In Sylvia Plath’s “Morning Song,” she wishes to convey her ambivalent attitude towards receiving a newborn child through her use of ambiguity, complex imagery, simile, and effective diction.

                Plath begins the poem immediately with a sense of ambiguity. When the poem’s title is simply read aloud, the word “morning” can be easily confused with its hominem “mourning”. These two words have very different meanings and connotations; “mourning” meaning to regret the loss of, whereas “morning” connotes new life and a sense of happiness. In the First stanza, Plath establishes the situation of her newborn child with the words “Love” and “midwife”; where the word “Love” refers to the act of love which conceived the child, and “midwife” referring to the woman who aids in the birthing of the child. Also, if the child is born feet first, “slapped your footsoles” in line two could well literally refer to the midwife holding the child’s feet as it came out.

                In this same stanza, Plath describes the child in a very atypical, ambiguous manner. With a simile, she compares her child to a “fat gold watch” in the first line. The juxtaposition of the words fat and gold immediately sets up the ambiguous nature of the poem, with the contrast between the negative connotations of “fat” (both in images and in the plosive sound) and whereas a “gold watch” is typically associated with something of value; however it can also be seen as her description of her time winding down to nothing as her new child overtakes her life. Also, the word “bald” incredibly derogatory, typically  used to describe one who has lost their hair to age and not what a new mother would usually use to describe her new child.

                In the next stanza, Plath shows the reaction of others around her to the new child, and their effect on her. “Our voices” refers to the typical group of family and friends clamoring over the new child. Her use of the word “statue” is particularly poignant as well; it can be seen as both something beautiful and valuable to be praised, but also something cold and lifeless. “Museum” achieves a similar effect in that it suggests that the child is both something prized and historic in her life, but it is also something that draws attention from her life and toward this object of admiration. These are both significant indications of Plath’s immensely conflicted ambivalence towards the new child. In the next line, she creates a simile that establishes the blank shock she feels towards her new situation.