Examining the Significance of Metaphors in a Poem

Examining the Significance of Metaphors in a Poem

People with boiling anger are usually advised to let go of steam. Psychologists say it is an effective anger management strategy. The phrase, “boiling anger” and “let go steam” may seem inapplicable to human. But that is how exactly they are meant to appear in their contextualized usage. They are referred to as metaphors. According to the Merrian Webster dictionary, metaphor is a word or phrase used in the place of an object suggesting a likeness or the analogy existing between them. In this sense, an object could be abstract but understood in the conceptual domain. Abstract domain metaphors describe an idea or anything without concrete existence like feelings or emotions. (Idström Anna np). Metaphors give two unrelated things a standard comparison. They are features of style employed by writers to give readers a sense of feeling and meaning. For instance, the phrase “boiling anger” gives two unrelated things a commonality.  The process of boiling is separate from anger. However, using them together creates an expression that employs a deeper meaning. A reader can identify boiling to anger and comprehend the extent to which such a person is temperamental. Metaphor is a verbal picture incorporated by many writers in a bid to create mental images of the idea getting described. In many instances, metaphors have been employed in various pieces of literature, with poetry making the most significant percentage. This paper focuses on analyzing metaphors in a poem by Sylvia Plath, highlighting their meaning and ultimately, the effect they create in poetry.

Sylvia Plath uses this stylistic device to explore her anticipated pregnancy state. (Demjen, Zsofia 7-25). She was not yet pregnant but had mixed reactions about the pregnancy. She uses metaphor to express her anticipated feeling when she gets pregnant. In her journal called metaphors for pregnant women, Sylvia presents a one-stanza poem with nine lines. To start of the whole poem is a metaphor. There are nine lines, nine syllables and nine letters in the title. They are all a representation of the nine months of gestation. This kind of metaphor is perceptual and can only be comprehended by keenly analyzing the thematic context of the poem. (Kövecses, and Réka np).  In her poem, she uses different metaphorical phrases and words to pass her feelings. Some of these metaphors could be construed as unfavourable. However, they enhance the imagery she portrays about pregnant women. She holds that she has become an elephant. An elephant is a huge animal, probably the biggest creature on the globe. It is usually heavy and mostly slow due to its weight. Why would Sylvia compare herself to an elephant? No human can meet the standards of being an elephant. However, metaphorically, it is possible to link a human being to an elephant. A pregnant woman is often slow in her endeavours. She cannot afford to make hurried chores or task due to her state.

Moreover, she gets fat and increases in size due to pregnancy. On that sense, Sylvia links a pregnant woman to an elephant metaphorically. She is referring to herself as an elephant creates imagery in the mind of the reader. One gets to see her ambivalent attitude towards pregnancy.

The first line of the poems is a bit negative in a sense. She describes herself as strolling with tendrils. In a sense, the word “strolling” is often associated with laziness or slowness. In this sense, she depicts the slow pace of a pregnant woman. It is a common knowledge that expectant woman cannot undertake breathtaking tasks or energy-demanding chores. They need to be deliberate in their undertakings for the sake of the fetus.

Furthermore, the weight in her womb cannot allow her. Speaking of weight, Sylvia creates another imagery in the first line to show how tedious pregnancy can be. She uses the word “tendrils” in place of legs. Tendrils are often weak and frail. Based on the understanding of the weight a pregnant woman carries, having tendrils for legs is overwhelmingly ironical. Tendrils cannot support the weight of a plant, yet she opines they can support a melon! Sarcastically, the author describes how weak and gullible she is by referring her legs to as tendrils. The reader gets the impression that she may collapse anytime from the weight she is carrying.

Further down to the fourth line, the author brings about a positive and happy mood. In this line, she talks about the baby she is expecting. She further employs a metaphor in demonstrating how the baby is crucial and precious to her. In a sense, it is common knowledge that mothers cherish their children a lot. Despite all the hardships and challenges faced during pregnancy, a mother’s joy is the child she bore. Sylvia, in the fourth line of her poem, says, “O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!” fruits are healthy dietary elements, more vital for expectant women. Far from that, fruits are generally loved for their tastes. Different fruits have different tastes. Leaving the specificities of red fruit, the author shows how crucial the baby she is awaiting. She links her baby with a fruit. Taking a more in-depth analysis of the metaphor, one gets to understand more than adore for the baby. Just like the same way different fruits exist with different tastes, so does the baby to their mothers. This is to mean that each pregnancy brings about prospects of different flavours for the mother.

