"Plenty" is a poem by South African poet Isobel Dixon, published in her 2001 collection Weather Eye. In the poem, the speaker reminisces about her childhood, a time marked by poverty and drought, and in focuses in particular about her strained relationship with her mother. The poem illustrates the way that time and maturity has changed the speaker's perspective so that she now understands the difficulty of her mother's situation and respects the ways she was able to provide for her and her sisters. The speaker finally comes to feel that though they didn't have much in the way of material wealth, they still had "plenty" of love and support.

• Read the full text of “Plenty”

• “Plenty” Summary

• “Plenty” Themes

  • 

    Time, Maturity, and Perspective

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-32
  • 

    Parental Love and Sacrifice

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16
    • Lines 29-32

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Plenty”

  • Lines 1-2

    When I was ...
    ... mother’s quiet despair,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-4

    our old enamel ...
    ... was never full.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-7

    Such plenty was ...
    ... Like Mommy’s smile.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-10

    Her lips stretched ...
    ... all from chaos.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-16

    She saw it ...
    ... hard on this.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    We thought her ...
    ... another precious inch

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    up to our ...
    ... old compliant co-conspirators.

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 25

    Now bubbles lap ... am a sybarite.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 26-28

    The shower’s a ...
    ... the heating on.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-32

    And miss my ...
    ... our long childhood.

    

    

    

    

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• “Plenty” Symbols

  • 

    Water

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “our old enamel tub, age-stained and pocked / upon its griffin claws, was never full.”
    • Lines 5-6: “Such plenty was too dear in our expanse of drought / where dams leaked dry and windmills stalled.”
    • Lines 20-24: “stole another precious inch / up to our chests, such lovely sin, / lolling luxuriant in secret warmth / disgorged from fat brass taps, / our old compliant co-conspirators.”
    • Lines 26-27: “The shower’s a hot cascade / and water’s plentiful, to excess, almost, here.”
    • Line 32: “dry times and our long childhood”

• “Plenty” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “running,” “riot”
    • Line 5: “dear,” “drought”
    • Line 6: “dams,” “dry”
    • Line 7: “smile,” “stretched”
    • Line 8: “anchored,” “anger”
    • Line 9: “not,” “knowing”
    • Line 10: “clasp,” “keep,” “chaos”
    • Line 11: “snapping,” “straps”
    • Line 12: “spilling,” “sums”
    • Line 13: “porridge,” “petrol”
    • Line 14: “paper”
    • Line 17: “Skipped”
    • Line 18: “swiped,” “biscuits,” “best”
    • Line 21: “such,” “lovely,” “sin”
    • Line 22: “lolling,” “luxuriant,” “secret”
    • Line 23: “from,” “fat”
    • Line 24: “compliant,” “co-conspirators”
    • Line 29: “miss,” “my,” “scattered,” “sisters”
    • Line 30: “squabbles”
    • Line 31: “my,” “mother’s,” “smile,” “loosed”
    • Line 32: “lean,” “long”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “young,” “us”
    • Line 2: “running,” “riot,” “quiet”
    • Line 3: “age-stained,” “pocked”
    • Line 4: “upon,” “claws”
    • Line 6: “stalled”
    • Line 7: “Mommy’s”
    • Line 8: “anchored,” “anger,” “fault”
    • Line 9: “mine,” “I,” “thought,” “not”
    • Line 11: “snapping,” “straps”
    • Line 23: “fat,” “brass,” “taps”
    • Line 28: “leave,” “heating”
    • Line 29: “miss,” “scattered,” “sisters”
    • Line 30: “bathroom,” “at,” “last”
    • Line 32: “dry,” “times”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2
    • Line 3
    • Line 4
    • Line 5
    • Line 6
    • Line 7
    • Line 8
    • Line 9
    • Line 10
    • Line 11
    • Line 12
    • Line 13
    • Line 14
    • Line 15
    • Line 16
    • Line 17
    • Line 18
    • Line 19
    • Line 20
    • Line 21
    • Line 22
    • Line 23
    • Line 24
    • Line 25
    • Line 26
    • Line 27
    • Line 29
    • Line 30
    • Line 31
    • Line 32

