The Full Text of “You're”
The Full Text of “You're”
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“You're” Introduction
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“You're” Summary
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“You're” Themes
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The Mystery and Wonder of Pregnancy and New Life
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “You're”
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Lines 1-3
Clownlike, happiest on ...
... like a fish. -
Lines 3-6
A common-sense ...
... as owls do. -
Lines 7-9
Mute as a ...
... my little loaf. -
Lines 10-12
Vague as fog ...
... our traveled prawn. -
Lines 13-16
Snug as a ...
... a Mexican bean. -
Lines 17-18
Right, like a ...
... own face on.
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“You're” Symbols
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The Clean slate
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 18: “A clean slate, with your own face on.”
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“You're” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 1: “happiest,” “hands”
- Line 2: “stars,” “skulled”
- Line 4: “down,” “dodo’s”
- Line 7: “Fourth”
- Line 8: “Fools’”
- Line 9: “little loaf”
- Line 10: “fog,” “looked,” “for,” “like”
- Line 11: “Farther”
- Line 12: “Bent-backed”
- Line 13: “bud”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 3: “Gilled,” “fish”
- Line 4: “dodo’s mode”
- Line 9: “O,” “high-riser, my,” “loaf”
- Line 12: “Bent-backed Atlas,” “traveled”
- Line 13: “Snug,” “bud”
- Line 14: “jug”
- Line 15: “creel,” “eels”
- Line 17: “well-done sum”
- Line 18: “slate,” “face”
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Parallelism
Where parallelism appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Line 2: “moon-skulled”
- Lines 3-4: “A common-sense / Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode.”
- Line 9: “O high-riser, my little loaf.”
- Line 12: “Bent-backed Atlas, our traveled prawn.”
- Line 15: “A creel of eels, all ripples.”
- Line 18: “A clean slate,”
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2
- Line 3
- Lines 5-8
- Lines 10-11
- Lines 13-14
- Lines 16-17
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Apostrophe
Where apostrophe appears in the poem:- Line 9: “O high-riser, my little loaf.”
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End-Stopped Line
Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:- Line 1: “hands,”
- Line 2: “moon-skulled,”
- Line 4: “mode.”
- Line 5: “spool,”
- Line 6: “do.”
- Line 8: “Day,”
- Line 9: “loaf.”
- Line 10: “mail.”
- Line 11: “Australia.”
- Line 12: “prawn.”
- Line 14: “jug.”
- Line 15: “ripples.”
- Line 16: “bean.”
- Line 17: “sum.”
- Line 18: “on.”
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Lines 3-4: “A common-sense / Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode.”
- Line 9: “O high-riser, my little loaf.”
- Line 12: “Bent-backed Atlas,”
- Line 18: “A clean slate, with your own face on.”
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“You're” 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.
- Moon-skulled
- Gilled
- Dodo's mode
- Trawling
- All Fools' Day
- High-riser
- Atlas
- Traveled
- Prawn
- Sprat
- Creel
- Mexican bean
- Sum
- Clean slate
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(Location in poem: Line 2: “Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “You're”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“You're” Speaker
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“You're” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “You're”
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More “You're” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poet's Life — Read a biography of Plath at the Poetry Foundation.
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The Poet on Her Influences — Listen to excerpts of interviews with Plath about her early life and literary influences.
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The Baby in the Womb — Check out a WebMD slideshow of fetal development—a useful illustration of some of the metaphors in "You're"!
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Meet Frieda Hughes — The website of Frieda Hughes, Plath's daughter, to whom "You're" is addressed.
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Plath and the "Confessionals" — Learn more about the mid-20th-century "Confessional" movement, into which Plath's work is often grouped.
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Frieda Hughes Reads — Watch Frieda Hughes, daughter of Plath and Ted Hughes, read a poem about her parents.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
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