Morning Song

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Morning Song

• Sylvia Plath

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Sylvia Plath

• Born on October 27, 1932 in Boston
• Her father died a couple weeks after her eighth
  birthday
• She attended Smith College where she began to
  show signs of serious depression and attempted to
  kill herself
• She married Ted Hughes, a famous poet who was
  later accused of abuse
• Had two kids, Frieda Rebecca and Nicholas Farrar,
  but suffered a miscarriage in 1961
• Around 1962, her husband left her for another
  woman
• On February 11, 1963 she committed suicide by
  placing her head inside an oven

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Morning Song

• Love set you going like a fat gold watch.The
  midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald
  cryTook its place among the elements.Our
  voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New
  statue.In a drafty museum, your
  nakednessShadows our safety. We stand round
  blankly as walls.I'm no more your motherThan
  the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its
  own slowEffacement at the wind's hand.

4
Morning Song

• All night your moth-breathFlickers among the
  flat pink roses. I wake to listenA far sea
  moves in my ear.One cry, and I stumble from
  bed, cow-heavy and floralIn my Victorian
  nightgown.Your mouth opens clean as a cat's.
  The window squareWhitens and swallows its dull
  stars. And now you tryYour handful of
  notesThe clear vowels rise like balloons.

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Musical Version of Morning Song

• http//www.johnmitchell.org/morning.mp3

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Poems Organization

• Six tercets
• Free verse

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The Speaker

• A mother who recently gave birth
• Shes in the process of caring for her baby,
  which requires a significant amount of time and
  energy
• Despite this, the mother appears genuinely
  devoted to her child
• Shes undergoing post partum depression

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The Speaker Sylvia Plath

• Due to her numerous autobiographical poems, it
  can safely be assumed that Plath is the speaker
• As a mother of two, she has experience as a
  mother
• Her miscarriage most likely instilled a sense of
  unhappiness regarding her view of childbirth

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The Speakers Attitude Towards the Subject

• Initially, the speaker acts as if she is almost
  indifferent towards the subject (the newborn
  child) because he seems inhuman
• Eventually, her indifference turns to annoyance
  at the childs needs, but the babys first words
  reinforce her love of the child and are somewhat
  uplifting

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First Stanza

• This is the only stanza in past tense, all other
  stanzas are in present tense and thus refer to
  present actions
• Love set you going like a fat gold watch
• The baby is born, he is given a kickstart on life
  through love
• The birth is compared to a gold, seemingly
  wonderful watch being wound and set for life
• The gold watch symbolizes the mechanical and
  inhuman nature of the child
• The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your
  bald cry/Took its place among the elements.
• The baby is thrust into life by the jolt of a
  midwife, and his existence in the universe is now
  complete because of the cry

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Second Stanza

• Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival
• As the baby is coming out, the parents begin to
  get excited in approach of the birth
• New statue.
• The Speaker compares the baby to a statue,
  indicating how impersonal she feels towards the
  child
• In a drafty museum, your nakednessShadows our
  safety. We stand round blankly as walls.
• The hospital is referred to as a sterile museum
• The nakedness of the baby reassures the parents
  as they can take comfort in their clothes
• The blank stare of the adults shows how distant
  they are

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Third Stanza

• I'm no more your mother/Than the cloud that
  distills a mirror to reflect its own
  slow/Effacement at the wind's hand.
• This stanza begins to hint at post partum
  depression the mother loses her sense of
  closeness towards the child
• The speaker feels that the child will serve as a
  mirror to the mothers own life as it slowly
  disappears

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Fourth Stanza

• All night your moth-breath/Flickers among the
  flat pink roses. I wake to listen/A far sea
  moves in my ear.
• The moth-breath identifies the babys delicacy
• The far sea is a metaphor for the childs
  constant noise the mother is always listening
  for any kind of distress

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Fifth Stanza

• One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and
  floral/In my Victorian nightgown.
• Cow-heavy refers to the post-birth weight of
  the mother and demonstrates how difficult it is
  to get up from bed
• This shows the mothers true devotion
• Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window
  square
• The comparison of the baby to an animal is
  another instance of the child appearing
  impersonal
• The open mouth indicates the babys hunger

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Sixth Stanza

• Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now
  you try/Your handful of notes/The clear vowels
  rise like balloons.
• As the dull stars are swallowed, day breaks and
  the baby begins to speak
• This stanza represents a huge shift from previous
  lines the poem appears almost uplifting in
  comparing the babys first noises to balloons

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Diction and Syntax

• The wording is simple yet the phrasing appears
  precise and formal
• The exception to his is the phrase cow-heavy,
  which is used to demonstrate the uncomfortable
  nature of the mother
• The diction changes throughout the poem while
  describing the birth the speaker uses bleak
  adjectives such as drafty and bald
• As the speaker narrates her life with the child,
  she begins to use slightly more pleasant language
  
• In stanzas four and five she uses floral language
  to describe her nightgown and her babys breath

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Diction and Syntax

• Although most stanzas are comprised of sentences,
  nearly the entire poem is told through metaphors
  and similes its not entirely straightforward

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Imagery

• Until the last stanza, the speaker employs a
  variety of melancholy images including a
  statue-like description of her child and a
  comparison of motherhood to the slow effacement
  of a cloud
• While describing the babys noises, Plath uses
  balloon imagery to convey optimism

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Conclusions

• The title refers to the last stanza of the poem,
  in which the babys first clear vowels are
  spoke after a difficult night with his mother
• As a whole, the poem deals with a mothers
  relationship with her child
• After giving birth and caring for the child, she
  is finally rewarded with the Morning Song,
  namely the babys first attempt at speech

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The Poem Again

• Love set you going like a fat gold watch.The
  midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald
  cryTook its place among the elements.Our
  voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New
  statue.In a drafty museum, your
  nakednessShadows our safety. We stand round
  blankly as walls.I'm no more your motherThan
  the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its
  own slowEffacement at the wind's hand.

• All night your moth-breathFlickers among the
  flat pink roses. I wake to listenA far sea
  moves in my ear.One cry, and I stumble from
  bed, cow-heavy and floralIn my Victorian
  nightgown.Your mouth opens clean as a cat's.
  The window squareWhitens and swallows its dull
  stars. And now you tryYour handful of
  notesThe clear vowels rise like balloons.

21
Bibliography

• "Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) - Pseudonym Victoria
  Lucas." Books and Writers. 2000. 28 Apr. 2008
  lthttp//www.kirjasto.sci.fi/splath.htmgt.
• (biography)
• http//www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/plath_
  sylvia/icons/plath.jpg
• (picture)