Analysis and Interpretation of Five Poems by Billy Collins
Embrace
Weighing the Dog
Passengers
Nightclub
Sonnet
Embrace
You know the parlor trick.
wrap your arms around your own body
and from the back it looks like
someone is embracing you
her hands grasping your shirt
her fingernails teasing your neck
from the front it is another story
you never looked so alone
your crossed elbows and screwy grin
you could be waiting for a tailor
to fit you with a straight jacket
one that would hold you really tight.
Analysis of “Embrace”
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Assonance:
o Examples: parlor and arms, hands and grasping, waiting and tailor
Consonance:
o Examples: trick and neck, straight and tight
End-stopped Line:
o Lines 1 and 12
Enjambment:
o Lines 2-11
Caesura:
o Lines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9
Form:
o Continuous
Structure:
o A continuous section of text that discusses each part of a “parlor trick” without
stopping from one description to another
Metaphor
Free Verse
Imagery
Interpretation of “Embrace”
“Embrace” is a poem that, by reading the title, causes the reader to believe that the
subject matter is warm and inviting. However, through Collins’ use of metaphor and imagery,
the reader quickly finds out that this is not the case at all.
The poem is a metaphor for a person’s loneliness driving them to do crazy things. The
“parlor trick,” the act of wrapping one’s own arms around their body so that it appears as though
they are being embraced, gives the illusion that the person is happy. In reality, this joke is a sad
attempt to make fun of an intimate act in order to mask the fact that the person suffers from
extreme loneliness. By performing this trick, the person tries to convince others that he is not
lonely because “from the back it looks like someone is embracing you.” But the act does not
convince the onlooker, because the person “never looked so alone.”
The metaphor proceeds to develop as the poem progresses. Another perspective of the
onlooker is that the person could be waiting to be fitted for a straight jacket that would hold them
tight. This implies that the person is insane. The insanity the person experiences can be
compared to the loneliness; it is crazy that they would resort to an act so immature to make it
seem that they are happy. The “parlor trick” serves as the foundation for the metaphor as its
illuminates the person’s descent into loneliness-driven insanity.
Another powerful element prominent throughout the poem is imagery, both visual and
tactile. The poem focuses on the illusion of the parlor trick in which an onlooker sees a person
embrace himself. The speaker states that the back looks like a warm embrace while the front is
“another story.” The speaker describes the person’s “crossed elbows and screwy grin,” two
details that physically depict the person’s childish act.
Tactile imagery is also prevalent in the poem in order to force the reader into the
perspective of the lonely person. “Her hands grasping your shirt, her fingernails teasing your
neck” is a phrase that puts the reader into the person’s shoes; the reader can picture the
imaginary woman tracing her fingers over their skin. This use of imagery is vital because it is a
relatable situation that allows the reader to see things from the other person’s perspective. It is at
this point in the poem when the reader truly realizes that this person is thirsting for another
human to make their loneliness disappear.
Although the poem does not contain a wide variety of literary devices, the two central
elements of metaphor and imagery speak volumes for the poem’s meaning. By taking a close
look at just these two poetic devices, the reader learns both how the lonely subject feels and how
others view him as well.
Weighing the Dog
It is awkward for me and bewildering for him
as I hold him in my arms in the small bathroom,
balancing our weight on the shaky blue scale,
but this is the way to weigh a dog and easier
than training him to sit obediently on one spot
with his tongue out, waiting for the cookie.
With pencil and paper I subtract my weight
from our total to find out the remainder that is his,
and I start to wonder if there is an analogy here.
It could not have to do with my leaving you
though I never figured out what you amounted to
until I subtracted myself from our combination.
You held me in your arms more than I held you
through all those awkward and bewildering months
and now we are both lost in strange and distant neighborhoods.
Analysis of “Weighing the Dog”
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Alliteration:
o Example: pencil and Paper
Assonance:
o Example: weight and shaky
Caesura
End-stopped Line:
o Lines 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 15
Enjambment:
o Lines 4 and 7
Form:
o Stanzaic
Stanza
Free Verse
Imagery
Symbol:
o Weighing a dog as an analogy for lost love
Structure:
o Each major idea is in a separate stanza
Synesthesia:
o Example: “shaky blue scale”
Interpretation of “Weighing the Dog”
In the poem “Weighing the Dog,” Collins uses a lighthearted extended metaphor as “an
analogy” for growing distant from a loved one. The tone, while describing the humorous task of
weighing a dog, is light and conveys the image of a person picking up a dog and standing on a
scale. The tone, though light, is also a bit “awkward” and “bewildering,” because the tone causes
the reader to see through the eyes of the person taking on this strange task.
