Balloons Analysis

Author: poem of Sylvia Plath Type: poem Views: 29

Since Christmas they have lived with us,
Guileless and clear,
Oval soul-animals,
Taking up half the space,
Moving and rubbing on the silk

Invisible air drifts,
Giving a shriek and pop
When attacked, then scooting to rest, barely trembling.
Yellow cathead, blue fish ----
Such queer moons we live with

Instead of dead furniture!
Straw mats, white walls
And these traveling
Globes of thin air, red, green,
Delighting

The heart like wishes or free
Peacocks blessing
Old ground with a feather
Beaten in starry metals.
Your small

Brother is making
His balloon squeak like a cat.
Seeming to see
A funny pink world he might eat on the other side of it,
He bites,

Then sits
Back, fat jug
Contemplating a world clear as water.
A red
Shred in his little fist.

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||| Analysis | Critique | Overview Below |||

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all good poems are directly influenced by the poet's life & experiences. in this case, since she was bipolar, this might be about highs & lows in her life - her moods like balloons that might pop. also, she seems to be writing to this her daughter ("your small brother") so she must be trying to tell her daughter something. this poem was written in 1963 which was the year she committed suicide so this must have been written shortly before she did that (she killed herself in february).
given that, it seems to be about how childhood lets you see the world as a beautiful, magic, exciting place but at some point, innocence is lost - the balloon is popped - & the child grows up to see the world as it really is. however, this doesn't have to be a sad thing (the "brother" in the poem doesn't cry when his balloon bursts)..

| Posted on 2009-11-03 | by a guest

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