Metaphors
The pregnant speaker feels herself like an unsolved question because she does not know the sex of the unborn baby. Her body is big and rounded like an elephant , a big house or a melon. The growing baby inside is valuable like ivory and well built. It is like a newly minted coin inside her. She feels that she is helpless like a pregnant cow because she is only a means. She has eaten a green apples to satisfy her desire to eat something sour. The baby is inside but she does not know when it comes out.
Summary
The pregnant speaker feels herself like an unsolved question because she does not know the sex of the unborn baby. Her body is big and rounded like an elephant , a big house or a melon. The growing baby inside is valuable like ivory and well built. It is like a newly minted coin inside her. She feels that she is helpless like a pregnant cow because she is only a means. She has eaten a green apples to satisfy her desire to eat something sour. The baby is inside but she does not know when it comes out.
Things to Remember
- The poem "Metaphor", is a nine-syllable nine lines poem, beautifully composed by Slyvia Plath.
- The nine-syllable nine lines what we find in this poem are remarkably symbolic meaning of nine-months pregnancy.
- All metaphors, what we find in this poem such as elephant-body, ponderous house-slow and awkward weighty body etc. relate to herself or to her pregnancy.
- Sylvia Plath, the great exponent of the poetry of neurosis, has presented this poem with deep psychological treatment.
- She thinks of the poem, what poem is she going to produce? She has shown inter-connection between the fixed cycle of pregnancy and the poetic form the nine-syllable nine lines.
MCQs
No MCQs found.
Subjective Questions
Q1:
Write about health issues in Nepal?
Type: Long Difficulty: Easy
<p><strong>Domestic violence and rape</strong></p>
<p>Nepal is a predominantly patriarchal society where societal values and norms hugely influence attitudes and responsibilities, sometimes leading to domestic violence. Deeply rooted societal customs, like where women are obligated to greet their husbands and in-laws after waking up and eating from husbands plates after they are done eating, are part of the factors that indirectly contributes to male dominated psychology. This mentality of male domination through such customs often leads to domestic violence. women believe a husband is justified in beating an unfaithful wife.Almost half of reported that they had experienced violence at some time in their lives. Emotional violence was most commonly reported, followed by physical violence, sexual violence , and economic abuse/violence. Social exclusion was less commonly reported, A large percentage of women who had experienced violence had not shared or discussed their experiences with anyone. Women who faced economic violence were more likely to share their experiences with someone than those faced sexual, emotional or physical violence., it brought tangible legal changes to sexual violence against women. A major achievement of this act is the provision that an offender convicted of rape must compensate the victim for mental and physical damage.</p>
<p><strong>future health concern</strong></p>
<p>More than 70 percent of Nepal’s population works in agriculture, yet this South Asian country struggles to produce an adequate and affordable supply of food. Declining agricultural production has depressed rural economies and increased widespread hunger and urban migration. Two out of every three Nepalese suffer from food insecurity each year, and nearly half the population is undernourished.</p>
<p>The underlying causes of hunger, poverty, and undernutrition in Nepal include low agricultural productivity; limited livelihood opportunities; weak market linkages; inadequate production and consumption of nutritious foods; poor infrastructure; and inadequate government resources. Gender and caste relationships play an important role in food security, as a majority of women and many disadvantaged persons work in agriculture; yet they often do not have access to property ownership or cash. Furthermore, women and children typically suffer greater levels of hunger and poverty than men. Nearly half of all children under 5 are chronically malnourished.</p>
<p>Goal: Reduce prevalence of poverty in the areas where Feed the Future works to 28 percent.</p>
<p>Goal: Reduce the prevalence of stunting in children under 5 years old in the areas where Feed the Future works to 20 percent.</p>
<p>To achieve its goals, Feed the Future is making key investments to:</p>
<p>Enhanced agricultural productivity</p>
<p>Increase livelihood opportunities</p>
<ul>
<li>Facilitate access to markets</li>
<li>Improve nutrition and hygiene</li>
<li>increase resilience of vulnerable communities and households through skills development</li>
</ul>
<p>Feed the Future is focusing its efforts in targeted regions and value chains to maximize impact.</p>
<p><strong>Value Chains</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Vegetables</li>
<li>Cereals (Rice and Maize)</li>
<li>Lentils</li>
<li>Livestock</li>
</ul>
Videos
No videos found.
