You're, Sylvia Plath

Of the group of poets I have been analysing, Sylvia Plath is the one I am the least familiar with. Her work is also considerably darker than my usual fare. However, this poem is one of her less depressing ones. Because Plath’s work is still copyrighted, this will be the same deal as last time. I will post a link to the full text and only quote certain sections. So, without any further ado, let’s get right into “You’re.”

This poem is in free verse, meaning it does not rhyme, and has no discernible meter. It reads a lot like something that might be in a journal. The main focus of the poem is a fetus that the speaker is talking to. Most of the lines are a series of metaphors describing said fetus.

Now would be a good time to discuss Plath’s linguistic style. Her poetry does not use especially romantic phrases or syntax. Instead, the words she has chosen are much more visceral than the floral language used in the previous poems on this blog. It changes the dynamic of the poem a lot, making it feel vivid and more real. Romantic poems make you feel like you’re looking at a painting, while Plath’s poems make you feel like you’re actually witnessing the thing actually happening. For example, diction such as “gilled like a fish” or “a creel of eels” or “bent-backed atlas” contain sharp, concentrated consonants and shorter vowels, which give the words more of an edge when spoken aloud. Try it.

Plath’s language has a way of breaking apart ideals and bringing the realistic out of a situation. Other poems have a habit of romanticising and objectifying things, particularly women, and can be very impersonal. Plath, on the other hand, is very personal in her writing style. Plath takes something that is often romanticised, like pregnancy and mother-child dynamics, and adds depth and emotion. She takes ideals and strips them, exposing the real situations beneath the polished artifice. It’s as if she digs her nails into beautiful surfaces, and tears them away until she finds something real.

“You’re,” like some of Plath’s other works, is about a thing that is specific to women, in this case pregnancy. It’s also less like a story than the other poems I’ve analysed. Plath’s style is very confessional, meaning that her works are about her experiences rather than grand sweeping concepts, although that’s not to say she doesn’t address important ideas in her poetry.  Her style is just more like someone speaking, and has less of the romantic, ballad-like forms that appeared in my previous entries.

Full Text of You’re