The American poet Sylvia Plath first published "Morning Song" in 1961, shortly after the birth of her first child. The poem paints a surreal, intimate, and tender portrait of a woman navigating motherhood for the first time. The speaker struggles to see her infant—who was so recently a part of her own body but who is now separate—as her own. At the same time, she feels a deep sense of devotion and responsibility to this utterly vulnerable being. The poem suggests that becoming a mother can be both deeply disorienting and sublime.
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The Full Text of “Morning Song”
The Full Text of “Morning Song”
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“Morning Song” Summary
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“Morning Song” Themes
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Maternal Awe and Ambivalence
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Morning Song”
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Lines 1-3
Love set you ...
... among the elements. -
Lines 4-6
Our voices echo, ...
... blankly as walls. -
Lines 7-9
I’m no more ...
... the wind’s hand. -
Lines 10-12
All night your ...
... in my ear. -
Lines 13-15
One cry, and ...
... The window square -
Lines 16-18
Whitens and swallows ...
... rise like balloons.
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“Morning Song” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Line 1
- Lines 2-3
- Lines 4-6
- Lines 8-9
- Lines 10-12
- Lines 13-18
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Love set you going like a fat gold watch.”
- Line 6: “We stand round blankly as walls.”
- Line 15: “Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s.”
- Line 18: “The clear vowels rise like balloons.”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 4-6: “Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue. / In a drafty museum, your nakedness / Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.”
- Lines 7-9: “I’m no more your mother / Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow / Effacement at the wind’s hand.”
- Lines 10-12: “All night your moth-breath / Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen: / A far sea moves in my ear.”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Love,” “set,” “going,” “like,” “fat,” “gold,” “watch”
- Line 2: “midwife,” “slapped,” “footsoles,” “bald”
- Line 3: “Took,” “its,” “place,” “among,” “elements”
- Line 4: “magnifying,” “New”
- Line 5: “drafty,” “nakedness”
- Line 6: “Shadows,” “safety,” “stand,” “round”
- Line 7: “I’m ,” “no,” “more,” “your,” “mother”
- Line 8: “cloud,” “distills,” “mirror,” “reflect,” “own,” “slow”
- Line 9: “Effacement,” “wind’s,” “hand”
- Line 10: “night,” “moth”
- Line 11: “Flickers,” “among,” “pink,” “wake,” “listen”
- Line 12: “sea,” “moves”
- Line 13: “cry,” “stumble,” “bed,” “cow,” “floral”
- Line 14: “Victorian,” “nightgown”
- Line 15: “clean,” “cat’s,” “window,” “square”
- Line 16: “Whitens,” “swallows,” “dull,” “stars,” “try”
- Line 17: “handful,” “notes”
- Line 18: “clear,” “vowels,” “rise,” “like,” “balloons”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “going,” “gold”
- Line 2: “footsoles”
- Line 4: “echo”
- Line 6: “Shadows”
- Line 7: “no,” “more,” “your”
- Line 8: “own,” “slow”
- Line 11: “Flickers,” “pink,” “listen”
- Line 13: “floral”
- Line 14: “Victorian”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 1: “going,” “gold”
- Line 4: “magnifying”
- Line 5: “museum”
- Line 7: “more,” “mother”
- Line 8: “mirror”
- Line 11: “Flickers,” “flat”
- Line 12: “far”
- Line 15: “clean,” “cat’s”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 2-3: “cry / Took”
- Lines 5-6: “nakedness / Shadows”
- Lines 7-8: “mother / Than”
- Lines 8-9: “slow / Effacement”
- Lines 10-11: “moth-breath / Flickers”
- Lines 13-14: “floral / In”
- Lines 15-16: “square / Whitens”
- Lines 16-17: “try / Your”
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Love set you going like a fat gold watch.”
- Lines 10-12: “All night your moth-breath / Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen: / A far sea moves in my ear.”
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 8-9: “the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow / Effacement at the wind’s hand.”
- Lines 15-16: “The window square / Whitens and swallows its dull stars.”
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“Morning Song” 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.
- Set you going
- Midwife
- Footsoles
- Bald
- The elements
- Distills
- Effacement
- Moth-breath
- Cow-heavy
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “Love set you going like a fat gold watch”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Morning Song”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Morning Song” Speaker
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“Morning Song” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Morning Song”
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More “Morning Song” Resources
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External Resources
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A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read aloud by actress Meryl Streep.
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A Short Biography — Learn more about Plath's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.
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Plath's Legacy — Read a reflection on Plath's literary afterlife.
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An Interview with Plath — Listen to a 1962 interview with Plath.
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Another Take on the Poem — Read an analysis that examines "Morning Song" through the lens of Simone de Beauvoir's feminist writings on motherhood.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
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