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Sylvia Plath: Consider how the poems dealing with Mother and Child convey a startling variety of responses Although each of the poems in question (You " re, Morning Song, By Candlelight, Nick and the Candlestick and Mary's Song) focuses on the relationship between mother and child, the emotions dealt with in each poem vary quite incredibly. Each poem appears differently on the page: You " re and By Candlelight are written in nine-line stanzas, the two poems having two and four respectively, while Morning song, Nick and the Candlestick and Mary's Song consist of six, fourteen and seven stanzas, each of three lines. It thus appears that Plath is using threes and sevens quite prolifically, as every stanza is either three or nine lines long (9 = 3) and multiples of seven occur twice in the total number of stanzas in each poem. Three and seven both seem to have a particular significance in life. There are triune's in religion, (Father, Son, Holy Spirit, ) science (energy, matter, ether, ) spiritualism (mind, body, spirit, ) and psychiatry (super conscious, conscious, subconscious) to name but a few, while nine is the number of months in a human pregnancy (divided into three trimesters). Sevens also occur frequently: there are seven cardinal virtues; seven deadly sins; seven ages of man; seven days in a week and seven seals in the book of revelation.
Although the range of emotions is spread between the poems, they do seem to follow a linear course as the sequence progresses. You " re begins with the persona (whom we can assume to be an expectant mother) talking to her foetus, and she believes that it is enjoying itself: "You " re/ Clown like, happiest on your hands." This could be a reflection of her own sentiments, implying that the mother to be is also contented. She seems sure that the baby will be ready to cope with any eventuality ("Gilled like a fish") without needing to rely on others for support ("Wrapped up in yourself like a spool." ) "Snug as a bud and at home/ Like a sprat in a pickle jug" gives an impression of immense comfort and security. This sense of comfort is picked up again later, in both By Candlelight ("Balled hedgehog, "I rock you like a boat", ) and Nick and the Candlestick ("wrap me, raggy shawls." ) It is emphasised by a feeling of enthusiasm and satisfaction: "Right, like a well-done sum. " The mother feels that what she is doing is right, and that she is enjoying it. She looks upon her pregnancy with contentment, while accepting the way that it must be: "Mute as a turnip from the Fourth/ Of July to All Fools' Day, / O high-riser, my little loaf. " The mother's recognition that the baby is unable to speak shows how much she appreciates the other forms of communication that exist between her child and herself. The irony of Independence Day being the first day of the baby's dependence on her mother doesn't seem to have any particular significance, but the reference to All Fools' Day implies that both the foetus and mother are enjoying themselves, as well as simply being nine months after July 4 th.
She appears excited and expectant, and seems to be enjoying the fact that what lies ahead is unknown. She suggests that before birth, her baby's future is wholly undetermined, emphasised by "Vague as fog and looked for like mail", while "Farther off than Australia" implies that she believes it to be a long way away. She doesn't comment on the fact that it is silent, obscure and distant, which would seem to indicate that she simply accepts that her pregnancy will progress in this way, and that there would be nothing that she could do about it even if she was unsatisfied. The narrator's seemingly ambivalent attitude continues into Morning Song. The tone is both descriptive and observant, focusing on the change of scene for both the baby and the mother. There seems to be very little opinion from the mother, but she seems to be enjoying a sense of investigation and discovery with her infant.
The only feeling that is particularly obvious is one of contented pride, as the mother celebrates her baby's birth ("Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival") and congratulates it on its newly-found independence. There does seem to be an upset, almost resentful undertone, as the mother says "I'm no more your mother/ Than the cloud which distills a mirror to reflect its own slow/ Effacement at the wind's hand. " Although she is only pointing out that this is the case, she seems to be nostalgic for the time when her baby was wholly dependant on her. The focus of the poem, however, seems to be on discovery, as is shown by the end: "And now you try/ Your handful of notes; / The clear vowels rise like balloons. " This appears to be a description of the baby crying, but instead of reprimanding her child, the mother acclaims it. This has the effect of showing her contentment due to the baby being able to cry, and her satisfaction with regard to its experimental use of sounds. In By Candlelight, the persona returns to the comforting tones seen earlier ("I rock you like a boat", ) only this time she seems much more scared.
Plath uses harmonious rhyme, while continuing to write without any strict metre. This shows a desire to remain individual, while seeming to conform to others' ideals. She also does this throughout the selection of poems by refusing to use clich's: she refers to her child as "Balled hedgehog" and "travelled prawn", using original imagery to describe how she envisages the child. This could be out of desire to express herself in a way that is not permitted by traditional phrases, or due to a fear of using hackneyed expressions, as they tend to lose their effectiveness if they are used excessively. The exploration continues throughout By Candlelight, and again the child seems to be a catalyst for the mother's thoughts. She is doing the exploring for both of them, and the explanatory tone adopted in the poem implies that she is reporting her findings to her child.
