Thoughts On "Metaphor" by Sylvia Plath

Metaphors I'm a riddle in nine syllables, An elephant, a ponderous house, A melon strolling on two tendrils. O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers! This loaf's big with its yeasty rising. Money's new-minted in this fat purse. I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf. I've eaten a bag of green apples, Boarded the train there's no getting off. Sylvia Plath

       The author (Sylvia Plath) does an amazing job creating a challenging literary piece. Straight from the beginning, she starts off the poem with an interesting mystery, by identifying it as a riddle. At first, there is a feeling of anticipation and a hint of confusion within the reading of the metaphors. Once having read the poem all the way through, the metaphors come together and made more sense. She was pregnant. Solving the riddle, the mystery behind the metaphors cleared up, but also left another challenge. Now, i was wondering wether the metaphors were positive or negative feelings.The “elephant” for me brought up words like: big, slow, and awkward (elephant in the room). This seems negative to me, but then comes the fourth line with definite positivity. “O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers”, resembles a worth and desire for her baby. Not being able to compare her emotions , I convinced myself it was a mixture feelings. As a final conclusion on her feelings, I believe she was indeed happy for her baby, but sick and tired of the lingering pregnancy. I derived the concept of her being tired of the pregnancy, because the constant and repeating use of the number nine. There are nine syllables, nine metaphors, nine letters in pregnancy and in metaphors, and of course there is nine months in a pregnancy. This constant returning factor must have played a big role for her. 

Being a man, the emotions she captures aren’t easily understood, but they make sense. The awkwardness of being pregnant (elephant), yet the joy (red fruit, ivory...), and also the embrace (no getting off), are things she captures well, but I will never know what she really felt like. Imagine mixed feelings like this for nine months. I don’t think she was wrong with her feelings. Who wouldn’t love their baby, yet still feel drained and gloomy from a pregnancy? It’s normal. The bible even mentions birth pains, yet the joy of parenting. 

Love is present in this poem. Love to go through the frustration, through the awkwardness, through the nine months, for a life long relationship.