In the third stanza, as the speaker subtracts his own weight from the total to determine the
physical weight of the dog, he begins to “wonder if there is an analogy” in the act. At this point
of the poem, the tone shifts from light to heavy; the poem strays away from the abstract and silly
task of weighing dogs to talking about the speaker’s lost love.
Until he thought about the situation as an analogy, the speaker had never realized how
much weight his lover had held in his life. He never appreciated her true value until he had
removed himself from the total weight of their relationship. His lover, though he began to lose
love for her, was more important to his life than he had originally understood. Unfortunately for
him, he had to end the relationship to fully grasp this. The speaker discovered that his life
became less full after he left the relationship. The speaker reveals that his partner was more
involved in their relationship than he was by referring to himself as he had the dog: “You held
me in your arms more than I held you through all those awkward and bewildering months.”
This poem gains its effectiveness by drawing the reader in with an interesting image of an
absurd situation, and then continues to discuss the situation’s deeper meaning. However, the
lighthearted beginning allows for the deeper, depressing ending to not seem as dark.
Passengers
At the gate, I sit in a row of blue seats
with the possible company of my death,
this sprawling miscellany of people—
carry-on bags and paperbacks—
that could be gathered in a flash
into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.
Not that I think
if our plane crumpled into a mountain
we would all ascend together,
holding hands like a ring of skydivers,
into a sudden gasp of brightness,
or that there would be some common place
for us to reunite to jubilize the moment,
some spaceless, pillarless Greece
where we could, at the count of three,
toss our ashes into the sunny air.
It's just that the way that man has his briefcase
so carefully arranged,
the way that girl is cooling her tea,
and the flow of the comb that woman
passes through her daughter's hair ...
and when you consider the altitude,
the secret parts of the engines,
and all the hard water and the deep canyons below ...
well, I just think it would be good if one of us
maybe stood up and said a few words,
or, so as not to involve the police,
at least quietly wrote something down.
Analysis of “Passengers”
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Approximate Rhyme:
o Examples: paperbacks and flash, Greece and three, open and road
Alliteration:
o Example: holding hands
Assonance:
o Examples: gathered and flash, flow and comb
Consonance:
o Examples: “spaceless, pillarless Greece”
End-stopped Line
Enjambment:
o Examples: Lines 1 and 5
Form:
o Continuous
Free Verse
Imagery
Simile:
o Example: “Like a ring of skydivers”
Metonymy:
o Line 4
Interpretation of “Passengers”
Outwardly, the speaker of “Passengers” by Billy Collins may seem to fear death.
However, a closer look shows that the speaker is more curious of death than he is afraid of it and
that he questions why nobody acknowledges death until it is right around the corner. Above all,
the speaker wishes to be remembered once his time has come.
The speaker’s curiosity is shown as he wonders what would happen if the plane were to
crash. If the plane “crumpled into a mountain,” he did not believe that the passengers would fall
to their death “holding hands like a ring of skydivers.” He also wonders what impact a crash
would make on the “hard water and deep canyons” the plane flew over. The speaker discusses
death as something that is daunting, but his fear is actually overpowered by his curiosity.
As the speaker is curious about what would happen if everyone were to die, he also
questions why no one else on the plane appears to be afraid of their possible death. He observes
the other passengers doing calm, normal tasks, such as cooling their tea or brushing their
daughters’ hair. He feels the urge to stand up and acknowledge the fact that they all may die,
since nobody else appears to realize the direness of their situation. The speaker feels that all of
them could die at any moment, but does not understand how no one else recognizes this.
The speaker may seem to be afraid or curious of death because he fears that he will not be
remembered when he passes. He wishes to “at least quietly [write] something down” rather than
stand up and speak. This desire makes it apparent that he wants there to be evidence of his
existence. If they were to all die in a plane crash, at least his words would be written down so
that what he created would live on.
Nightclub
You are so beautiful and I am a fool
to be in love with you
is a theme that keeps coming up
in songs and poems.
There seems to be no room for variation.
