Sylvia Plath

[Arania]

Love her? Hate her? Don´t know who she is?

[Jean-Baptiste]

I love her very much. We were to be married, but...you know how it is. People go away, or forget you, or kill themselves.

Yes, I loved reading _The Bell Jar_. And much of her poetry is wonderful.

What do you think about her?

[cuppajoe_9]

I've never read her, but I have to read The Bell Jar for American Lit, and I'm very excited.

[dramasnot6]

You should really read her cuppa, my personal favorite is "Daddy" (http://www.angelfire.com/tn/plath/daddy.html)

[genoveva]

I've never read her, but I have to read The Bell Jar for American Lit, and I'm very excited.

Wow, I'm surprised it is required reading, but that's cool! I remember being in high school and picking this book to read and research. I turned out to be quite the Plath fan, but geez is she depressing! Doesn't everyone go through a depressing reading phase?:lol:

[dramasnot6]

She's deppresing but darn good. And with a fascinating context to top.

[ShoutGrace]

Surely those who would describe her work as "depressing" don't consider this to be anything negative?


Child

“Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing.
I want to fill it with color and ducks,
The zoo of the new
Whose name you meditate--
April snowdrop, Indian pipe,
Little

Stalk without wrinkle,
Pool in which images
Should be grand and classical

Not this troublous
Wringing of hands, this dark
Ceiling without a star.”

[Riesa]

and this favorite of mine is far from depressing too.

Mushrooms


Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

[Arania]

Oh I´m so glad there are fellow Plath lovers here.

We had an assignment in my English class where we had to take on the identity of a poet for the poetry unit. I was given Sylvia and had to write a five page explication on one of her poems. If for some reason you would like to read it, feel free to ask. It was truly fascinating to pick apart her work phrase for phrase and word for word. I did Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea.

Cold and final, the imagination
Shuts down its fabled summer house;
Blue views are boarded up; our sweet vacation
Dwindles in the hour-glass.

Thoughts that found a maze of mermaid hair
Tangling in the tide's green fall
Now fold their wings like bats and disappear
Into the attic of the skull.

We are not what we might be; what we are
Outlaws all extrapolation
Beyond the interval of now and here:
White whales are gone with the white ocean.

A lone beachcomber squats among the wrack
Of kaleidoscope shells
Probing fractured Venus with a stick
Under a tent of taunting gulls.

No sea-change decks the sunken shank of bone
That chucks in backtrack of the wave;
Though the mind like an oyster labors on and on,
A grain of sand is all we have.

Water will run by; the actual sun
Will scrupulously rise and set;
No little man lives in the exacting moon
And that is that, is that, is that.


It was one of her earliest works and many people have never heard of it. Pretty soon I was entirely engulfed in her works and I ended up reading The Bell Jar and much of her other poetry.

She´s very fascinating. I´m sorry, Jean-Baptiste, that things didn´t work out between you two. I would say you should write a book of poems about it and call it ¨Birthday Letters,¨ but it has already been done. ; )

[JaneEyre1986]

I've read The Bell Jar, and loved it. I liked it so much, I bought it and read it a couple more times. Haven't read any of her poems though.

[genoveva]

Surely those who would describe her work as "depressing" don't consider this to be anything negative?


Not this troublous
Wringing of hands, this dark
Ceiling without a star.[/I]”

I would say that her writing is generally depressing, not all, but most. And yes, it is wonderfully written depressing stuff! Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Plath fan.

Regarding the poem, above is the final stanza which makes the poem depressing, for me. Her poem seems to be about how wonderful it is to be a child, and all the new, innocent, pure possibilities. But her reality is the final stanza. "Troublous", "Wringing of hands", "dark ceiling without a star". She's not a child anymore. As an adult, her experience contrasts that which she described in the previous stanzas.

[SaGe]

After only reading her poetry, I was impressed with The Bell Jar, but she's still not my favorite.

[Ryduce]

Loved The Bell Jar,loved almost all of her poetry.She pretty much rocks.

Mirror

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful –
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

[livelaughlove]

I started reading The Bell Jar and I did enjoy it. She's not my favorite, but she's really not bad at all.

