{"id":634,"date":"2017-08-04T15:03:39","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T22:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/?p=634"},"modified":"2017-08-09T15:29:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T22:29:39","slug":"proxy-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/2017\/08\/04\/proxy-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaton Assignment 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beaton Assignment 1<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Blake Beaton
\n<\/span>Kedrick James
\n<\/span>LLED 445
\n<\/span>August 8, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Poetry is often enigmatic, but rarely is the the mystery of a poem\u2019s figurative language both stylistic and didactic. The poem \u201cMetaphors\u201d by Sylvia Plath uses metaphorical imagery that increasingly depicts a coherent theme within the poem. The poem\u2019s opening line reveals the speaker\u2019s intention to perplex the reader by creating a metaphor comparing the speaker to a \u201criddle,\u201d after which several very perplexing objects are compared to the speaker: \u201cAn elephant, a ponderous house,\/ [and] A melon strolling on two tendrils.\u201d The connection between the three objects is at first unclear, though the first two suggest that the speaker is of great size, while the third suggests that the speaker walks on two legs but that a disparity exists between her torso and lower limbs. The varied use of image continues in a perplexing pattern as the speaker exclaims, \u201cO red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!\u201d none of which have obvious parallels to previous images with perhaps the exception of \u201cfine timbers\u201d which are slender in the same fashion as plant tendrils. At this point in the poem, the speaker references an object that is \u201cbig with its yeasty rising,\u201d suggesting growth, and continues on to suggest the creation of something new in the line, \u201cMoney\u2019s new-minted in this fat purse.\u201d Until this point, the metaphorical images of the poem have been cryptic, though as the poem comes to a close their continued use becomes slightly more accessible. <\/span><\/p>\n

While the poem appears to be inaccessible, the final three lines reveal a theme in which the speaker is describing herself as a pregnant woman. The words, \u201cI\u2019m a means,\u201d suggest that the speaker is a vehicle through which something else is accomplished, and the words \u201ca cow in calf\u201d are a common idiom denoting a pregnant cow (though the speaker\u2019s meaning of \u201ca stage\u201d is ambiguous as the word may denote numerous things). As the speaker continues with the line, \u201cI\u2019ve eaten a bag of green apples,\u201d the numerous connections between fruit and the distended belly of a pregnant woman become clearer, and the poem\u2019s final line \u201c[I\u2019ve] [b]oarded the train there\u2019s no getting off,\u201d suggests a necessary and unavoidable term of waiting for the woman. It is likely in the final three lines of the poem that most readers begin to make the connections between its earlier images, the poem\u2019s initial line, and its title, thereby coming to see that metaphors are a way of using words that express something literally untrue but also a way of communicating meaning through implicit comparison. The poem has the potential to teach its readers that metaphors are like riddles in that meaning must be inferred using as many of the available and readily understandable meanings that surround it. Ultimately, however, the poem also serves to educate the reader as to the dangers of using metaphors in a context that makes it too difficult for the writer to express an intended meaning. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMetaphors\u201d by Sylvia Plath<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a riddle in nine syllables,
\n<\/span>An elephant, a ponderous house,
\n<\/span>A melon strolling on two tendrils.
\n<\/span>O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
\n<\/span>This loaf\u2019s big with its yeasty rising.
\n<\/span>Money\u2019s new-minted in this fat purse.
\n<\/span>I\u2019m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
\n<\/span>I\u2019ve eaten a bag of green apples,
\n<\/span>Boarded the train there\u2019s no getting off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Proxy Poem:<\/p>\n

Riddle<\/p>\n

I am that which is sought but unfound,
\nA vestige of what guides your sages.
\nA gnarled and broken awen of crystal
\nThat shattered lies in art and power.
\nAletheia in time\u2019s dark lethe
\nForgotten in Promethian’ gift,
\nBanished from souls and minds by rabble
\nI lay in darkness despite my light.
\nSeek me, find me, and uncover the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beaton Assignment 1 Blake Beaton Kedrick James LLED 445 August 8, 2017 Poetry is often enigmatic, but rarely is the the mystery of a poem\u2019s figurative language both stylistic and didactic. The poem \u201cMetaphors\u201d by Sylvia Plath uses metaphorical imagery that increasingly depicts a coherent theme within the poem. The poem\u2019s opening line reveals the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lled445\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}