Metaphors By Sylvia Plath Essay, Research Paper

In Sylvia Plath?s poem, ?Metaphors,? the speaker describes a negative

event in which she is experiencing pregnancy. Her choice of words and phrases

express her feelings about the pregnancy as well as the structure of the poem.

In her poem, Plath chooses many metaphors to describe her pregnancy. I felt that

these metaphors were describing something that she was not enjoying or looking

forward to. The objects she chose to use to express her feelings gave me an

uncomfortable feeling of the pregnancy. The line in which she refers to a

?ponderous house? brings me to a vision of shelter. I feel that she is

sheltering something, but has to think deeply about sheltering this object. The

speaker doesn?t sound sure of what she is sheltering, and feels confused. It

almost seems like a feeling of regret. The line, ?Boarded the train there?s

no getting off,? supports her feelings of regret. She sounds as if she has no

other choice or option other than to be or remain pregnant. The line almost

hints that she is stuck, so she has to continue with the decision. These

feelings of regret seem to be alongside her mixed feelings. The line in which

she refers to eating ?a bag of green apples? gives me the impression that

she feels sick. The color green, to me, represents sickness or ill feelings.

Green apples also could refer to their ripeness. The unripe ?green apples?

could be describing her feelings of not being ready for the pregnancy. Her

metaphor of ? a cow in a calf? could mean two things. The speaker is having

her first child and doesn?t feel sure of this decision, or that she, herself,

is a child trying to bring another child into this world. They both convey her

feelings of not being ready to handle the situation. One line that supports her

not experiencing pregnancy is where she writes, ? Money?s new minted in this

fat purse.? Along with referring to herself as ?fat?, she is saying that

this is all new to her. The pregnancy is newly ?minted? and that she

doesn?t know what to expect. Another feeling that I received from reading this

poem was that the speaker did not like the pregnancy because she was becoming

larger. In the second line, she refers to an elephant. Being pregnant, a person

gains a large amount of weight, and I can see her feeling as an ?elephant.?

?This loaf?s big with its yeasty rising,? refers to her getting larger as

her pregnancy progresses. These metaphors all are in reference to her size. Her

reference to these objects gave me the impression that along with her unsure

feeling, she resents getting larger. The way that Plath chose to form her poem

is also relevant to why the speaker is not enjoying the pregnancy. The beginning

line, ? I?m a riddle in nine syllables,? begins the pattern of nine

syllable lines. Each line having exactly nine syllables and containing nine

lines is in reference to her length of being pregnant. This reference to the

length gives me the impression that the time she has to be pregnant is an issue.

Instead of cherishing this ?miracle? time, she seems to be bickering about

the time she is pregnant and is excited until nine months is over. Sylvia Plath

and the elements she chose to describe a pregnancy gave me the feel of

discomfort. Most of the metaphors she used conveyed mixed feelings, issues of

weight gain, and impatience with the pregnancy. The speaker seemed to

concentrate on the symptoms and things that happened to her during the

pregnancy, rather than on the fact that she was bringing another life into the

world. She didn?t convey that she was fortunate to be involved in a miracle.

Instead she focused on her misfortunes and afflictions due to the pregnancy.