The poet was known, in part, for being beautiful, after all. Their relationship was difficult, she felt oppressed by her father. The two images, of an elephant and a ponderous house, contained in the second line of Metaphors both refer to form. She describes the baby as being a loaf, in account of another metaphor 'a bun in the oven'. The anxiety, confusion, and doubt that haunted her were transmuted into verses of great power and pathos borne on flashes of incisive wit.
An integral part of the bread making process, yeast is, in fact, alive. This could mean that the author thought of herself as that too. It is known that the last child she had she was not that fond of having. Countless instances of female oppression led to feminism movements in waves; undulating and oscillating like the heaving breasts of a tormented soul. Sylvia Plath is well known for her confessional style of writing. This reference to the nine months of pregnancy seemed to be an issue for her, and she unlike many pregnant mothers did not seem to want to relish this period of time.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf. In 1960, shortly after she returned to England with Hughes, her first collection of poems appeared as The Colossus, which received good reviews. The title itself sounds feminine. Pregnancy is supposed to be a time of joy and excitement for the mother to be. She implies that her feelings about the child mean nothing; she must carry the pregnancy to term.
In the word 'metaphor' there are nine letters. When describing a pregnant woman, Plath takes a turn from the usual lovey dovey description. This gives the reader a sense of importance revolving around the number nine. On a more literal level, it may also be that she has over-eaten and feels bloated as this is often common among pregnant women. The poet playfully pieces together nine metaphors that are vastly unrelated, but she tones the poem so that a sense of depression and emptiness creep over the reader to tie together the theme.
A biographical film of Plath starring appeared in 2003. Everything happening to her is for someone else, not for herself. Plath does not make him a Nazi straight away. Ivory and fine timbers refer to a house, or her womb in which her baby is kept. Historical Context As aforementioned, Metaphors was written while Plath was pregnant with her first child and published in 1959. It takes a man and a woman to create life so our timber could be a woman's eggs and man's sperm.
This poem is describes the end of a pregnancy, when a woman feels the worst. Looking deeper into the poem, the mushroom is very relatable to a baby human and its creatio. If you have baked, you know that when you are done kneading the dough you let it sit and as it does the yeast begins to rise and doubles in size. The result is dissatisfaction, complain and resentment towards, children, husband and domestic tasks. Plath seems ambivalent about motherhood.
Here again, she boldly displays her detachment and lack of maternal feelings towards her child. Playfully, the reader is informed that the speaker Plath is a riddle. In 1958, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath met, and much to their surprise had a few things in common. This poem is shear craftsmanship of words. The poem successfully describes the condition of a pregnant woman, her picture is beautifully made with the help of clear metaphors. She seems to infer this baby will change her life and she will never have the freedoms she once had.
It is also a hint to the modern slang of having a 'bun in the oven'. However, the yeast causes the bread to rise and rise and rise, causing the bread, or in the poem, the pregnant woman, to have a larger appearance. As the poem progresses, Plath begins to feel helpless towards the last weeks of her pregnancy, facing an uncertain future and she has no control over the outcome. She is a cow in a calf, the calf being the one who is praised after birth, not the cow itself. During 1957â58 Plath was an instructor in English at Smith College.
The effect of emotional compassion is reached through imagery, symbolism and wordplay. Unlike Eve, the poet confesses of eating a whole bag of them, also meaning that she is preparing herself to a world of sin and pain. Notice that there is a sudden exclamation mark. A poem, especially a modern one, has many facets and could bear more than one meaning. Or did she fear that the child would be exploited somehow? When a woman is carrying a child, the world looks at her differently.