Symbol Analysis
The speaker weaves a bunch of references to the classical world into the poem. Greek tragedies, architecture, fallen empires, the Colossus itself—all of these mentions place the poem in a really epic context. We get the feeling that the tragedy that happened here is as old as the civilization itself, and somehow the speaker's tragedy becomes the tragedy of all humanity.
- Line 6: The first classical reference we get is when the speaker mockingly implies that the fallen statue thinks of itself as an "oracle." The most famous of these from ancient times was the Oracle of Delphi in Greece. For centuries, pilgrims traveled to this sacred place to ask questions of the Pythia, young virgin priestesses of Apollo who shared the prophecies of their god for a price.
- Line 16: The speaker drops another reference to the classical world on us when she says, "A blue sky out of the Oresteia/ Arches above us" 16-17. The Oresteia, by Aeschylus, is the only complete trilogy of Greek tragedies still in existence. This allusion might be a direct reference to the second play in trilogy, The Libation Bearers, in which Electra mourns the loss of her father Agamemnon, who was murdered by her mother Clytemnestra. In the play, Electra performs funeral ceremonies in honor of Agamemnon, which are kind of similar to the sorts of things that our speaker does to care for her fallen Colossus. So, this reference seems to make it even clearer that the shattered statue is meant to represent a father who's passed on. Like Electra, the speaker is obsessed with her dead father. Plath actually wrote another poem about the death of her father called "Electra on the Azalea Path", which makes us think we're on the right track with this one.
- Line 18: Next, the speaker compares the ruined statue to the ruins of the Roman Forum, which you can still see today in modern Rome. Click here for a pic. The Forum was at the heart of the city of Rome and its entire empire. It makes total sense that the speaker would tie the ruins of this ancient seat of power with the shattered remains of the once-awesome Colossus. Both seem to represent the downfall of something huge and seemingly indestructible, which is probably what the speaker felt like when her seemingly all-powerful Father passed away.
- Line 20: The speaker continues to tie the Colossus and the Forum by describing the statue's "fluted bones and acanthine hair." Both "fluted" and "acanthine" are referencing the kind of ancient columns that tourists still snap pictures of at the remains of the Forum in Rome. Fluted columns have grooves running up their sides, and acanthine describes the decorative stone curls at the top of the columns.