Mother And Child In Sylvia Plath Poems

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

also occur frequently: there are seven cardinal virtues; seven deadly sins; seven ages of man; seven days in a week and seven seals in the book of revelation. Although the range of emotions is spread between the poems, they do seem to follow a linear course as the sequence progresses. You’re begins with the persona (whom we can assume to be an expectant mother) talking to her foetus, and she believes that it is enjoying itself: "You’re/
Clown like, happiest on your hands". This could be a reflection of her own sentiments, implying that the mother to be is also contented. She seems sure that the baby will be ready to cope with any eventuality ("Gilled like a fish") without needing to rely on others for support ("Wrapped up in yourself like a spool".) "Snug as a bud and at home/ Like a sprat in a pickle jug" gives an impression of immense comfort and security. This sense of comfort is picked up again later, in both By Candlelight ("Balled hedgehog," "I rock you like a boat",) and ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

that her pregnancy will progress in this way, and that there would be nothing that she could do about it even if she was unsatisfied.
The narrator’s seemingly ambivalent attitude continues into Morning Song. The tone is both descriptive and observant, focusing on the change of scene for both the baby and the mother. There seems to be very little opinion from the mother, but she seems to be enjoying a sense of investigation and discovery with her infant.
The only feeling that is particularly obvious is one of contented pride, as the mother celebrates her baby’s birth ("Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival") and congratulates it on its newly-found independence. There does seem to ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: