This poem begins, “I’m a riddle in nine syllables” and it’s made up of nine lines that each consist of, yep, nine syllables. As we can gather from the title, the poem is chock-full of metaphors and the meaning doesn’t necessarily leap out right away. However, if we think about what the metaphors signify, we can tell that Plath’s talking about pregnancy—that would explain the “riddle” of the number nine (as in nine months), right?
Plus, the speaker makes lots of references to fruit, fatness, and growth, and, because of what we know of pregnancy in both a physical and cultural sense, it doesn’t take long for us to get the memo. We also get an idea of how she feels about this when she refers to herself as “An elephant, a ponderous house,” which suggests she sees herself as a huge, lumbering figure (we’re talking an epic fat day here).
This poem therefore relies on our ability to interpret metaphors, and, because of this, we can tell that the speaker isn’t exactly glowing with the joys of impending motherhood.
What is the value or effect of using metaphors rather than describing something literally?
In line six, Plath writes, “Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.” Keeping in mind the theme of the poem, what does she mean by this?