She still seems very descriptive, and continues to use metaphors to depict her interpretation of the scene around them. "A sort of black horsehair" seems to be an association of both colour and texture (possibly suggesting that she could get tangled up in the night) but might also tell us of the mother's longing for a horse. The persona also seems to be appreciating a sense of comfort and serenity in her child, describing it as a "Balled hedgehog, " although she avoids the security of overused expressions. The sounds in this poem are also rather strenuous, as is emphasised by the irregularities of the rhyming patterns that are used. The implication of "The mirror floats us at one candle power" is that the room is dimly lit, and that it is more difficult to see, while "I hold you on my arm" suggests that they must struggle to keep together. The sounds used here are much harsher than in the other poems: in You " re there is very bright assonance ("dodo's mode" and "Snug as a bud", ) while the tone in Morning Song is a lot slower because of many nasal consonants and liquids. In By Candlelight, however, there is much more assonance, and it tends to sound much more unfavourable: neither "harvey radiance" nor "violent giants" has a particularly pleasant sound to it, while "you creak to life" has a forbidding tone to it, emphasised by onomatopoeia.
The diphthongs used create a comforting impression of elasticity, while accentuating the mother's fear. In Nick and the Candlestick the sounds are a lot harsher, with clusters of sound like "O embryo" and repeated clipped, single vowels ("Waxy stalactites/ Drip and thicken, " and "Wrap me, raggy shawls." ) In Mary's Song, however, neither assonance nor consonance is used particularly frequently. The harsh tones of By Candlelight are accompanied by an implication of pity: "Poor heirloom, all that you have" and "No child, no wife." The suggestion is that the "Five bright brass balls" will be all that remain "when the sky falls. " This sounds like an apocalyptic prophecy, but we don't know whether the mother is talking to her child or to Hercules, who is holding up the source of light in that room. The use of "my love" implies the former, but it is the latter's hands that will need occupying when he is no longer supporting the sky. Whichever is the case, the theme of ominous divination recurs throughout Nick and the Candlestick and Mary's Song. "Let the stars/ Plummet to their last address" suggests that the mother is prepared for the world, and even wants it to end.
The end of Mary's Song, however, is much less pleasant: "It is a heart, / This holocaust I walk in, / O golden child the world will kill and eat. " In Nick and the Candlestick, "Wrap me, raggy shawls" shows the comfort seen earlier mixed with a sense of claustrophobia. There also seems to be a sense of uncertainty ("The Candle/ Gulps and recovers its small altitude, ") but the recovery implies that the flame is always safe. "The earthen womb" creates images of a miner trapped below ground, which could be the mother trying to imagine (or remember) what life is like inside the uterus. There seems to be a general loss of sentimentality as she refers to "its dead boredom", suggesting either that she could not imagine much, or that her imagination is not coming up with anything that inspires any particular emotion. Guilt arrives later in this poem, as the mother apologies to her child, saying "The pain/ You wake to is not yours. " She seems to accept responsibility for this pain (possibly originating from childbirth) and tries to counterbalance her guilt with lavish decoration: "I have hung our cave with roses, / With soft rugs." She goes on to glorify her child at the end of the poem, saying "You are the one/ Solid the spaces lean on, envious. / You are the baby in the barn. " This seems to wildly exaggerate the child's importance, but one must bear in mind that the child needs only to be important to the mother, and this seems to be the case. The suggestion is that the child is the only secure person in the narrator's life and that she is needed only by the child.
The child thus makes the mother feel wanted, so she feels that she has a purpose on earth. In this way, the child is responsible for the fact that the mother is alive, although paradoxically, it wouldn't be alive were it not for the mother. This adoration of her child continues into Mary's Song, with "O golden child." It seems that the mother is both trying to ease her guilt for her child's pain, and thank the child for keeping her alive. In Mary's Song a sense of fear seems to dominate the words of the mother. She appears to have noticed an impending fate which is descending on earth, and resents all the deeds done by humankind. She puts herself in the position of Our Lady, thus implying that she sees her child as a saviour destined to be a sacrifice for our sins ("O golden child the world will kill and eat. ") However, the suggestion is that this foreboding prophecy is enlightened.
She feels that she can envisage the future because "The fat/ Sacrifices its opacity" while it cooks, allowing her to see clearly what lies ahead. The tone is rather morbid, with many references to death and the horrible events of the second world war ("the cicatrix of Poland, burnt out/ Germany." ) Alongside the glorification of her child, she also acknowledges its vulnerability and isolation: "the high/ Precipice/ That emptied one man into space." She appreciates its significance as well as accepting the fact that like everyone else, it will eventually be killed by the world.
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