“Morning Song” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Morning Song”

“Morning Song” Summary

“Morning Song” Themes

• 

  Maternal Awe and Ambivalence

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-18

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Morning Song”

• Lines 1-3

  Love set you ...
  ... among the elements.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-6

  Our voices echo, ...
  ... blankly as walls.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-9

  I’m no more ...
  ... the wind’s hand.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-12

  All night your ...
  ... in my ear.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-15

  One cry, and ...
  ... The window square

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-18

  Whitens and swallows ...
  ... rise like balloons.

  

  

  

  

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“Morning Song” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Line 1
  • Lines 2-3
  • Lines 4-6
  • Lines 8-9
  • Lines 10-12
  • Lines 13-18

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  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.”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  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.”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  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”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  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”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  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”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  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”

• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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  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.”

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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  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.”

“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

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “Love set you going like a fat gold watch”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Morning Song”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Morning Song” Speaker

“Morning Song” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Morning Song”

More “Morning Song” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read aloud by actress Meryl Streep. 

  • A Short Biography — Learn more about Plath's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

  • Plath's Legacy — Read a reflection on Plath's literary afterlife.

  • An Interview with Plath — Listen to a 1962 interview with Plath.

  • Another Take on the Poem — Read an analysis that examines "Morning Song" through the lens of Simone de Beauvoir's feminist writings on motherhood. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

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  • Poppies in July

  • Poppies in October

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  • The Night Dances

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