In Sylvia Plath's "You're," a mother addresses her unborn baby. Describing the child in vivid, playful figurative language, the speaker conveys both eagerness and a touch of anxiety about new motherhood. Even as she tells the baby that "You're" various things at the moment—"Clownlike," "Snug," etc.—she suggests that what the baby will be (i.e., upon birth) remains an exciting mystery. "You're" was written in 1960, during Plath's pregnancy with her first child, Frieda. It was published in Harper's magazine in 1961 and collected in Plath's posthumous volume Ariel in 1965.

• Read the full text of “You're”

• “You're” Summary

• “You're” Themes

  • 

    The Mystery and Wonder of Pregnancy and New Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-18

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “You're”

  • Lines 1-3

    Clownlike, happiest on ...
    ... like a fish.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-6

    A common-sense ...
    ... as owls do.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-9

    Mute as a ...
    ... my little loaf.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-12

    Vague as fog ...
    ... our traveled prawn.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    Snug as a ...
    ... a Mexican bean.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-18

    Right, like a ...
    ... own face on.

    

    

    

    

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• “You're” Symbols

  • 

    The Clean slate

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 18: “A clean slate, with your own face on.”

• “You're” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “happiest,” “hands”
    • Line 2: “stars,” “skulled”
    • Line 4: “down,” “dodo’s”
    • Line 7: “Fourth”
    • Line 8: “Fools’”
    • Line 9: “little loaf”
    • Line 10: “fog,” “looked,” “for,” “like”
    • Line 11: “Farther”
    • Line 12: “Bent-backed”
    • Line 13: “bud”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “Gilled,” “fish”
    • Line 4: “dodo’s mode”
    • Line 9: “O,” “high-riser, my,” “loaf”
    • Line 12: “Bent-backed Atlas,” “traveled”
    • Line 13: “Snug,” “bud”
    • Line 14: “jug”
    • Line 15: “creel,” “eels”
    • Line 17: “well-done sum”
    • Line 18: “slate,” “face”

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-18

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “moon-skulled”
    • Lines 3-4: “A common-sense / Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode.”
    • Line 9: “O high-riser, my little loaf.”
    • Line 12: “Bent-backed Atlas, our traveled prawn.”
    • Line 15: “A creel of eels, all ripples.”
    • Line 18: “A clean slate,”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Line 3
    • Lines 5-8
    • Lines 10-11
    • Lines 13-14
    • Lines 16-17

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “O high-riser, my little loaf.”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “hands,”
    • Line 2: “moon-skulled,”
    • Line 4: “mode.”
    • Line 5: “spool,”
    • Line 6: “do.”
    • Line 8: “Day,”
    • Line 9: “loaf.”
    • Line 10: “mail.”
    • Line 11: “Australia.”
    • Line 12: “prawn.”
    • Line 14: “jug.”
    • Line 15: “ripples.”
    • Line 16: “bean.”
    • Line 17: “sum.”
    • Line 18: “on.”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “A common-sense / Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode.”
    • Line 9: “O high-riser, my little loaf.”
    • Line 12: “Bent-backed Atlas,”
    • Line 18: “A clean slate, with your own face on.”

• “You're” 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.

  • Moon-skulled
  • Gilled
  • Dodo's mode
  • Trawling
  • All Fools' Day
  • High-riser
  • Atlas
  • Traveled
  • Prawn
  • Sprat
  • Creel
  • Mexican bean
  • Sum
  • Clean slate
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “You're”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “You're” Speaker

• “You're” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “You're”

• More “You're” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poet's Life — Read a biography of Plath at the Poetry Foundation.

    • The Poet on Her Influences — Listen to excerpts of interviews with Plath about her early life and literary influences.

    • The Baby in the Womb — Check out a WebMD slideshow of fetal development—a useful illustration of some of the metaphors in "You're"!

    • Meet Frieda Hughes — The website of Frieda Hughes, Plath's daughter, to whom "You're" is addressed.

    • Plath and the "Confessionals" — Learn more about the mid-20th-century "Confessional" movement, into which Plath's work is often grouped.

    • Frieda Hughes Reads — Watch Frieda Hughes, daughter of Plath and Ted Hughes, read a poem about her parents.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

    • Ariel

    • Cut

    • Daddy

    • Edge

    • Fever 103°

    • Kindness

    • Lady Lazarus

    • Mad Girl's Love Song

    • Metaphors

    • Mirror

    • Morning Song

    • Nick and the Candlestick

    • Poppies in July

    • Poppies in October

    • Sheep in Fog

    • Sow

    • The Applicant

    • The Arrival of the Bee Box

    • The Moon and the Yew Tree

    • The Munich Mannequins

    • The Night Dances

    • Tulips

    • Words

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