“Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath is poem of exactly what its title suggests; metaphors. The subject of the poem is Plath herself and the metaphors she chooses to expose herself with are ones that suggest a divided psyche that is stuffed and unsure of how to proceed.
The poem is nine lines long with a meter of nine syllables per line throughout the entire thing but I am unsure if its dactylic, anapestic, or something else entirely. As for rhyming it has no end rhyme scheme or discernible internal rhyme. It does however have instances of alliteration. The poem is not one that has been written to make an effect based on form or sound but rather content and the thoughts its images provoke.
With the aforementioned statement in mind it is easy to discern that the most prominent devices in the poem are the metaphors and the images used within them. Plath chooses to express her metaphors with images that are specific and tend to be associated with discomfort or distaste. Her first image is brought about by comparing herself to “a riddle in nine syllables.” Riddle tend to make people squirm figuring them out and this is Plath making the same statement about people trying to figure her out. The next line talks of an “elephant” and a “ponderous house”, both things that are large in stature, but are are also as large in the way they would start a conversation amongst any group of people and in this metaphor Plath brings up the way she starts conversations. Through the remainder of the poem there are images of pregnant cows , fat purses, and the boarding of a train of which there is no escape creating the feeling that decisions have been made bringing consequences in her life that she cannot escape. The images and the metaphors are a powerful vehicle.
It is well known that Sylvia Plath was a woman haunted by many aspects of her life. This poem shows clearly the ways she felt she did not fit in with the rest of the world. It is very simply written but carries with a rich and twisting undercurrent that when read in to will deeply reward any reader.
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