Plaits

• "one thick an anaconda plait"

  Muscular

  Strong and dominant
• "like a thin grass snake"

  Weak

  Tiny and fragile
• Thin and thick snakes

  Poet compares two types of the same thing - links to plaits as they both grow from the same head
• "a rich waterfall and a thin trickling river"

  Juxtaposition
• "but they were companionably joined"

  'But' is a volta

  Personifies two strands of hair - as if they have overcome their differences and are forming a partnership

  Symbolism of 'opposites' attract
• "wide ribbon"

  Holding them together

  Controlling their differences

  Harmony
• "loops and bows were equal"

  Image of collaboration and unity
• "the weak and strong were strong together"

  Oxymoron

  Foreshadows the creation of justice later in the poem
• "I could feel how it was distributed"

  Justice only exists when the weak and strong work together for the benefit of all

  The equally and fairly distributed hair hangs neatly, which represents a situation where weak and strong work together and where no one is excluded
• Themes

  Contrast and unequalness

  Justice and unity
• Thin and thick, weak and strong

  Represents that to have unity and justice, you have to have diversity and differences that can join together
• Extended metaphor of plaiting hair

  Symbolic for unifying things that are different