The Sow by Sylvia Plath :: Poem Poetry

Sylvia Plaths poem, Sow, depicts a beast of mythic proportions by dint of various images, comparisons, and specific contrive choices. By presenting the fertilise from both the point of view of its owner, neighbor, and of the vocaliser, Plath paints a bright picture of farmyard decadence that the reader can relate to. The first one-third stanzas present an image of neighbor as a secretive, but designing farmer. He is shrouded in mystery to the narrator and her companions, as is his enceinte prize-winning sow, impounded from customary stare. He distinctly views the sow as a source of great pride, but also something very secret and personal. Even his barn takes on a mystical quality as the narrator wanders its lantern-corridors as if in a maze. In fact, the speaker will only venture in at dusk to try and catch a glimpse of the wonderous beast. Upon see it for the first time (and throughout the remainder of the poem), the speaker describes the sow apply a number of compariso ns to which the reader can easily relate. First, this was no chinaware piggy bank it had to be taken seriously nor a poor fish pig ripe for heckling it was much too prized to eat. Due to the sows obvious majesty, the narrator is assured that it will never meet the fate of its parsley- haloed cousins (dinner). Nor is the sow uniform other common sows, content just to raise their litters. Finally, the speaker compares the sow, through a literary allusion, to the vast Brobdingnag race of Gullivers Travels, effectively assessing its massive frame. The sow is also given (excuse the pun) dimension through the narrators diction. Words like gape and marvel express her personal wonder at seeing it, while its demeanor and royal massiveness are also shown through specific diction such as lounged, bulk, belly-bedded and dream-filmed. And, in the last stanza, a final allusion attributes to the animal a universal and monumental power, with a barnyard convolution proceeded to swill the seven troughed seas and every earthquaking continent.