The Arrival of the Bee Box is an extended metaphor that offers many interesting, provocative interpretations. The box can be seen as the poet’s work, her attempt to put order to chaos; the bees are her thoughts or, more specifically, her tormented mind. The box’s purpose is to contain its contents; without the latter the former is redundant – hence the tragic paradox of Plath’s life. What’s more disturbing is that the speaker has only herself to blame:     “I ordered this, this clean wood box”. Why, one should ask, would anyone will this? There’s clearly a compulsion at work: “I have to live with it overnignt/ And I can’t keep away from it.” The difficulty a reader may have is to understand why Plath invites this torment or perhaps we could ask why she is unable to resist it. What’s certainly evident in the poem is the terrifying notion that our mind is our enemy, that we carry around with us, inside in us, the very thing that threatens to destroy us. Her attempts to understand the contents of the box – her mind – are necessarily influenced by the box itself. It is bizarre and disturbing: “Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.” The task of understanding is itself unsettling; after all, “The box is locked, it is dangerous.” Again we see the paradox: trying to understand can mean further harm being caused. Maybe it’s better to leave the bees alone, even though letting them out might allow for some relief? The curiousity is part of the problem; the poet is impressed and intrigued by that which disturbs her; the imagery she conjures is infectious: “It is like a Roman mob/ Small taken one by one, but my god,...