You Re By Sylvia Plath Analysis

You’re

Introduction:

Hello, and welcome to my individual oral commentary on “You’re” by Sylvia Plath. The poem portrays the idea of pregnancy and motherhood. Motherhood and pregnancy has been a crucial identity of women, which had become a stereotype in the early twentieth century. It is a much-awaited phase in woman’s lifetime that brings a bucketful of joy but requires intensive effort and composure. Sylvia Plath, a famous poet active during mid-twentieth century, articulates the phase of pregnancy in her poem, “You’re”. “You’re” is essentially an associative response to the truth of fetus, but its art is certain and fascinating to contemplate. Plath conveys the mixed emotions that regulate during the persona’s phase of pregnancy and childbirth

We can see that the poem consists of two stanzas with nine lines each; the nine lines refer to the pregnancy period of nine months. The first line of the poem, “Clownlike, happiest on your hands,” displays the emotions related to a newly born child, but the rest of the stanza gives the impression of the time period when the baby is inside the womb, “Feet to the stars…O high riser, my little loaf.” Furthermore, the poem evolves through the time phases of pregnancy, as the first stanza displays a set of positive emotions such as that of clown like and happy, which slowly transform into acrid second stanza with images of creel, pickle jars, and traveled prawn. This change in tone of comparison for the fetus displays the evolution of the thoughts of persona as the nine months of pregnancy gradually pass through. In contrast to this subtleness, the poet uses enjambments to clarify the theme of pregnancy to the readers, “Mute as a turnip from the Fourth of July to all Fool’s Day.” In the second stanza, every line is ended with a period except of the fourth line, “Snug as a bud and at home Like a sprat in a pickle jug.” This extended line contrasts the first paragraph about the must-awaited fetus by referring to the baby as a small inconsequential being, with a kinesthetic imagery of