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Tag Archives: Sylvia Plath
The Books: Ariel, by Sylvia Plath
Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry. Next book on the shelf: Ariel: Poems by Sylvia Plath, by Sylvia Plath These poems take tremendous risks, extending Sylvia Plath’s essentially austere manner to the very limit. They are a bitter triumph, proof of the … Continue reading
The Books: Birthday Letters, by Ted Hughes
Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry The next book on my poetry shelf is Birthday Letters: Poems, by Ted Hughes. I keep writing this and that, but it seems painfully little for the time I spend pursuing it. I wonder sometimes if … Continue reading
“This is the Light of the Mind, Cold and Planetary.”
It’s Sylvia Plath’s birthday today. The line in the title is from her poem “The Moon and the Yew Tree”, which she considered a breakthrough in her work (it was composed in 1960). She’s written a lot of startling lines, … Continue reading
The Books: “The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry” – Ted Hughes
Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Volume 2: Contemporary Poetry, edited by Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O’Clair I’ve moved on from the “Modern” volume, and am now in the “Contemporary” volume. The … Continue reading
Her Blacks Crackle and Drag
A few words before we begin: 1. Sylvia Plath wrote a journal until the end of her life. A highly edited version was published decades ago, with a foreward by husband Ted Hughes who admitted to destroying the final two … Continue reading
Happy birthday, Sylvia Plath
“Death opened, like a black tree, blackly.” Today is Sylvia Plath’s birthday. That’s a sketch she did of her own hands. She found drawing very relaxing. She would lose herself in it, and spent most of her honeymoon in Spain … Continue reading
“Let it not come by word of mouth…”
Today is Sylvia Plath’s birthday. Seems weird to wish her a “happy” birthday. Much of this post will be familiar to regular readers. As always, I hone it, from year to year – adding links, taking things away. But it’s … Continue reading
Letters of Ted Hughes:
A fascinating review in The New York Times on a book I have been dying to read: the massive collected letters of Ted Hughes, edited by Christopher Reid. I’ve wanted to read it since it came out, for obvious reasons. … Continue reading
Being a Plath Fan
I was thrilled to read the following piece about what it’s like to be a Plath fan. Wonderful writing and observations, I think – and great thoughts on the confluence of art and biography, something that Plath can never escape. … Continue reading
The Books: “The Bell Jar” (Sylvia Plath)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: The Bell Jar (Modern Classics), by Sylvia Plath. Like many high school girls, I went through a huge Plath phase when I was about 17. I didn’t just read The Bell Jar, Plath’s only novel, … Continue reading
