Sylvia Plath defines birth in terms of a museum and statues ...
Empty, I echo to the least footfall,
Museum without statues, grand with pillars, porticoes, rotundas.
SP (Barren Woman 21 Feb
1961).
Museum ... a building used for
storing and exhibiting objects of historical, scientific or culture interest.
A woman is a museum in that she
carries the history of humanity. A barren woman is like an empty museum. Any
noise echoes the tragedy of such a state. A museum is of little value if has no
exhibits?
Statue ... a sculptured, cast,
carved or moulded figure of a person or animal - especially life-size or
larger.
Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.
SP (Morning Song 19 Feb
1961)
The echoes now have a sense of
joy but the nakedness and fragility of birth is in stark contrast to the solid
structure of the surrounds. And of course a new baby is very much on exhibition. How is the new statue going to fit into the historical context?
Here is the memorable first
line from Morning Song ...
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
What a strong positive
statement on birth that only a mother can truly understand. Babies are fat,
gold is pure and you may, or may not, believe that love generates life. A watch
is an apt analogy not only to the link to the heart beat pulse tick, but to
time. Birth and time are inextricably connected.
Note ...
Morning Song was
the first poem of SP's self-chosen set of poems called Ariel (named
after the horse she rode in Devon). A memorable first word to open the
collection. … love
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