FREE ESSAY ON "METAPHORS" BY SYLVIA PLATH

"METAPHORS" BY SYLVIA PLATH

Essay #1: "Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath
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.