“Morning Song” has been written by Sylvia Plath as a part of her “Ariel” collection. This poem reveals her personal issues through a mixture of somber and joyous moments. Sylvia Plath has made the poem extremely powerful by using ironic wit, metaphors, fantastic imagery, assonance, and controlled stanzas. A number of different themes have been addressed by the poetess in this poem, including, marriage, depression, and maternity issues. Another theme addressed by this poem is the birth of the poetess’ son, along with feminism, the ill feelings of motherhood, and also its joys. Sylvia has also addressed infancy and has used nature for expressing her feelings of depression due to motherhood.
The structure of the poem consists of 6 stanzas, each with 3 verses. It has been compiled in 6 tercets which are in blank verses having 3-line unrhymed stanzas. The poem has been written in free verses and although it does not possess a regular meter, it does have a free form of a rhyme. The line rhyme technique used by the poetess in this poem supports the central meaning of the poem. The poem consists of ironic imagery which is not only surreal and dark but also expressive and humorous. The poem has a few contrasting tones revealing Sylvia’s personality, mental and emotional state. Sometimes she is tender and sensuous, evident through the use of “moth-breath” in the poem, and while sometimes she is angry as she has to wake up to attend to her son. The image of a cat, violent wind, mirror, and sea has been, respectively, used by the poetess in these lines:
“Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s”
“Effacement at the wind’s hand”
“Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow”
“A far sea moves in my ear”
The use of “our” in the following lines has been cross-rhymed by Sylvia and she has also used assonance here, by the use of the vowels, “i”, “a”, “u” and “e”.
“Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.”