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “stalled”
    • Line 7: “smile,” “lips stretched”
    • Line 10: “clasp,” “us,” “chaos”
    • Line 11: “She saw,” “snapping locks,” “straps”
    • Line 12: “spilling: sums,” “shopping lists”
    • Line 13: “aspirin”
    • Line 17: “Skipped”
    • Line 18: “swiped biscuits – best”
    • Line 19: “she,” “earshot”
    • Line 20: “stole,” “precious”
    • Line 21: “chests, such,” “sin”
    • Line 22: “secret”
    • Line 23: “disgorged,” “brass taps”
    • Line 25: “sybarite”
    • Line 26: “shower’s,” “cascade”
    • Line 27: “excess, almost”
    • Line 29: “miss,” “scattered sisters”
    • Line 30: “squabbles,” “last”
    • Line 31: “smile, loosed”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “pocked / upon”
    • Lines 5-6: “drought / where”
    • Lines 7-8: “back / and”
    • Lines 8-9: “fault – / of”
    • Lines 9-10: “then / it”
    • Lines 12-13: “lists / for”
    • Lines 18-19: “all / when”
    • Lines 19-20: “earshot / stole”
    • Lines 20-21: “inch / up”
    • Lines 22-23: “warmth / disgorged”
    • Lines 26-27: “cascade / and”
    • Lines 31-32: “bonds / of”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 12-13: “the spilling: sums and worries, shopping lists / for aspirin, porridge, petrol, bread.”
    • Lines 17-18: “Skipped chores, / swiped biscuits”
    • Line 18: “ – best of all”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “all running riot to my mother’s quiet despair,”
    • Line 4: “was never full.”
    • Lines 14-16: “Even the toilet paper counted, / and each month was weeks too long. / Her mouth a lid clamped hard on this.”
    • Lines 17-28: “We thought her mean. Skipped chores, / swiped biscuits – best of all / when she was out of earshot / stole another precious inch / up to our chests, such lovely sin, / lolling luxuriant in secret warmth / disgorged from fat brass taps, / our old compliant co-conspirators. / Now bubbles lap my chin. I am a sybarite. / The shower’s a hot cascade / and water’s plentiful, to excess, almost, here. / I leave the heating on.”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “our old enamel tub, age-stained and pocked / upon its griffin claws, was never full.”
    • Line 5: “ expanse of drought”
    • Line 6: “where dams leaked dry and windmills stalled.”
    • Lines 7-8: “Like Mommy’s smile. Her lips stretched back / and anchored down”
    • Lines 20-23: “stole another precious inch / up to our chests, such lovely sin, / lolling luxuriant in secret warmth / disgorged from fat brass taps,”
    • Line 25: “Now bubbles lap my chin.”
    • Line 26: “The shower’s a hot cascade”
    • Line 30: “all those bathroom squabbles”
    • Line 31: “my mother’s smile”
    • Lines 31-32: “, loosed from the bonds / of ”
    • Line 32: “lean, dry times”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 7: “Like Mommy’s smile. ”
    • Lines 7-8: “Her lips stretched back / and anchored down”
    • Line 10: “it was a clasp to keep us all from chaos.”
    • Line 16: “Her mouth a lid clamped hard on this.”
    • Line 26: “The shower’s a hot cascade”
    • Lines 31-32: “my mother’s smile, loosed from the bonds / of lean, dry times and our long childhood.”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Line 24: “our old compliant co-conspirators.”

• “Plenty” 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.

  • Running riot
  • Enamel
  • Griffin claws
  • pocked
  • Dear
  • Mean
  • Luxuriant
  • Lolling
  • Disgorged
  • Compliant
  • Co-conspirators
  • Sybarite
  • Cascade
  • Squabbles
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “all running riot to my mother’s quiet despair”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Plenty”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Plenty” Speaker

• “Plenty” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Plenty”

• More “Plenty” Resources

  • External Resources

    • "About Me" — A brief introduction to Isobel Dixon, written by the poet herself.

    • More Poems About Childhood — A roundup other poems that involve speakers reminiscing on their childhoods.

    • The Poem Out Loud — A video recording of Dixon reading "Plenty" at Poetry Parnassus in 2012.

    • The Karoo — A compilation of images of the Karoo region of South Africa.

    • An Interview with Dixon — A conversation with Dixon for LitNet.

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