The poem begins in the labour ward of the hospital: it is 'hot’ and ‘white' which indicates a very sterile and clean. Further on it is seen as 'a square environmental blank' and a 'glass tank'. I think Clarke uses so much emphasis on the hospital building because this is a very important day in her life and the hospital is where she wants to be, and will probably be one of the happiest and weirdest day to remember.
Before the actual birth, Clarke looks out of the window at 'The people and cars' doing what they do on a normal day where as she is about to experience one of the most significant events of her life. I think she mentions traffic lights because it kind of defines giving birth. Red means stop which represents the waiting, amber means get ready which is the contractions, and green means go, which is the final stages of giving birth.
'The tight red rope of love' is the umbilical cord. The most significant word in this is red, it is used because red is the colour of love or passion. Also red is actual colour the umbilical cord would be because of the blood that flowed between mother and the child in the womb. Mother and child 'fought over' the cord. The verb fought suggests the pain of childbirth. This could show that Clarke thinks violence plays a big part in love. 'I wrote all over the walls with my Words'. This could be the words she screamed when going through labour. She imagines the words ‘coloured the clean squares' of the hospital. The coloured squares would give the hospital a new look, making it more interesting and possibly easier for the mother to get distracted and not think about the pain she is going through so much. Also it reflects Clarke’s life because there is about to be a big change in everything she does. It is not just her; she has a baby to be responsible for as well. 'The wild tender circles' could possibly refer to the waves of contractions in the lead-up to the birth. Contractions get closer and closer together as moment of birth nears. ‘We want, we shouted, to be two, to be ourselves’. I think this suggests both happiness and also both pain. The mother and child are happy to become separate but are also distressed with the pain they both went through. Also I think the mother is already going through the pain and reality of separation. Catrin has asked to 'skate in the dark'. This shows Catrin's growing independence. The word dark could also mean the darkness of the womb, or could mean that both mother and child don’t know each other very well anymore and are growing even more separate.
Sylvia Plath creates a full scene with, Morning Song. She uses each word to draw a picture of her daily activities and she draws the reader's attention in each line. Once again, like Catrin it is about her daughter not so much child birth like Catrin but more the stages after birth.
Morning song is made up of long lines divided up in to three line long stanzas and there are six of them, unlike Catrin which has two long stanzas.
The life of the baby is set going like a ‘fat gold watch’ just been wound up, also this could refer to the ticking noises a watch makes as the baby’s heartbeat. The midwife slaps the baby's foot soles, to start its breathing, the baby takes its place upon the elements; it has taken its place among the living creatures. The echoing voices are the "oohs and aahs", cries of joy from parents and others. The baby is like a new statue, an object that's "new in the collection", it's someone the people in the room have never seen before. (The distant view of the situation that's shared by Plath is her typical style of writing, it reflects her mind state and way of thought.) The nakedness of the baby makes the others in the room feel more comfortable because they're all dressed. The connection between the relation cloud and the shadow and mother and baby reflects again the mind state of Plath very well. She looks upon her newborn child, like a cloud would look at its shadow reflecting herself. The "effacement” is the growing apart of mother and child, that will now begin to take place. She has carried the baby with her, as close as can be, from now on, child and mother will only grow further apart. The "pink roses" is the blanket, the child, breathes on with a "moth breath". The far sea is of course, the constant noise of the baby, the mother has a sixth sense for. The second the mother hears a noise, she will go to the baby, stumbling "cow heavy" (she is still very heavy because of her pregnancy) in her Victorian stile nightgown. The baby tries it's vocabulary, some vowels.
Cloud analysis. It doesn't refer to the mother and baby growing further apart, since the second stanza implies that the mother now understand what the baby wants, she comprehends its cries, which are now "clear vowels".
Cow heavy, I think this should be amended. Cow heavy would refer to her breasts and lactation rather than pregnancy weight.
I am sorry that this last page is in note form, will write it up.