I have never heard anyone sing
I am so beautiful
and you are a fool to be in love with me,
even though this notion has surely
crossed the minds of women and men alike.
You are so beautiful, too bad you are a fool
is another one you don't hear.
Or, you are a fool to consider me beautiful.
That one you will never hear, guaranteed.
For no particular reason this afternoon
I am listening to Johnny Hartman
whose dark voice can curl around
the concepts on love, beauty, and foolishness
like no one else's can.
It feels like smoke curling up from a cigarette
someone left burning on a baby grand piano
around three o'clock in the morning;
smoke that billows up into the bright lights
while out there in the darkness
some of the beautiful fools have gathered
around little tables to listen,
some with their eyes closed,
others leaning forward into the music
as if it were holding them up,
or twirling the loose ice in a glass,
slipping by degrees into a rhythmic dream.
Yes, there is all this foolish beauty,
borne beyond midnight,
that has no desire to go home,
especially now when everyone in the room
is watching the large man with the tenor sax
that hangs from his neck like a golden fish.
He moves forward to the edge of the stage
and hands the instrument down to me
and nods that I should play.
So I put the mouthpiece to my lips
and blow into it with all my living breath
We are all so foolish,
my long bebop solo begins by saying,
so damn foolish
we have become beautiful without even knowing it.
Analysis of “Nightclub”
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Allusion:
o Johnny Hartman’s songs
Approximate Rhyme:
o Example: Hartman and can
Assonance:
o Example: You and beautiful
Consonance:
o Example: Loose, ice, and glass
End-stopped Line:
o Lines 4, 5, 8, etc.
Enjambment
Euphony:
o Example: “You are so beautiful and I am a fool”
Form:
o Continuous
Free Verse
Imagery
Simile:
o Example: “like a golden fish”
Structure:
o Each idea is separated into different sections
Interpretation of “Nightclub”
The poem “Nightclub” discusses how the love of beauty and the beauty in love are two
ways to say the same thing. Love and beauty, to the speaker, are the same thing. The imagery
Collins presents makes the scene, and the beauty, come alive.
The poem alludes to songs performed by jazz singer Johnny Hartman, who the speaker
feels truly understands the ideas of love, beauty, and foolishness. The use of imagery makes the
reader understand how perceptive the speaker is about love, beauty, and foolishness as well. The
“foolishness” discussed in the beginning is what the speaker believes makes people beautiful.
The final two lines discuss how people are foolish. The speaker’s feelings of people and
how strongly he feels about the subject is shown in the second to last line, when he repeats how
“damn foolish” people are. In the very last line, the speaker states that people are so foolish that
they “become beautiful without even knowing it.” The perceptions of love and beauty are
brought to life through the speaker’s feelings on the concept of foolishness.
Sonnet
All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now,
and after this one just a dozen
to launch a little ship on love's storm-tossed seas,
then only ten more left like rows of beans.
How easily it goes unless you get Elizabethan
and insist the iambic bongos must be played
and rhymes positioned at the ends of lines,
one for every station of the cross.
But hang on here wile we make the turn
into the final six where all will be resolved,
where longing and heartache will find an end,
where Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen,
take off those crazy medieval tights,
blow out the lights, and come at last to bed.
Analysis of “Sonnet”
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Allusion:
o Examples: Alludes to Petrarch’s sonnets to Laura; Sonnets were popular in the
Elizabethan era
Approximate Rhyme:
o Examples: end and pen, seas and beans
Rhyme:
o Example: Lights and tights
Cliché:
o Example: “love’s stormed tossed seas”
Alliteration:
o Example: launch, little, and love;
Assonance:
o Examples: ten and left, this and ship, insist and positioned
End-stopped Line:
o Lines 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Form:
o Fixed
Sonnet
Italian Sonnet
o Octave and Sestet
Free Verse:
o Does not actually follow the typical conventions of a sonnet
Iambic Pentameter:
o Line 14
Imagery
Irony:
o Writing a sonnet criticizing a sonnet
Interpretation of “Sonnet”
The purpose of the poem “Sonnet” by Billy Collins is to criticize the use of sonnets. The
poem is written in fourteen lines, like a sonnet, but does not follow the traditional conventions of
rhyme or meter that sonnets typically contain. The poem contains a deliberate cliché, (“love’s
storm-tossed seas”) to illustrate the fact that sonnets themselves are cliché.