Additionally, the author creates a metaphorical linkage of the second line and the fourth line. In demonstrating how precious and prestigious her baby would be, she uses the word “ivory” in the second line; the author had described herself as an elephant. This could be understood due to the burdens associated with pregnancy. Interesting to note that ivory forms a part of an elephant’s large body. They are huge, gigantic and always protrude whenever the elephant is in the vicinity. In the same sense, so is carrying a pregnancy. The speaker describes the baby she is anticipating as ivory. Generally, whenever an expectant mother is in the vicinity, everyone notices her pregnancy just like how an elephant is recognized due to its ivories.  Moreover, despite all the burdens associated with pregnancy, the baby is prestigious, just like the ivory of an elephant. In a sense, the author is sharing her emotional inclination towards pregnancy. She expressed distaste for the burdens of pregnancy yet shows much adoration for the anticipated baby. This is often the emotional state of many expectant women. Research has indicated that women are often affected by hormone changes during pregnancy. (Rubtsov, Anatoly., et al. 494-498). This may result in changes in behaviour and habits. Some grow very rude or rational. However, after delivery, the body balances on the hormones, and she gets back to her usual self. The author explicitly indicates she is aware of the changes about to happen in her body when she gets pregnant. Nonetheless, she shows excitement for the anticipated baby.

Another incident of a metaphorical description of pregnancy is witnessed on the fifth line. In this line, the speaker compares stomach swelling during pregnancy to a loaf getting bigger due to yeast. She compares the protrusion of the stomach to a loaf rising from yeast. She further mentions the growing fetus is the yeast, and her stomach is the bread constantly rising. Nutritional yeast is a vegan element with health benefits to individuals. This component is used together with cereals to make a variety of commodities. When used in floor, yeast causes the swelling. It is an additive added in the production of bread since it causes the swelling. On this note, the author compares the foetus to the yeast due to the swelling the mother experiences.  This description creates imagery in the mind of the reader. One can get an understanding of how the results of pregnancy in a contextualized approach. Relating pregnancy to bread rising due to yeast is a metaphorical approach, which makes the whole idea of getting pregnant a little terrifying. One might wonder to what extent it shall rise. Research has indicated that the level of pregnancy protrusion is substantively common to everyone. It may be huge in some women while little to almost impossible-to-visibility in others. A newly pregnant or expectant mother might get terrifying feelings aroused by reading Sylvia description of pregnancy. Nonetheless, it is because of her choice of metaphors that unearths such emotions.

The author further demonstrates the value of a child in the sixth line. Here she metaphorically the baby as money and her stomach as the purse hosting the child. In the modern world, money is the common currency used for several transactions. Without money, one lacks the social respect from people. Additionally, we live in a society where people get respected according to how much money they own. Rich people have a particular command in the community which poor people do not have. In the same sense, the author describes the value of a child by linking it to money. She describes her stomach as the purse carrying this valuable currency. She brings the imagery of how people without children are treated in society. In most instances, women without children are stigmatized. Research has indicated that women without children in African culture are regarded as less useful in society. As such, the author brings the picture of her carrying the key to earn valuable societal respect.

The last three lines in the stanza explicitly depict completeness. In the seventh line, the speaker refers to being as a mean of finishing the whole process. The entire process ends with the results being childbearing. In the eighth, the speaker brings the reader closer to the feeling of pregnancy in women. She uses green apple to bring out this definition. Green apples can cause a person with stomach issues. Stomach problems are attributed to discomforts and distractions. In a sense, she portrays pregnancy in the same manner. She brings the reader closer to items that expectant women face while pregnant. The feeling they undergo every day.  She tries to make the people identify themselves with pregnant women. This is because, just like the way a person suffering from stomach aches requires close attention, so is a pregnant woman.  Fortunately, the speaker does not leave a reader with the felling of women just being a vessel to carry a child. The speaker has cultivated the value of pregnancy amidst the challenges and burdens abound. She urges society to develop compassion to women either pregnant or not. In modern society, we have witnessed several cases of domestic violence in women. More so, there have been severe stereotypes revolving around the female gender. The speaker speaks on behalf of pregnant and expectant women. She makes known the tussles they persevere to bring valuable children to the world. In a sense, she would be construed to be advocating for her fellow women and those anticipating to pregnancy.

Overly, metaphors are stylistic devices used to enhance the understanding of poems. They create a comparison of unrelated things by giving them a standard comparison. Metaphors draw a reader closer to the speaker’s point of view. This is because metaphor facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the correlations. The feelings of the reader are aligned closer to those of the speaker. As witnessed in the poem by Sylvia Plath, metaphor can be used to describe a process and highlights the challenges experienced. She mainly employed metaphor in explaining the process of pregnancy. Although she does not expressly lay her intentions of getting pregnant, she, however, explores the feelings of anticipating one. Her description helps in capturing the whole pregnancy process on a different perception. As such, she seemingly implores pregnant women should be treated with maximum respect either during pregnancy or not.

Work Cited

Demjen, Zsofia. “Motion and conflicted self metaphors in Sylvia Plath’s ‘Smith Journal’.” Metaphor and the Social World 1.1 (2011): 7-25.

Idström Anna, et al. Endangered Metaphors. John Benjamins Pub, 2012.  Accessed 12 Dec. 2019.

Kövecses, Zoltán, and Réka Benczes. “Metaphor : A Practical Introduction”. Bergen Community College Library., 2019, https://bergencc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/550639555. Accessed 13 Dec 2019.

Rubtsov, Anatoly V., et al. “Genetic and hormonal factors in female-biased autoimmunity.” Autoimmunity reviews 9.7 (2010): 494-498.