The Excitement of Parenthood

“You’re” is a celebration of new life, with the speaker looking towards greeting a new addition to their family as well as a new path in their own life. As Plath was writing this while pregnant with her first child (of two), this stage represents a transitional period between maidenhood and motherhood; once the unborn child is born, the speaker’s life will never be the same. This poem takes a hopeful and positive view to this change, conveying the speaker’s excitement to meet this challenge head on. This is immediately apparent in the opening lines: “[You’re] Clownlike, happiest on your hands” (Line 1). The word choice of “happiest” immediately establishes the poem’s tone and the mood of the speaker as they consider their unborn child. Later in the first stanza, the speaker frames their pregnancy between “the Fourth / Of...