Metaphors
Metaphors : Sylvia Plath
Summary:
The poem "Metaphor", is a nine-syllable nine lines poem, beautifully composed by Slyvia Plath. It describes the nine months of gestation of the speaker.
The speaker is a pregnant. She feels herself a walking riddle because she does not know what person (a boy or a girl) she is carrying. She is waiting for a solution. Because of the baby inside, she looks like an elephant or a big house. Her body is large and rounded, so when she walks slowly. She looks like a melon as well as her legs look like two tendrils. She addresses the unborn baby. She calls it a red fruit growing round and full like plum or an apple. It seems as precious as ivory. It is fine-timbered in sinew and bone like a well-built horse. It is getting and developing larger like a loaf. The baby is like a fat purse. The speaker feels her helplessness as she is only a means or a stage. She is like a pregnant cow. During her pregnancy she has fulfilled her desire to eat sour things by eating a bag of green apples. The passenger (the baby) has got into the train but she does not know when it will get off. So she is surprised.
Application of Four Levels
1. Literal Comprehension:
The pregnant speaker feels herself like an unsolved question because she does not know the sex of the unborn baby. Her body is big and rounded like an elephant , a big house or a melon. The growing baby inside is valuable like ivory and well built. It is like a newly minted coin inside her. She feels that she is helpless like a pregnant cow because she is only a means. She has eaten a green apples to satisfy her desire to eat something sour. The baby is inside but she does not know when it comes out.
2. Interpretation:
The nine-syllable nine lines what we find in this poem are remarkably symbolic meaning of nine-months pregnancy. Each line is of nine syllables: I’m rid dle in nine syl la bles, and the whole poem has nine lines. But these are indication of nine months of gestation. All metaphors, what we find in this poem such as elephant-body, ponderous house-slow and awkward weighty body etc. relate to herself or to her pregnancy. It is certainly very humorous and self-mocking poem with disturbed state of mind for what she is going to bear after nine months or her nine-syllable nine lines poem.
Sylvia Plath, the great exponent of the poetry of neurosis, has presented this poem with deep psychological treatment. As per poetry is generally notable for its controlled and intense treatment of extremely painful states of mind, this present poem "Metaphors" is equally important for metaphorical theme of the poet's pregnancy. She has thought of the resemblances that lie between both these poem and baby. Physically and mentally both are in her, and she has been herself a walking riddle, passing a question that awaits solution, what person is she carrying? In other words, she thinks of the poem, what poem is she going to produce? She has shown inter-connection between the fixed cycle of pregnancy and the poetic form the nine-syllable nine lines.
3. Critical Thinking:
Though this poem successfully describes the condition of a pregnant woman, yet some ideas presented in the poem are less convincing. Irrespective of the time when this poem was composed, nowadays the modern technology has enabled us to disclose the gender of the baby inside the womb. In addition, she has overlooked the exceptional cases of pregnancy like giving birth to baby in more or less than nine months. The speaker is not clear about the number of children she had given birth to. Is this her first time pregnancy or she is already used to it? Is she a single mother?
Comparing the unborn baby with loaf and dough (money) is inhuman. The latter of these two comparisons reveal the intention of the speaker behind giving birth to the baby, that is, he or she will support her financially in the future. Besides, if she is unhappy with being pregnant, it's her own error. She should have thought of it in advance or before sex. It will have been better if she has used contraceptive while having intercourse with to-be-daddy of to-be-born baby. Still after the conception, she can get abortion, provided that is legal to have one. So, technically this poem seems to be anachronous. Plath seems to concentrate on the symptoms and things that happened to her during the pregnancy rather than the fact that she is bringing another life into the world.
4. Assimilation:
By reading this poem I knew a great deal about the pregnant woman. Her desire to eat something sour is common all over the world. When I read this poem I can see a pregnant woman in my mind. I also knew how helpless she feels because she cannot do anything with his inevitable thing. She feels herself like a means, who is used to satisfy somebody else's desire.
(Subedi, K.P. and Bhandari, M.B. (2014). Business English. Kathmandu: Highland Publication P. Ltd.)
Lesson
Poems
Subject
English -II
Grade
Bachelor of Business Administration
Recent Notes
No recent notes.
Related Notes
No related notes.