Ty Scott
Professor Domingo
Literary Heritage
March 5, 2014
“Metaphors” is a poem written by Sylvia Plath that uses a metaphor in each line. A metaphor is a statement that has an underlying meaning that usually addresses an association between the statement and the underlying meaning. After reading the entire poem, it is not difficult to understand the subject matter of Sylvia’s poem; a pregnant woman. In order to figure out the metaphor, one must break down each line, because each line is a metaphor describing the pregnant woman and her baby. The first line reads, “I’m a riddle in nine syllables.” A metaphor is somewhat like a riddle in which one must find out the meaning of both. The nine syllables refer to a woman being in her pregnancy usually for nine months. Also, each line in this poem has nine syllables. Line two reads, “An elephant, a ponderous house.” An elephant is a huge animal that is very slow and somewhat clumsy. That brings us to the word ponderous which means unstable, slow, or clumsy. This line refers to the woman’s body that is holding the baby. A woman holding a baby in the womb has an extremely large belly and cannot move about easily. Next line reads, “A melon strolling on two tendrils.” This could possibly refer to the baby being a melon that has intertwined and connected to the woman’s body. A tendril is a vine that curls around an object that it is growing next to. Line four reads, “O red fruit, ivory, fine timber!” Red fruit could be talking about the baby in that an unborn baby’s skin is very red and that the baby is growing like a fruit. Ivory might be referring to the baby’s veins. Then she uses fine timbers. I think this is referring to the baby’s bones which are very weak, because the baby is still growing inside the womb. Line five reads,”This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.” This means like yeast, that the baby is growing more and more. Next, the sixth line reads, “Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.” This means that the...