The text, Metaphors, by Sylvia Plath shows how a very short poem can have a big impact. As one reads through this poem they can see there is a message to be solved. In fact, this poem is a riddle. Going through line, by line, one must solve this riddle and come to see what Plath is trying to portray. It is noticed that Plath uses a theme of “nine” quite a few times which deems importance. Whether she uses the actual word or just the number, this theme comes to play a very important role. By looking at the combination of structure and imagery throughout the poem we can see the significance Plath set on “nine” which is important because it shows how the riddle is all about pregnancy and what that does to a woman.

This poem is set up in a way in which the reader must use clues to figure out the overall meaning of it. One of these major clues is the way Plath structured the poem. The poem was written with nine lines, each one fairly choppy and straightforward. At first, one may see this poem as a list of unconnected metaphors, but it is when you understand the structure that one notices it is about pregnancy. At the beginning of the text the woman although not happy, seems to joke around and make fun of how she looks. However, at the end she is no longer joking and only sees a fearful fate ahead of her. She goes from comparing herself to “a melon strolling on two tendrils” to comparing herself to cow. Either way, these are not flattering things and give off a bland feeling. The structural use of nine lines helps the poem come together as each line is a stepping stone to this woman’s pregnancy. You can see how each line represents a month of pregnancy and this transition in a woman’s life. Plath did this to show that when a woman goes through pregnancy she is changing in size and in thought. The poem is set up in a way for the reader to know what is happening at any month and time. Not only does Plath have nine lines to the poem, but she also carries this theme into each sentence. Each sentence has nine syllables in it, which serves to be another clue to the reader. The very first sentence of this poem “I’m a riddle in nine syllables” tells you that each line has nine syllables. Again, the theme of “nine” is used to help one understand how the woman is pregnant. Whether you look at the nine lines or the nine syllables of the poem, you find that the riddle is about pregnancy which is exactly what Plath was trying to do. 

Imagery plays a very important role in this poem as Plath describes the woman in many distinctive ways. However, it is a very short poem so Plath had to get her point across in an easy manner. She did this by her use of immense imagery. Throughout the entire poem, Plath uses different animals or items to describe the woman and how she is feeling. Something very interesting about the imagery is that Plath also continued the theme of “nine” by comparing the woman to nine separate things. All nine of the comparisons in the poem deal with things that are round, large, and detached. There are two instances where Plath compares the woman to animals. The first is in line 2 of the poem when she says that she is an elephant. The second occurrence is in line 7 when she is compared to a cow. Both of these animals are bulky and are not something you want to be compared too. Most cows and elephants don’t really have a role in life except to reproduce, and this is how the woman now feels. This is a good que that this woman is not very excited to be pregnant and is even less excited to lose certain things about her previous life.  

As the reader continues along they can see there are several occasions in which Plath compared the woman’s pregnancy to non-living things. This is a little bit unusual because pregnancy is a very living thing as you are creating a life. However, these actually outweigh the living comparisons and have more importance. Line 8 of the poem says “I’ve eaten a bag of green apples”. This is showing how the woman feels as if she is full of something sour. Another key point in this poem is line 4. This line has three very strong metaphors. The first one is with the red fruit. This is about how fruit reproduces and how that is all they are good for. The second part, about ivory, refers back to line 2 with the elephant. Most elephants are not seen as precious and are only prized for the ivory they carry. The woman feels as if she is only prized because she is carrying a child, and that she no longer matters. Finally, the fine timbers refer back to the ponderous house. The timbers on a house support the main structure of the house and are what make it stand. This is the woman realizing that she now has to support her child and not herself. All three of these show how the woman’s life is greatly changing due to the baby. Pregnancy not only gives you a child, but it takes away from your own life. This is the woman’s main fear in the poem. Line 9 goes to say “Boarded the train there’s no getting off”. The pregnant woman knows that although she may not want the child, it is coming, and very soon. By choosing the specific objects that Plath chose, and by using them in a repetition of nine, it gave the reader a clear answer to the riddle about this pregnant woman. 

In the poem, Plath was able to show the reader how pregnancy can truly impact a person’s body and life through a simple theme of “nine”. Not only does she go into detail about pregnancy but she tells us how it can be good and bad. However, the author seems to leave it up to the reader as to what happens next in this woman’s life. By looking at the composition and imagery throughout Metaphors, we can see the significance of pregnancy which is important because it reminds us how it can change a life while creating one too.
