The Munich Mannequins

"The Munich Mannequins" is a poem by Sylvia Plath which recounts Plath's experience of insomnia on a trip to the titular German city.

In the early 1960s, the fashion models were often referred to as "mannequins" and those from Germany enjoyed special popularity.

Plath refers to women's lives and how they are seen by others, specifically with regard to how biological functions related to childbearing are perceived to define them.

The first line of the poem "Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children" refers both to the appearance of the culturally ubiquitous live German models and that of inanimate mannequins. Just as mannequins cannot procreate, nor can their live counterparts risk their "perfection" by becoming pregnant.

Plath suggests that perfection itself "tamps the womb," and goes on to describe the emotions she associates with menstruation.

The poem is famous for its first line and for referring to conservative Munich as the "morgue between Paris and Rome."