During World War II, as many men were shipped overseas to fight the Axis Powers, Women, started to take over the workforce; holding jobs that were previously occupied by men. This was on of the first times in American History when the woman was given a source of worth that did not involve motherhood. At the end of the war, the men who survived returned home, forcing their wives back into the household. Metaphors, by Sylvia Plath, was published after World War two; a time before feminism, when women were just starting to feel trapped in their homes once more. In this poem, Plath uses form, rhythm, metaphor, imagery, and voice to illuminate the distaste that some women can have towards the future that pregnancy is to bring them, according to …show more content…
She is also letting her audience in on a big secret, while this line has 10 syllables all of the following lines contain only 9. Plath is already prepping the reader for the main idea of the story. She begins jumping into the metaphors, giving images of very large items, “An elephant, a ponderous house/ a melon on two tendrils” (2-4). It is here, where one might get the understanding that part of the riddle involves a pregnancy. An elephant is an animal that is seen as a symbol of stability and patience in many cultures, but in most cases, people only note that they are rather large. Plath’s Metaphors, uses the elephant as a begging of her allusion to heavy, bulky things. This can be verified when coupled with its co-comparison, a ponderous house. It is especially important to pay close attention to the word ponderous when describing the house. Houses are supposed to be big, stable structures, not awkward heaps of wood thrown together, which is what the word ponderous implies. From a metaphorical standpoint, this ponderous house could represent the cumbersome inconveniences that arise with being pregnant, including