My favorite poem from this chapter is “Stillborn” by
Sylvia Plath. This poem resonates within me because it conveys such powerful
images. The title of the poem is enough to demonstrate that the poem is going
to be about an unborn child.
The poem illustrates the struggle and grief a mother has
over the death of her unborn child; not only was her child brought into this
world dead, but so does all of her hopes and dreams for that child.
Plath uses strong imagery to make this poem come alive.
“ They grew their toes and fingers well enough / Their little foreheads bulged
with concentration.” Additionally, Plath becomes the mother in this piece and
lets herself feel disappointment. She criticizes herself as a poet by saying
that her poems are dead. She expresses this in the first line, “These poems do
not live: it’s a sad diagnosis”.
My favorite part in the entire poem is the last two
lines, “But they are dead, and their mother near dead with distraction, / And
they stupidly stare and do not speak of her.” There is just something about
that ending that is so morose, yet strangely beautiful and haunting.
What I also found haunting in this poem is how Plath
compares motherhood and a miscarriage to poetry and writing in general. This
comparison allows us to look at poetry in a different light and we are able to
feel what Plath feels about poetry, particular her poems.
Comparing humans to poems is such a beautiful metaphor
because poetry does have the ability to come alive and essentially Sylvia is
criticizing herself for allowing her poems to be dead, similar to a stillborn.
I agree with the fact that Plath is using stillborn babies as a way to reference her own life failures. Sicne Plath has suffered from a miscarriage herself it becomes easier for her to relate her failures in her writing to her failures of ever becoming a mother. It's a very dark and sad way to think however, in this poem Plath finds a beautiful way to connect them both together.
ReplyDeleteMeriem,
ReplyDeleteI found your interpretation of Slyvia Plath's poem "Stillborn" to be quite beautiful, especially towards the end when you note Plath's metaphor of humans to poems. The last two lines of her poem also seemed to resonate with me since they completely wrapped up the entire poem, which gives the reader something so mystifying and chilling to leave the poem from.
MERIEM,
ReplyDeletehow do you express the meaning of this poem so beautifully? I love how you quoted some of the lines from the poem when the speakers expresses her feelings about the unborn child. I absolutely love it. It was one of my favorite too from this chapter. I also agree that the title itself "Stillborn" explains a lot about what the poem is about or what the poet's feelings are about the unborn child. I also think Plath's comparison about the miscarriage and motherhood to poetry is quite unique yet haunting at the same time. I also love the metaphor as well, about comparing humans to poems as she is censuring her poems to be dead as well.