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Poet: Sylvia Plath
Poem: Stillborn
Volume: The Collected Poems
Year: Published/Written in 1960
Comment 13 of 13, added on January 19th, 2008 at 3:34 AM.
it is easy to perceive the poem to be about a stillborn child, however plath uses the metaphor of a stillborn child to portray her distress over her, apparently, lifeless poetry.
the extended metaphor is introduced in beginning of the first stanza "these poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis." plath then continues to describe the intricacies of the poems, and how, technicaly, they were flawless. "they grew their toes and fingers well enough... and still the lungs won't fill and the heart won't start"
upon reading the poem, the viewer is somewhat taken aback by the truculence and rawness of the language However upon another reading, it is the ambiguity and repugnance that help us to fully comprehend the emotional distress these defective poems were causing plath. "they are not pigs, they are not even fish Though they have a piggy and a fishy air."
the change in persona also shows plaths' changing views on her poetry.
the poem commences in the first person " O I cannot understand what happened to them!" in the third stanza, however, there is a shift to the third person. "but they are dead, and their mother near dead with distraction." this shows her extrication from her poetry.
I hope that was helpful in interpreting the poem.
peace&love
nicolaaaa :) from Australia
Comment 12 of 13, added on June 14th, 2007 at 12:13 AM.
this poem is just amazing.. the way sylvia works with her language.. and the dead poems and grotesque imagery such as the pickling fluid or the piggy and fishy air... the title stillborn could be for the stillborn children of any woman or sylvias poem which is dead from the beginning, because such a horrible experience, giving birth to a dead child, cannot be explained with words.
Mell from Germany
Comment 11 of 13, added on April 5th, 2006 at 3:17 PM.
I don't know how you could write something so cold! I recently lost my daughter who was stillborn. this poem is sad in a disgusting way.
Morgan from United States
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Comments
it is easy to perceive the poem to be about a stillborn child, however plath uses the metaphor of a stillborn child to portray her distress over her, apparently, lifeless poetry.
the extended metaphor is introduced in beginning of the first stanza "these poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis." plath then continues to describe the intricacies of the poems, and how, technicaly, they were flawless. "they grew their toes and fingers well enough... and still the lungs won't fill and the heart won't start"
upon reading the poem, the viewer is somewhat taken aback by the truculence and rawness of the language However upon another reading, it is the ambiguity and repugnance that help us to fully comprehend the emotional distress these defective poems were causing plath. "they are not pigs, they are not even fish Though they have a piggy and a fishy air."
the change in persona also shows plaths' changing views on her poetry.
the poem commences in the first person " O I cannot understand what happened to them!" in the third stanza, however, there is a shift to the third person. "but they are dead, and their mother near dead with distraction." this shows her extrication from her poetry.
I hope that was helpful in interpreting the poem.
peace&love
nicolaaaa :) from Australia