I dreamed of you, and the stars turned bright; The world grew warm in your soft light. I dreamt of you, and my heart took flight– 

(I think I made you up in my mind.)

The sky wore hues it never knew, Painted in strokes of green and blue. The trees whispered secrets about you, too—

(I think I made you up in my mind.)

I wake to find you in my arms; Reality bows to your sweet charms. Each touch, a sonnet, each kiss, alarms—

(I think I made you up in my mind.)

But no—you’re here, your laughter sings, Your voice; the effect it has on me. Together, we’ll last an eternity. 

(I know love like hers is hard to find.)

Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mad Girl’s Love Song” is a villanelle that explores themes of love, loss, and the fragile boundaries between reality and imagination. The poem explores the inner workings of a longing mind. It blurs the boundaries between dream and reality by depicting love as both transforming and destabilizing.The poem’s haunting rhythm and vivid imagery, capturing the speaker’s obsessive emotions and the psyche’s struggles to reconcile the real with the imagined, are evoked through these moving confessions. Because of how relatable it is, I decided to write a remix of Slyvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song”. My remix is an alternative poem with positive themes around love. I want to make an alternative poem where she is not constantly negative and delusional. Instead of those negative and obsessive feelings, she would be happy and in love. Instead of her being mad in love, it would be a happier, mutual obsession. Plath wrote her poem about love, heartbreak, and delusion; about how love can drive people crazy. Plath wrote about love in the skeptical “it is too good to be true” kind of way. I have been in the same situation. I am always in my head; I always overthink everything that happens. I assume the worst, I think of all the different possibilities and outcomes. I loved reading “Mad Girl’s Love Song” in class; it was my favorite poem that we had to analyze. I also wanted to add some sense of identity to it, so I wrote it with female pronouns to add some sapphic themes. I decided to change the tone and to add some identity to the characters because I wanted to mimic how I felt compared to how I feel now. I feel that Plath’s poem is an insanely accurate depiction of how I felt in a previous romantic situation. I wrote my version of “Mad Girl’s Love Song” based on my current relationship. I am basing and comparing my old feelings to the ones I am experiencing now. My revisions change the theme in regards to the emotions the writer and the audience can experience. The overall theme is still love and longing for someone, it is just written in a positive context. It is from the same perspective; the only major changes is that it is love and longing in a positive light and that I specified the gender of the person it is towards; a woman. The audience would most likely respond to my version of the poem in a happier light. I feel like the people who have read the original can see the comparisons between the two and see the vision and duality between the two works. 

 As of recently, I have developed some mutually obsessed feelings for a girl. I want to write about my feelings in a similar light (just positive and happier). Because of this girl, I have realized that I am really good at expressing myself through writing. Before her, I would not have thought about it. She is the artistic girlfriend, I am the writer girlfriend.  When I was notified about this assignment, I knew that Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” was the poem that I wanted to write an opposing view on. I know the depressing and delusional feelings that she was experiencing because I have felt those same exact feelings. I have experienced the feeling of being in love and being attached to someone. I have sat in my room, going insane over someone; trying to figure out what is real and what is not real. Out of every form of literature I have ever read, “Mad Girl’s Love Song” felt the most realistic to me. The only thing that was missing was who the poem would be about. While Plath did not specify the gender of her love interest, I wanted to make it well known who my version was about. This poem was inspired by my girlfriend, Olivia. I have always been a dark person who feels things too deeply. She has made my life so much brighter. She is the most positive person I have ever met and she is helping me become a better person. 

This assignment helped me understand the Feminist Critical lens a little bit better. Women were not allowed to write or express themselves much in the earlier centuries. There were not many female authors or poets until women like Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf (just to name a few). Sylvia Plath is a major name in the poetry world because of her dark writing style. Plath expressed herself in such an intense manner; it was inspiring to many. Writing this revision helps me understand the significance of a woman’s voice in a literary work. I feel as if women are very deep, expressive individuals compared to men.