Sylvia Plath's "Metaphors"

Paper Summary:

The paper looks ar Sylvia Plath's poem "Metaphors". This is an example of Plath's tightly controlled, allusive verse. The speaker in the poem states that she is a riddle; as the nine nine-syllable lines unfold with their nine metaphors, it becomes clear that the answer to the riddle is pregnancy. The speaker moves from the obvious negatives (the fatness and ungainliness) to the positives (fruitfulness) and on to the deeper-lying negatives (loss of control and loss of identity).

From the Paper:

"The poem "Metaphors" poses a riddle: it invites the reader to discover the situation of the poet through information disclosed in a series of metaphors. The metaphors, which equate the speaker with various disparate objects, do not, like similes, make a comparison with words such as "like" or "as". Rather they say that the poet "is" the unusual object mentioned. It is only but seeking the common thread in the objects cited that the reader can solve the riddle. Throughout the course of the poem, the poet calls herself "a riddle" (line 1), "an elephant" (line 2), "a...house" (line 2), "a melon" (line 3), a "loaf" (line 5), a "purse" (line 6), "a means" (line 7), "a stage" (line 7), and "a cow in calf" (line 7). A riddle is a construction within which a meaning is hidden."

More papers on Sylvia Plath's "Metaphors":

• Analytical Essay # 141036 : "Sylvia Plath's Sad Life"
• Analytical Essay # 62767 : "Plath's "Daddy" and "Mirror"
• Analytical Essay # 123325 : "New York in Salinger and Plath"

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