The first eight lines and the last six lines, however, create an octave and a sestet, though
not the traditional type, that define Italian or Petrarchan sonnets. The first eight lines discuss the
writing of the sonnet and Collins’ criticism. The last six, contain the “turn” that establishes the
resolution. The poem alludes to Petrarch’s sonnets to Laura and makes it seem as though even
Laura thought that Petrarch was crazy for writing his series of sonnets.
This poem is Collins’ ironic criticism for the use of sonnets in modern poetry. As the
majority of Collin’s poetry is free verse, use of a sonnet to criticize the writing of sonnets is
especially ironic.
Analysis and Interpretation of Five Poems from the Textbook
Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick
That night when joy began by W. H. Auden
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers by Adrienne Rich
Since there’s no help by Michael Drayton
Metaphors by Sylvia Plath
“Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthralls the crimson stomacher;
A cuff neglected, and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly;
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoestring, in whose tie
I see a wild civility;
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.
Analysis of “Delight in Disorder”
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Alliteration:
o Examples: disorder and dress, “winning wave”
Assonance:
o Example: “shoulders thrown”
End Rhyme
Rhyme
End-stopped Line
o Lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12
Enjambment:
o Lines 3, 5, 7, 11, 13
Foot
Stress
Iamb
Meter:
o Tetrameter
Form:
o Continuous
Imagery
Oxymoron:
o Examples: “sweet disorder,” “fine distraction,” “flow confusedly,” “wild civility”
Interpretation of “Delight in Disorder”
In “Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick, a speaker discusses a variety of a woman’s
clothes and their imperfections, but still finds the woman to be beautiful. Throughout the poem,
oxymorons are prevalent. The phrases “sweet disorder,” “fine distraction,” “flow confusedly,”
and “wild civility” illustrate how the speaker finds her flaws unimportant because the woman he
loves is beautiful regardless.
Along with the frequent use of oxymorons to make the point, the rhyme scheme is not
always perfect. About half of the end rhymes used are approximate rhymes and not therefore are
imperfect. However, the choice of words still make the poem beautiful, much like how the
speaker finds the woman beautiful despite her imperfections. The final two lines conclude the
speaker’s feelings by stating that he finds faults more beautiful than when everything is “too
precise in every part.”
Through the speaker’s use of multiple oxymorons and an imperfect rhyme scheme, he
illustrates how beauty is truly appreciated when one can accept and love their partner’s
imperfections.
That night when joy began by W. H. Auden
That night when joy began
Our narrowest veins to flush,
We waited for the flash
Of morning's leveled gun.
But morning let us pass,
And day by day relief
Outgrows his nervous laugh,
Grown credulous of peace,
As mile by mile is seen
No trespasser's reproach,
And love's best glasses reach
No fields but are his own.
Analysis of “That night when joy began”
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Alliteration:
o Example: pass and peace
Assonance:
o 1st and 4th lines of each stanza
Consonance:
o 2nd and 3rd lines of each stanza
End-stopped Line
o Lines 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12
Approximate Rhyme:
o Every other line of each stanza
Meter:
o Trimeter
Foot
Iamb
Cadence
Stress
Form:
o Stanzaic
Stanza:
o Each of three have the same patterns of assonance and consonance
Interpretation of “That night when joy began”
W. H. Auden’s poem, “That night when joy began,” is an account of how the speaker at
first believed that good things must come to an end, but then settled in to the idea that things may
work out for him. The speaker refers the first night he had with his partner as “that night when
joy began.” They were happy with their lives and each other. However, they assumed their joy
would be abruptly ended as they “waited for the flash of morning’s leveled gun.”
The next stanza discusses how the morning came and they were still happy together.
Nothing had ended their joy, and they began to believe that their happiness and togetherness
would actually last. The final stanza tells how, as time progresses, the lovers become more
comfortable with each other and become increasingly less worried about their love and happiness
ending. The last two lines refer to the fact that their love will not be diminished no matter how
far and clearly into the future they look.
Throughout the poem, the rhymes are made up of approximate rhymes and an intricate
pattern of assonance and consonance. The approximate rhymes, as well as the progression of
assonance in the first and third lines of each stanza and consonance in the second two, signify
that the lovers’ happiness continues to grow, though anxiously. Auden was an openly gay man in
a time period where homosexuality was considered a crime. Had the lovers been found, they
could have been sentenced to prison. But their happiness did not end, and they were allowed to
love each other, however anxiously, for a very long time.
