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 hidden message to be found. 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 must deem importance, and helps the reader understand this poem is about pregnancy. During the time that Plath wrote this poem she had two young infants and may have written about her own experiences of being a mother (Wagner- Martin). Although pregnancy can be different for everyone, Plath wanted to show how it can change everything. By looking at both the structure of the poem and imagery of living and non-living things 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.

One of the major clues Plath used in order to help the reader understand the meaning of the poem is the way it is structured. 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” (Plath, 532, 3) to comparing herself to a 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” (Plath, 532, 1) 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 which include living things. Because it is such a short poem, Plath had to use immense imagery to get her point across. Throughout the entire poem, Plath uses two different animals to describe the woman and how she is feeling. 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 in calf” (Plath, 532). Both of these animals are bulky and are not something you want to be compared to. Also, most cows and elephant’s primary role in life is to reproduce, and this is how the woman now feels. The woman thinks that she is only prized because she is carrying a child, and that she no longer matters. 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 which show how the woman grows as the pregnancy continues. This is a good sign that this woman is not very excited to be pregnant and is even less excited to lose certain things as her life will never be the same.  

As the reader continues along they can see there are several occasions in which Plath also used imagery to compare the woman’s pregnancy to non-living things. This is a 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 because there are more similarities with these non-living things. Line 8 of the poem says “I’ve eaten a bag of green apples” (Plath, 532). This is showing how the woman feels as if she is full of something sour which again shows this pregnancy may not be the best thing. Another key point in this poem is line 4, which has very strong metaphors. Plath first compares the woman to a red fruit. This is about how fruit reproduces and how that is all they really do. Plath also refers to the woman as fine timbers which refers 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 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, which is the woman’s main fear in the poem. Line 9 goes to say “Boarded the train there’s no getting off” (Plath 532). The pregnant woman knows that although she may not want the child, it is coming and very soon. By choosing the certain nine objects, both living and non-living, that Plath chose it portrayed clear images about how this woman feels towards pregnancy. 

In the text, Plath was able to show the reader how a simple and short poem can have so much meaning through the underlying theme of “nine”. Not only does she go into great detail about pregnancy but she tells us how it can be good and bad. Plath even seems to leave it up to the reader as to what happens next in this woman’s life. By using a specific structure that demonstrates the theme of “nine” and the imagery of living and non-living items, we can see the significance of pregnancy in Metaphors which is important because it reminds us how it can change a life while creating one too.
