New Zealand poet Elizabeth Smither's "Plaits" tells a symbolic story of collaboration and justice. In this short poem, a speaker remembers how she used to wear her hair in two plaits (or braids). The plait on one side of her head was much thicker than the plait on the other—but tied together with a ribbon, the two supported each other, becoming "strong together." The speaker uses this image to imagine how society might ideally work: when the weak and the strong join together, the poem suggests, their strength only multiplies. Smither first collected this poem in her 2013 book The Blue Coat.

• Read the full text of “Plaits”

• “Plaits” Summary

• “Plaits” Themes

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    Cooperation, Collaboration, and Equality

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-15

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Plaits”

  • Lines 1-6

    I had two ...
    ... thin trickling river

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-12

    but they were ...
    ... and thick muscle

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-15

    a lesson that ...
    ... it was distributed.

    

    

    

    

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• “Plaits” Symbols

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    The Plaits

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “I had two plaits; one thick / an anaconda plait and the other / more like a thin grass snake.”
    • Line 7: “but they were companionably joined”
    • Lines 10-12: “The weak and the strong / were strong together, the raised segments / of hair a wide and thick muscle”
    • Line 13: “a lesson that hung down my back”

• “Plaits” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-6: “I had two plaits; one thick / an anaconda plait and the other / more like a thin grass snake. / My parting was on one side / a harvest, a rich waterfall / and a thin trickling river”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “an anaconda plait”
    • Lines 2-3: “the other / more like a thin grass snake”
    • Lines 4-6: “My parting was on one side / a harvest, a rich waterfall / and a thin trickling river”
    • Lines 11-12: “the raised segments / of hair a wide and thick muscle”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “thin”
    • Line 5: “a harvest, a rich waterfall”
    • Line 6: “thin”
    • Line 8: “wide”
    • Line 10: “strong”
    • Line 11: “strong”
    • Line 12: “a wide and thick muscle”
    • Line 13: “a lesson”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “plait”
    • Line 3: “snake”
    • Line 6: “thin trickling river”
    • Line 8: “tied,” “wide”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “other / more”
    • Lines 8-9: “ribbon / whose”
    • Lines 10-11: “strong / were”
    • Lines 11-12: “segments / of”

• “Plaits” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Plaits
  • Anaconda
  • Companionably
  • Distributed
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “I had two plaits”; Line 2: “an anaconda plait”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Plaits”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Plaits” Speaker

• “Plaits” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Plaits”

• More “Plaits” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Smither's work via Poetry New Zealand.

    • An Interview with Smither — Read an interview with Smither from the Academy of New Zealand Literature.

    • More of Smither's Work — Listen to Smither reading some of her poems aloud.

    • Smither on Her Favorite Writers — Watch a short video interview with Smither in which she discusses some of her favorite writers.

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