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers by Adrienne Rich
Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
Analysis of “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”
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Alliteration:
o Example: sleek and certainty
Assonance:
o Example: beneath and tree
Consonance:
o Example: “sleek chivalric,” “topaz denizens”
End Rhyme
Rhyme
End-stopped Line:
o Lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Enjambment:
Lines 7 and 11
Caesura:
o Line 5
Form:
o Stanzaic
Imagery
Symbol
Stanza
Structure:
o Separate ideas are in separate stanzas.
Interpretation of “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”
A wife’s oppression is the issue discussed in Adrienne Rich’s “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers.”
The poem tells the story about the speaker’s aunt, who embroidered a pair of tigers in a scene to
escape from her husband’s overbearing behavior. The tigers represent the qualities Aunt Jennifer
wishes to possess; they do not fear and they are confident. The tigers pace in “chivalric
certainty,” so while they represent what Aunt Jennifer wishes for herself, they may also represent
what she wishes for her husband. If she is living under the rule of an over-controlling husband,
she may imagine him as gentlemanly and chivalric in her fantasy land; she imagines this world
as an escape from her imperfect and oppressive marriage.
The second stanza truly makes it clear that Aunt Jennifer is directly influenced by what
her husband says. Her fingers “find even the ivory needle hard to pull,” so although she creates a
fantasy world to escape to, her husband’s constant disapproval makes it difficult for Aunt
Jennifer to allow herself this happiness. The weight of “Uncle’s wedding band” is not used
literally, but figuratively; the weight of her husband’s constant presence and judgment weighs
heavily upon anything Aunt Jennifer does.
The final stanza abruptly states that Aunt Jennifer will die terrified of her husband. Like
tigers in a circus, Aunt Jennifer was “mastered” and will die “ringed with ordeals.” She learned
to live her life in the shadow of her husband, and such is the way she will always live. When she
dies, the tigers she created in her fantasy land “will go on prancing proud and unafraid,” because
Aunt Jennifer would finally be free from the oppression created by her husband.
Since there’s no help by Michael Drayton
Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part,
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me,
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain.
Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,
When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And Innocence is closing up his eyes,
Now, if thou wouldst, when all have giv'n him over,
From death to life thou might'st him yet recover.
Analysis of “Since there’s no help”
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Alliteration:
o Examples: come and kiss, cleanly and cancel
Assonance:
o Examples: “no more,” cleanly and free
Consonance:
o Example: again and seen
Allegory:
o Lines 9-12
Dramatic Monologue
End Rhyme
End-stopped Line:
o Lines 1, 2, 3, etc.
Enjambment:
o Line 7
Foot
Stress
Form:
o Fixed
English Sonnet
Sonnet
Iamb
Masculine Rhyme:
o Three quatrains
Feminine Rhyme:
o Concluding couplet
Meter
o Iambic Pentameter
Quatrain
Couplet
Synecdoche:
o Example: “with all my heart”
Interpretation of “Since there’s no help”
Michael Drayton’s “Since there’s no help” is a sonnet that describes a speaker’s feeling
of dying love. The first three quatrains discuss how he wishes to end the relationship with his
lover. He wishes for the love to end completely, so that if they should see each other again, it
should not be evident that they retain “one jot of former love.” He feels that freedom can only be
attained by ending the relationship, and is confident in his assessment that it should end.
In the third quatrain, the speaker personifies Love, Passion, Faith, and Innocence and
uses imagery to show how he feels the love has already faded away. The couple is at the “last
gasp” of their love, and the “pulse [is] failing.” Faith is personified to be kneeling by the bedside
as Passion fades from their relationship. As their relationship fails, Innocence dies with their love
as well, since it is often this perspective that is viewed through the eyes of young people in love.
The poem dramatically shifts in the final couplet, as the speaker addresses the reader as
his lover and tells her that it is up to her for their love to be saved. Although the three quatrains
discussed the speaker’s lack of hope left for the relationship, he still feels that there may be a
chance and that only the woman could save their love. Throughout the poem, the reader feels that
the speaker is in control of his feelings toward their love, but the final couplet states otherwise.
His only hope for restoring their love resides in the decision of the woman.
Metaphors by Sylvia Plath
I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.
