The Maturation of a Maternal Bond in Morning SongWhat is the only difference between the emotions of an ordinary smiling new mother in the 1960s and those of Sylvia Plath when she wrote her melancholy “Morning Song” shortly after the birth of her child? While most new mothers pretended everything was fine, Plath posted her true feelings. Just because society assumes that all new mothers should be filled with immense joy after giving birth, doesn't mean they actually were. Plath had the courage to admit that she was confused, and her poem, "Morning Song", focuses on a woman's mixed feelings of apprehension and fear at the birth of her child, which ultimately create both feelings of separation and affection that struggle to determine strength. of her maternal bond. The first line of Plath's poem, "Love set you on like a big gold watch," shows the conflicting emotional forces in the mother's mind. The fact that she chooses the word “love” rather than a more carnal image like “sex” shows that the child was conceived from an intimate connection and creates a positive bond between mother and child. Using the simile, “a big gold watch,” changes the impact of this line. While the word "big" alludes to the cumbersome nature of the infant, the word "gold" represents the child as precious and valued, and the word "watch" evokes the seemingly endless task of raising a child. In her book The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir states that "a whole set of economic and sentimental considerations make the baby appear either as an obstacle or as a jewel", but Plath's "big gold watch" suggests that a newborn can be both (509). The detachment caused by the mother's feeling of apprehension is evident when she says to her child: "New statue...... in the middle of a paper......h from which she receives the cries of the baby suggests that she is affected by the baby's cries. humanity, its unique individuality. In “Morning Song,” the mother’s bond with her child strengthens as she tries to deny him. While trying to prove that she has no connection with this new life, the connections become undeniable as the child opposes her. its “clear vowels”. This “handful of notes” is enough to dispel any pretense of indifference towards the child. Just as the cries “go up like balloons,” it seems that so does the mother’s spirit and attitude toward him. the new life she brought into the world. Works cited by Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. New York: McClelland and Stewart, 1953. Plath, Sylvia. “Morning song.” Literature: read, react, write. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, eds. 3rd ed. Orlando: Harcourt, 1997. 690.