Morning Song

A poem that explores the feelings of a mother after the birth of her child.

Written in spring 1961, 10 months after the birth of Frieda, her daughter, and shortly after a miscarriage, Morning Song was published in The Observer newspaper that May, and posthumously in Ariel in 1965.

§ The poem charts the mother’s journey from initial disorientation, and perhaps revulsion, to her joyful acceptance of her baby.
§ First Stanza - the opening simile “like a fat gold watch” suggests something cold and mechanical. The description of the midwife slapping the child lacks any sense of mystery or the miraculous. The adjective “bald” seems to suggest a cry that lacks charm and grace.
§ Second Stanza – the museum imagery captures the mother’s sense of estrangement. The child is like something on exhibit in a museum which adults stand around, unable to make sense of what they are looking at. The word “blankly” would seem to hint at the “total neutrality” that Plath fears in Black Rook In Rainy Weather. The idea that the mother is losing her identity as a result of this birth is something we will return to. The presence of the child is disturbing also in that the speaker is acutely aware and anxious about her ability to safeguard the child’s fragility “your nakedness shadows our safety”.
§ Third Stanza – this powerful image is an attempt to capture the author’s sense of estrangement. This is a frequently expressed fear in Plath’s poetry – the fear of annihilation. She fears that the birth will rob her of her own identity just as the rain creates a mirror in which the cloud can see its own obliteration.
§ Fourth Stanza – there is a sharp change in tone. The child’s breath, symbolising its fragile hold on life, evokes the mother’s protective response. The setting also changes here into a more recognisable, domestic world.
§ Fifth Stanza – the imagery used in this stanza suggests the speaker’s involvement and bonding with her child. She can describe herself humorously in bovine terms – “cow-heavy” – while the feline mage of her child’s mouth opening “clean as a cat’s” is disarming in its amused delight. The reference to the approaching dawn seems to establish a connection between the growing light and the act of nursing her child.
§ Sixth Stanza – the innocent simplicity of the image of the child’s first experiments with language – “clear vowels rise like balloons” – concludes the poem in a tone often described as one of elation. It would seem that the mother’s connection to the new life she has created is affirmed as the child begins its own steps towards individuality and self-expression.

Questions

1. What kind of relationship between mother and child is suggested in each of the following…?

§ the museum imagery

§ the cloud/mirror/wind imagery

2. What do you think line 12 is describing?
3. Comment on the use of the word “try” in line 16.
4. “Although tender in tone, the poem is clear-sighted and unsentimental.” Discuss this view of the poem.
5. How do you imagine Frieda Hughes reacting to this poem about her birth?