Analysis of “Metaphors”
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Alliteration:
o Examples: two tendrils, money and minted, cow in calf
Assonance:
o Example: bag and apples
Consonance:
o Examples: house and purse, calf and off
End-stopped Line
Form:
o Continuous
Imagery
Metaphor
Structure:
o Nine lines and the nine syllables per line reflects the speaker’s pregnancy
Interpretation of “Metaphors”
“Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath is a unique way for Plath to discuss her pregnancy. The
poem itself contains nine lines, one for each month of gestation. Likewise, each individual line
contains nine syllables. The poem, like the title suggests, is a series of metaphors that represents
her progressing pregnancy.
“I’m a riddle in nine syllables” sets the stage for what is to come, both in the poem and in
this period of her life. The poem could be considered a riddle because it is never expressly stated
that the subject of the poem is Plath’s pregnancy. It is up to the reader to solve the riddle and
determine what the poem is focused on.
The second line begins to describe how Plath feels about her body. She infuses comedy
into the image by referring to herself as “an elephant” when she is alluding to the size her body
has become through the pregnancy. “A ponderous house” refers to her body as a place of
dwelling for the baby, and gives the reader an idea of Plath’s feelings on her pregnancy; she is
pondering what life will be like when the baby is born.
The third line is also based in comedy as Plath is poking fun at her appearance again. “A
melon strolling on two tendrils” evokes a strong image in the reader’s mind of how the woman
looks in her pregnancy. The “fruit” in line four brings back the idea of the melon, and also the
idea of the baby. As fruits are the valued product of the plant, the baby will be what is produced
by the person. Similarly, “ivory” is a valuable material and “fine timbers” are used to build
houses. All objects mentioned in line four describe how valuable the baby will be, especially
compared to the producer, Plath. She feels as though the baby will be more valued than herself.
Line five refers to the growth of the child during pregnancy. The child is developing
inside its mother like a loaf of bread rises in an oven. Lines six and seven once again refer to the
value of the child over the value of the mother; money is, of course, worth more than the purse,
just as the stage is not valued as much as what plays out on it nor is the cow valued more than the
calf. These two lines again show how Plath fears that the unborn child will be worth more to the
world than she is.
In the last two lines, the reader truly gains an understanding about Plath’s feelings toward
her pregnancy. These lines do not focus on the pregnancy, but rather they show how Plath feels
trapped in the situation. Line 8 could be alluding to the biblical tale of how Eve ate the forbidden
fruit and was condemned from God’s presence. In this case, the speaker ate an entire bag of the
forbidden apples, and feels trapped and alone in the situation. Lastly, she feels as though there is
no escape because she has “boarded the train” from which there is “no getting off.”
Original Poetry
Future Plans
Long
Frustrated
Future Plans
I know you’ve been trying
to work everything out.
I know it’s been difficult
and everyone’s had their doubts
except you. This is what you want.
And I can’t even say
anything at all to you
that would ever make you stay.
I’ve begged and I’ve pleaded,
I’ve tried to get inside your head,
but nothing I’ve tried has worked
despite all the things I’ve said.
And the sad part is, I’m just selfish
because you’re doing this for me
so that we can have a future.
I guess your reality
is just different than mine,
because I don’t see why
this is the path you have to take
when there are other options to try.
You’ll be strong and I won’t be
so I don’t know whose shoulder
I’ll be able to cry on
when you’re off being a soldier.
Long
Often I drive you home after
Long days
And on the way there
We fight over stupid things
Just because we’ve been together for a
Long time.
When I pull into your driveway,
We stare at each other
And we mutter half-hearted apologies
Because we both know that in the morning
The fight will be
Long over.
On my way home, I always
Roll down my window
Just to clear out the air
Of the things both you and I said out of frustration.
In the silent miles home,
I look for cars like mine
With the driver’s side window rolled down
In thirty five degree weather
And I wonder if they just had another
Meaningless
Fight too.
Frustrated
I always get so frustrated when
Things.
Pile.
Up.
And I never know what to do
Because I’m terrible
At managing my life.
So instead of working through it, I
Shut.
Myself.
Down.
And it never really helps
Because I’m awful
At moving past complications.
I make myself so angry by
Hiding.
From my.
Problems.
And I forget what it’s like
To relax and be happy
So my matters get worse.
I wish I would be smart and
Try.
To find.
Solutions.
And possibly fix my issues
With time and other factors
So things get better.