Metaphors Analysis

The Collected Poems1959I'm a riddle in nine syllables,

An elephant, a ponderous house,

A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.

Money's new-minted in this fat purse.

I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I've eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there's no getting off.

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I disagree with many of the interpretations of this poem. I think that although Sylvia Plath uses most of her metaphors to explain how much the speaker is growing, many of them are of positive connotation. For example, "fine timbers" and a "loaf" of bread are usually seen as positive things. The last line explains how she now cannot go back from being pregnant and must go through with it, but I do not think that it is meant as a complaint - I think it is simply there to explain that the speaker is accepting the fact.

| Posted on 2009-11-16 | by a guest

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I think she uses 9 in the begining because it takes 9 monthes of being pregnant to have a baby!

| Posted on 2009-10-26 | by a guest

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I like this poem because it relates to pregancy very accurately, the green apples is a metaphor because obviously not all green apples make you sick but they do resemble the forbidden fruit of adam and eve and also the bitter, sick apples.

| Posted on 2009-10-17 | by a guest

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I think that "green apples" is a clear metaphor
either it is the nausea that accompany pregnancy
or as some interpetations say that it has a biblical reference by eating the forbidden apples , Adam and eve were sent away from heaven .

| Posted on 2009-05-10 | by a guest

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line seven means a money printing machine for the future. the fat purse would be the baby and he coming to the world for future where he or she can support their parents

| Posted on 2009-05-06 | by a guest

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The green apples are symbolic of bitterness and red as sweet. When you are pregnant, you overindulge in foods, which causes you to vomit-leaving you with a bitter taste. So the sickness from the green apples could have been possibly especially because they are acidic.

| Posted on 2009-04-22 | by a guest

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the speaker describes a negative event in which she is experiencing pregnancy. Her choice of words and phrases express her feelings about the pregnancy as well as the structure of the poem. In her poem, Plath chooses many metaphors to describe her pregnancy. I felt that these metaphors were describing something that she was not enjoying or looking forward to. The objects she chose to use to express her feelings gave me an uncomfortable feeling of the pregnancy. The line in which she refers to a “ponderous house” brings me to a vision of shelter. I feel that she is sheltering something, but has to think deeply about sheltering this object. The speaker doesn’t sound sure of what she is sheltering, and feels confused. It almost seems like a feeling of regret. The line, “Boarded the train there’s no getting off,” supports her feelings of regret. She sounds as if she has no other choice or option other than to be or remain pregnant. The line almost hints that she is stuck, so she has to continue with the decision. These feelings of regret seem to be alongside her mixed feelings. The line in which she refers to eating “a bag of green apples” gives me the impression that she feels sick. The color green, to me, represents sickness or ill feelings. Green apples also could refer to their ripeness. The unripe “green apples” could be describing her feelings of not being ready for the pregnancy. Her metaphor of “ a cow in a calf” could mean two things. The speaker is having her first child and doesn’t feel sure of this decision, or that she, herself, is a child trying to bring another child into this world. They both convey her feelings of not being ready to handle the situation. One line that supports her not experiencing pregnancy is where she writes, “ Money’s new minted in this fat purse.” Along with referring to herself as “fat”, she is saying that this is all new to her. The pregnancy is newly “minted” and that she doesn’t know what to expect. Another feeling that I received from reading this poem was that the speaker did not like the pregnancy because she was becoming larger. In the second line, she refers to an elephant. Being pregnant, a person gains a large amount of weight, and I can see her feeling as an “elephant.” “This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising,” refers to her getting larger as her pregnancy progresses. These metaphors all are in reference to her size. Her reference to these objects gave me the impression that along with her unsure feeling, she resents getting larger. The way that Plath chose to form her poem is also relevant to why the speaker is not enjoying the pregnancy. The beginning line, “ I’m a riddle in nine syllables,” begins the pattern of nine syllable lines. Each line having exactly nine syllables and containing nine lines is in reference to her length of being pregnant. This reference to the length gives me the impression that the time she has to be pregnant is an issue. Instead of cherishing this “miracle” time, she seems to be bickering about the time she is pregnant and is excited until nine months is over. Sylvia Plath and the elements she chose to describe a pregnancy gave me the feel of discomfort. Most of the metaphors she used conveyed mixed feelings, issues of weight gain, and impatience with the pregnancy. The speaker seemed to concentrate on the symptoms and things that happened to her during the pregnancy, rather than on the fact that she was bringing another life into the world. She didn’t convey that she was fortunate to be involved in a miracle. Instead she focused on her misfortunes and afflictions due to the pregnancy

