I enjoyed the poem Metaphor by Sylvia Plath. We as a class discussed if she was upset about the pregnancy or just tired of being pregnant. While searching for a picture to add to this blog, I found out that Sylvia Plath was a very depressed mom. Sylvia had two children Frieda and Nicholas-born a year apart. When Nicholas was one year old, Sylvia had killed herself.
Knowing this information, I believe I now look at the poem in a whole different way. I understand now that she was depressed and wished she could have gotten off that train.
Submitted by Amy Farmer
I enjoyed this poem also. When I first read it I did not know it was about pregnancy. I found this out when doing the discussion. It definitely made everything about the poem become crystal clear. After finding out how depressed Plath was, I, too, viewed the poem in a different manner. It helps to understand the last line of the poem, as you mentioned, about getting off the train.
ReplyDeleteI liked this poem as well. I'm not sure that I'd go so far as to say that she ultimately disliked being a mother without more concrete evidence, but I will speculate that due to her chronic depression; she would have been more susceptible to postpartum depression and psychosis.
ReplyDeleteMGH Website -page on Postpartum Depression
How Long Does Postpartum Depression Last?
If these links don't show up, it's the MGH website, and the Helim website.