MetaMetaphors 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 …

…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.