| Posted on 2009-04-12 | by a guest

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My analysis fo rhtis poem is that the woman is pregnant, however, she is describing how is she feeling and the annoying of been pregnant, since she feel fat. Also, how the rol of a parent or mother, will be forever.

| Posted on 2009-04-10 | by a guest

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the word apple was used to describe any foreign fruit in the 17th century. perhaps the use of apples in this poem is to describe her unborn baby.
and green usually symbolizes nature, envy... and misfortune.
maybe all that the second to last line means is taht shes now pregnant with a baby that she knows nothing baout and does not want.

| Posted on 2009-02-06 | by a guest

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i disagree with the idea of green apples making you sick. There are apples that are green that you eat that do not necessarily make you ill.

| Posted on 2009-01-27 | by a guest

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In the genesis story, the fruit of wisdom and knowledge is not specified as an apple, or a green one for that matter. Moreover, green apples do not necessirily cause sickness. There must be something else to the green apple metaphore.

| Posted on 2009-01-21 | by a guest

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Some people have been saying that "boarded the train there's no getting off." refers to her committing suicide. I disagree, I think it refers to her being pregnant and there's no going back. It marks the end of he life as a free woman not her life in general.

| Posted on 2009-01-21 | by a guest

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The "nine" in the poem is symbolic of the nine months of pregnancy.

| Posted on 2009-01-16 | by a guest

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"I've eaten a bag of green apples", it can also mean the stomach so big and stuff like you've eaten a bag of green apples along with the other meaning for the Apples,

| Posted on 2008-10-28 | by a guest

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She is depressed about being pregnant, yes but I don't think she killed herself. I believe that when she says "boarded the train there's no getting off" she's reffering to parent hood. She will always be trapped in watching over her children and end her life as a free woman.

| Posted on 2008-10-14 | by a guest

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i think its funny how she shes nine imediatley in the first line. if you look at the structure you soon see the significance, 9 lines 9 sylabbles in each line. three 9's used in the poem to help convey how she is feeling

| Posted on 2008-09-04 | by a guest

.: "An elephant, a ponderous :.

when she wrote "An elephant, a ponderous house"
the elephant refers to being big, because you are when you are pregnant
and a ponderous house refers to her being clumsy
because I assume she meant ponserous as in without grace, because I dont know many pregnant people that are very graceful, ya know?

| Posted on 2008-05-21 | by a guest

.: Nine :.

the first line where she mentions "nine" is also demonstrating the topic of pregnancy. A normal approach to pregnancy would be a six, but the speaker does not appear to be joyful about the pregnancy so she has an "up-side down" view to the pregnancy = the transfer from a 6 to a 9.

| Posted on 2008-04-24 | by a guest

.: read it over and over :.

After reading this poem over and over again you can see how she is refering to her pregnancy, it also seems that she was very depressed, she had tried to kill herself before and finally succeeded when she was 30. But you can tell she wasnt a very happy person, most people love being pregnant.

| Posted on 2008-03-27 | by a guest

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this poem is about a woman who is pregnant. Green apples itself holds alot of meaning. the seeds in the apple might resemble the seed in the woman.( her pregnancy) They are green apples because green promotes life. Why apples? because apples refer to the garden of eden.(it was the apple of wisdom and knowledge)Green apples are also apples that are not yet ripe. If you eat a nt yet ripe apple, you get sick. Nausea which is another sign of pregnancy.
The melon refers to the woman's stomah. the two tendrils are her legs. Red fruit is the baby. red--> blood. Timers are the bones.

| Posted on 2005-04-26 | by Approved Guest