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You're - Sylvia Plath
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You're - Sylvia Plath
Plath is imagining the position of the fetus within her
Masking her true expression and how she views the baby
The moon is white, a color that represents purity & innocence like the baby
Undeveloped and surrounded by water - dehumanizes the unborn child
Night = darkness & mysteriousness
Clownlike, happiest on your hands,
Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,
Gilled like a fish. A common-sense
Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode.
Wrapped up in yourself like a spool,
Trawling your dark as owls do.
Mute as a turnip from the Fourth
Of July to All Fools’ Day,
O high-riser, my little loaf.
Form
- Two stanzas may represent the two children Plath wishes to have
- Two Stanzas with nine lines in each stanza whereby each line represents one month in her pregnancy
juxtaposes life with death & extinction
She is waiting for the baby to arrive
Simile to emphasize how she's not familiar with her child
End focus of the stanza is positive and the last line is the turning point/volta of the poem
fresh minded & ready - 'baby in the oven'
Unable to speak - ambiguous - out of joy or out of fear?
Linguistic Devices
Assonance - portrays the baby’s movement compared to eels
Simile for the baby's movement
Enjambment - literary technique whereby lines usually do not have a punctuation mark at the end so it is almost like a running thought
Similes - figure of speech that compares two things that are alike in some way
Metaphor - figure of speech which makes an implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated
Sprat is a very small fish representing how small the baby is - this might scare her
After expressing the anxiety of such an overwhelming burden such as motherhood, she finally resolves, becoming more neutral
Comparisons
Themes
Morning Song - Motherhood & Beginning and Endings
Lesbos - Patriarchy & Motherhood
Tulips - Motherhood
Emily Bronte - Motherhood & Femininity
- Motherhood & Family - being a single child from an upper middle class family, Plath may find her new role daunting
- Patriarchy - Plath objects to women being oppressed to dedicate themselves to their homes and families
- Beginning & Endings - giving birth to this child will mean a part of her identity will be be changed
Overview
enjambment
- You’re expresses the uncertainty within the relationship between Plath and her unborn child
- The speaker recalls her ambivalent yet joyful experiences her pregnancy
- Using personal experience, Plath is able to describe this encounter vividly, including the emotions and physical feelings that are present
Vague as fog and looked for like mail.
Farther off than Australia.
Bent-backed Atlas, our traveled prawn.
Snug as a bud and at home
Like a sprat in a pickle jug.
A creel of eels, all ripples.
Jumpy as a Mexican bean.
Right, like a well-done sum.
A clean slate, with your own face on