"Sow" is an early poem by Sylvia Plath, written in 1957 and collected in The Colossus (1960). It describes a male farmer's female pig in wonder-struck terms, elevating her to the status of a mythical creature. The speaker declares that the sow's grandeur sets her far apart from her fellow pigs, and even the farmer, who treats her irreverently, recognizes her uniqueness. Ultimately, the sow becomes a symbol of tremendous female power held in confinement—yet capable of breaking loose and shaking the world.
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The Full Text of “Sow”
The Full Text of “Sow”
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“Sow” Summary
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“Sow” Themes
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The Power of Animals and Nature
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-45
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Vision, Imagination, and Myth
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-10
- Lines 23-45
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Female Power, Subjugation, and Revolt
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-6
- Lines 11-45
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sow”
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Lines 1-6
God knows how ...
... and pig show. -
Lines 7-10
But one dusk ...
... gape at it: -
Lines 11-16
This was no ...
... a parsley halo; -
Lines 17-23
Nor even one ...
... the pink teats. -
Lines 23-29
No. This vast ...
... The great grandam!— -
Lines 29-33
our marvel blazoned ...
... that sow's heat. -
Lines 34-39
But our farmer ...
... light to shape -
Lines 40-45
A monument ...
... every earthquaking continent.
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“Sow” Symbols
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The Sow
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-45
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“Sow” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Line 9: “Maze of barns”
- Line 16: “In a parsley halo;”
- Line 19: “on her snout-cruise”
- Line 20: “Bloat tun of milk”
- Line 21: “hedged by a litter”
- Line 29: “our marvel blazoned a knight,”
- Line 37: “letting legend like dried mud drop,”
- Lines 39-45: “to shape / A monument / Prodigious in gluttonies as that hog whose want / Made lean Lent / Of kitchen slops and, stomaching no constraint, / Proceeded to swill / The seven troughed seas and every earthquaking continent.”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “how”
- Line 2: “sow”
- Line 4: “same way”
- Line 5: “sow,” “impounded”
- Line 6: “ribbon,” “pig”
- Line 7: “one dusk,” “questions commended”
- Line 13: “thrift children,” “pig”
- Line 17: “sows”
- Line 18: “blowzy”
- Line 21: “litter,” “ninnies”
- Line 22: “Shrilling”
- Line 23: “swig,” “pink,” “vast”
- Line 24: “Brobdingnag”
- Line 25: “sow lounged,” “belly-bedded,” “that black”
- Line 26: “Fat”
- Line 32: “grisly-bristled”
- Line 33: “fabulous,” “straddle”
- Line 34: “whistled”
- Line 35: “fist,” “thwacked,” “barrel”
- Line 36: “castled”
- Line 37: “letting legend,” “like dried,” “mud”
- Line 38: “grunt”
- Line 39: “grunt,” “up”
- Line 41: “hog,” “want”
- Line 43: “slops”
- Line 44: “Proceeded”
- Line 45: “seas”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 1: “knows,” “neighbor”
- Line 3: “his,” “he,” “hid”
- Line 4: “same”
- Line 5: “sow,” “public,” “stare”
- Line 6: “Prize,” “pig”
- Line 7: “questions,” “commended”
- Line 8: “lantern-lit”
- Line 9: “lintel,” “sunk sty”
- Line 11: “suckling”
- Line 12: “slot”
- Line 18: “Mire-smirched”
- Line 19: “Maunching”
- Line 20: “milk”
- Line 21: “move,” “feat-foot”
- Line 22: “hulk”
- Line 23: “halt”
- Line 24: “Brobdingnag bulk”
- Line 25: “belly-bedded,” “black”
- Line 27: “hoghood”
- Line 28: “wholly”
- Line 29: “great grandam”
- Line 32: “By,” “bristled”
- Line 33: “Boar,” “straddle,” “sow's”
- Line 36: “copse-castled”
- Line 37: “letting legend,” “dried,” “drop”
- Line 41: “hog whose”
- Line 42: “lean Lent”
- Line 43: “kitchen,” “slops,” “stomaching,” “constraint”
- Line 44: “swill”
- Line 45: “seven,” “seas”
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Hyperbole
Where hyperbole appears in the poem:- Lines 23-25: “This vast / Brobdingnag bulk / Of a sow”
- Line 35: “thwacked the barrel nape,”
- Lines 39-45: “to shape / A monument / Prodigious in gluttonies as that hog whose want / Made lean Lent / Of kitchen slops and, stomaching no constraint, / Proceeded to swill / The seven troughed seas and every earthquaking continent.”
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Lines 8-9: “Through his lantern-lit / Maze of barns”
- Lines 23-24: “This vast / Brobdingnag bulk”
- Lines 29-33: “our marvel blazoned a knight, / Helmed, in cuirass, / Unhorsed and shredded in the grove of combat / By a grisly-bristled / Boar, fabulous enough to straddle that sow's heat.”
- Lines 41-45: “that hog whose want / Made lean Lent / Of kitchen slops and, stomaching no constraint, / Proceeded to swill / The seven troughed seas and every earthquaking continent.”
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“Sow” 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.
- Sow
- Impounded
- Commended
- Lintel
- Sty
- Rose-and-larkspurred
- Suckling
- Thrift
- Dolt
- Heckling
- Glorified
- Prime flesh
- Parsley halo
- Mire-smirched
- Blowzy
- Maunching
- Thistle and knotweed
- Snout-cruise
- Tun
- Hedged
- Litter
- Feat-foot ninnies
- Shrilling
- Teats
- Brobdingnag
- Belly-bedded
- Fat-rutted
- Dream-filmed
- Grandam
- Blazoned
- Helmed
- Cuirass
- Unhorsed
- Grove of combat
- Grisly-bristled
- Heat
- Jocular
- Barrel nape
- Green-copse-castled
- Hove
- Legend
- Prodigious
- Gluttonies
- That hog
- Lean Lent
- Slops
- Constraint
- Swill
- Troughed
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(Location in poem: Line 2: “His great sow:”; Line 33: “fabulous enough to straddle that sow's heat.”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sow”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Sow” Speaker
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“Sow” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Sow”
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More “Sow” Resources
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External Resources
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Confessional Poetry — Read about the literary movement with which Plath's work became associated.
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to Sylvia Plath reading "Sow."
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The Poet's Life — Read a short biography of Plath at the Poetry Foundation.
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Plath on Becoming a Writer — Listen to a 1962 interview with Plath.
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Hughes's Pig Poem — Read Ted Hughes's "View of a Pig," written after the same barnyard visit that inspired Plath's "Sow."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
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