"Self-preservation is a full-time occupation I am determined to survive on these shores I no longer look away in a world of men I am a woman by birth." This quote, from Ani DiFranco's song, "Talk to Me Now," expresses the feminist perspective on a woman's determination to live her life in a world often dominated by men. The theme of the cycle of life and its many manifestations is often found in feminist poetry. It seems that women writers are particularly intrigued by the theme of life and death, perhaps because it is sex that has the unique role of giving life to the next generation. In the works of Sylvia Plath, Stevie Smith and Ani DiFranco the symbols of blood and water are used to represent various aspects of the cycle of life. Plath's poem "Cut", Smith's poem "The Boat", and DiFranco's song "Blood in the Boardroom" all reference blood. Although the meaning of blood in these poems varies from suicide, in Plath's poetry, to menstruation, in DiFranco's song, to death, in Smith's poetry, the subject of blood remains the central symbol in all of these works. Water is also a symbol illustrated by each of these artists. In Plath's "Full Fathom Five," Smith's "Not Waving but Drowning," and DiFranco's "Circle of Light," water symbolizes divergent topics such as death in Plath's poem, life in DiFranco's song, and fear in Smith's poem. These three 20th century feminist artists express their opinions through their works, as the themes of their poetry overflow with similar, yet symbolically different, references to blood and water. Blood can symbolize death, but also life. You can die from the loss of too much blood, vice versa our life is created on the basis of blood as the main component of our body. The poem "Cut" by Sylvia Plath uses blood as a symbol of a woman's power over her life to create death in suicide through the loss of too much blood. A few days before writing this poem, Plath had accidentally cut herself while cooking, nearly cutting off the entire fatty tip of her thumb (Alexander 301). This kitchen incident acts as a Freudian flash that opens up a whole world of unconscious motives in a woman's imagination and leads to the outpouring of Plath's feelings of castration as a woman (Bundtzen 141). Plath uses images and metaphors in a fast-paced format, rushing forward as her imagination struggles to name the changes in feelings she endures. (248).