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Child by Sylvia Plath


She wants them to find their happiness, even if she cannot give it to them. Every time that the speaker seems to be finding some sort of rehabilitation, another step towards internal happiness, she seems to have some form of relapse. This relapse is represented by an abrupt break in the stanza structure, which causes for a delayed sentence format. "Little/ Stalk without wrinkle," Line 6 & 7. This quote spoken by the speaker to the audience shows how the random break in the stanza can take away the rhythm in a poem. Without the rhythm, reading the poem isn't as enjoyable, kind of like how without happiness, life isn't as enjoyable. This thief of happiness, this mental condition, has every capability of taking away an individual's entitled bliss. .
             Plath argues to those who have a difficult time understanding the definition of a mental illness, that depression has the potential to have an immense toll on one's life. In the poem, Plath uses implied metaphors to reinforce this idea. An implied metaphor is a type of metaphor that compares two unlike things, but does so without mentioning one of them. "Indian pipe" (5). An Indian pipe, also known as the "corpse plant" does not contain chlorophyll, which gives it a unique white coloration. The lack of chlorophyll forces the plant to generate its own energy from the sunlight. When touched, the plant turns black and withers away. Plath uses this indirect metaphor to suggest that when life brushes against her just a little bit, she retreats into her depression, away from her happiness. "April snowdrop" (5) is another example of an implied metaphor. The snowdrop is a white bulbous plant that self circulates. The author is indicating that a child is like a snowdrop because a child is pure, like the color white, and can replenish it's mind by itself. The author is hoping that their child will not have the disability in which they can not reset their mind because of a mental condition.


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