Metaphors

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.

One thing that I liked about this poem was the fact that each line had nine syllables in it, and how she put the words together to achieve this.

One thing that I did not like about this poem was all of the references that the author used in the poem. She referred to herself as many different things, and that made it difficult to actually figure out what she was talking about.

One thing that confused me about the poem was the structure of how the poem was worded. Many of the sayings in the lines confused me and it was hard to understand what the author was talking about in the poem.

The main literary device in this passage is the use of metaphors. A metaphor is an analogy between two objects or ideas, conveyed by the use of a word instead of another. A prime example of a metaphor in this poem is, "A melon strolling on two tendrils." Melons do not walk, so therefore this is an example of a metaphor used throughout this poem.