dave @ stejonda wrote:
In message , Howard Neil
writes

dave @ stejonda wrote:

In message , Gary Woods
writes

"dave @ stejonda" wrote:

why on earth was I thinking in fathoms???


Full fathom five my bamboo grows...


I keep meaning to read more Sylvia Plath so that was an interesting
diversion - thank-you - though I doubt bamboo would grow in
sea-water.


Sylvia Plath? Surely "Full fathom five" is from William Shakespeare's
The Tempest (Ariel's Song) http://www.potw.org/archive/potw190.html

Excellent!

So that's Plath making a reference to the bard.

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/sylviaplath/1397


Thanks for the link. Very interesting.

I wonder what made Plath use that title? There does not seem to be any
similarity between that poem and Ariel's Song (other than in the title).
It may well have been a form of salutation to the bard, a subliminal
influence, or even a totally unconnected reason.

--
Howard Neil