my favorite poets she is facinating, and scorned her poetry is do dark and deep, the movie is also good, to your question i beleive it is saying like if you let your body sink into pool water look up and you see stars its like you are dying but above you there is life...she was drowning while everyone around her was fixed and alive...I beleive her destiny was intended to die she thinks she was intended to die... and no one will stop this from happening hence she died inside just a body with no soal>>>>

Being underwater suggestes feeling isolated from the rest of the world, and from the "authority" that determines the stiffling natural order of things.

I am not sure I can help.

Words by Sylvia Plath

Axes
After whose stroke the wood rings,
And the echoes!
Echoes traveling
Off from the center like horses.

The sap
Wells like tears, like the
Water striving
To re-establish its mirror
Over the rock

That drops and turns,
A white skull,
Eaten by weedy greens.
Years later I
Encounter them on the road-

Words dry and riderless,
The indefatigable hoof-taps.
While
From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars
Govern a life.

I've copied the poem. I think the first part of poem describes cutting firewood. I've heard those sounds. It is hard to split wood with an ax. The longer the wood sits the harder it is to split. The silence in the winter after a snow would make the sounds seem loud. At least she emphasizes them. At night time the stars might reflect in a body of water. I think I hear her desperation and depression in the last lines.
Somehow they are unrelated to the rest of the poem. Poets are known for their creativity and many suffer from mental illness. No put-down meant.