Similarities Between Metaphors by Sylvia Plath and Victory by Anne Stevenson

Similarities Between Metaphors by Sylvia Plath and Victory by Anne Stevenson

  • Submitted By: amina3444
  • Date Submitted: 09/28/2013 10:16 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 919
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Comparison: “Metaphors” and “Victory”
“Metaphors” By Sylvia Plath and “Victory” by Anne Stevenson are both about Pregnancy and child birth. Sylvia Plath writes in metaphors and parables (hence the name “Metaphors”). The job of the reader is to unravel these parables. However, “Victory” is a jumble of emotions. Anne Stevenson pours her heart out in to the poem. The reader has to process these thoughts and emotions.

The obvious similarity between the two poems is the fact, they are about pregnancy. In Sylvia Plath’s Metaphors, she does not directly write that she is pregnant she uses metaphors to portray it. “I’m a riddle in 9 syllables” pregnancy takes nine months, the poem itself has nine lines. “This loaf with its yeasty rising” This could mean her pregnancy is growing more every month with the “yeast” meaning time. Using these alternative words to describe herself makes the reader consider the poem more and read more carefully, hence she is conveying her message to the readers this way. “I’m a ponderous house” this could mean she is pregnant. “House” she is large as a house due to pregnancy. The idea she called herself a “ponderous house” could be coupled with the fact that she is pondering the future of her baby. This could confuse the readers as to how she feels about her pregnancy.

Anne Stevenson writes in similes, she to writes about giving birth. This is shown in the first paragraph “I brought you out of my body into your life”. The tone in which she writes this could be translated as boastful, as if she is proclaiming that she brought life into the world in a proud manner. This could make the reader feel like she is slightly full of herself, the reader may be confused on why she writes in such a manner. Also “small son” in the last paragraph shows she is referring to the child she had born. Using alliteration gives the line a more demeaning interpretation. As if she is belittling her child. Also, the use of alliteration catches the reader’s eyes...

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