[liesl]

i enjoy the bell jar, read it at college purely for leisure (was recommended by a friend) and in my Writing Women module at university i got to study and analyse it. i've even chosen it as one of three primary texts for my writing women 8000 word essay.

[F.Emerald]

Love her! She is definitely amongst my favourite poets.




Mirror

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful –
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

I like this one too. I particularily like the second stanza; very ominous.

[Redzeppelin]

Sylvia Plath is a master poet - just incredible. I'm surprised that so many seem to like Bell Jar - perhaps I need to read it again. I found her prose to be good, but nothing like her poetry; her prose was like any competent author - but her poetry? Nothing in this world like it. Plath seems to be her strongest in the compression of poetry rather than the expansion of prose. "Lady Lazarus" - her most unsettling and devastating of poems:

"Out of the ashes I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air"

(recited from memory - so forgive if I mangled a bit)

[Arania]

Yes, I prefer her poems too. They are so densely amazing. I do likeThe Bell Jar, though because so much of it is written like her poems.

I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet. ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 7

Her descriptions are so perfect, it seems. She makes it so you are right there with her, understanding what she's trying to say.

[cuppajoe_9]

Am I the only one who reads The Bell Jar as a reaction to The Catcher in the Rye? The seem to have some of the same themes (mental illness, loss of innocence, insincerity) and quite a few similar plot elements, especially in the beginning (wandering around New York City and drinking, almost losing one's virginity, becoming disillusioned). I'm only half way through, though.

Now that you mention it, a girl once quoted "Lady Lazarus" while breaking up with me. It kinda sucked, but how cool is that?

[Arania]

Oh my gosh! What did she say? That's amazing... well, I'm sorry she was breaking up wit you, but it's still really cool.

Was "and I eat men like air" somewhere in that?

[cuppajoe_9]

Yeah, it was the line that Red quoted (or some of it). She was a redhead too.

*edit* The same girl once offered to have my children upon hearing that I am related to Margaret Attwood. She was kind of a feminist.

[Jean-Baptiste]

Am I the only one who reads The Bell Jar as a reaction to The Catcher in the Rye? The seem to have some of the same themes (mental illness, loss of innocence, insincerity) and quite a few similar plot elements, especially in the beginning (wandering around New York City and drinking, almost losing one's virginity, becoming disillusioned). I'm only half way through, though.

Now that you mention it, a girl once quoted "Lady Lazarus" while breaking up with me. It kinda sucked, but how cool is that?

I had not thought of the correspondence between these two books. Thanks for pointing it out, Joe. I wonder, have you heard any speculation that it was intentional? How is the academic reading of The Bell Jar coming along. I think I would like to take a class focusing on that book.

Yes, that is pretty cool. :lol:

[cuppajoe_9]

We haven't studied the book in class yet. It's a survey course and we're only up to Ethan Frome (amazing novel, by the way). I also have yet to read any criticism of The Bell Jar, but I was thinking that it might be related to Cather because of the one reading I've heard that has it that Holden is writing to his psychiatrist, or from a mental institution (which would explain all the references to "this madman business"). I can't wait to go over it in class, though, my professor is a gem.

I like the quote about Joyce in your sig, by the way. I have to go through a bit of Finnegans Wake for my (other) English course. Holy god. I love it, but holy god.

[Redzeppelin]

Now that you mention it, a girl once quoted "Lady Lazarus " while breaking up with me. It kinda sucked, but how cool is that?

Man - that's awesome. What a cool movie moment - (Of course, if she were that into Plath, maybe you're lucky you got away in one piece? :D )

[cuppajoe_9]

Man - that's awesome. What a cool movie moment.Easy for you to say. She was really cute. :bawling:

[Arania]

Yeah, a bunch of the hard-core feminists of the world are red heads. I wonder why that is. I wish someone would quote Sylvia Plath to me upon rejection. It would make the situation a little happier. (Though I don't expect many guys would do so.)

[cuppajoe_9]

Yeah, a bunch of the hard-core feminists of the world are red heads. I wonder why that is.Maybe because redheads are awesome?

[Redzeppelin]

This may or may not be totally revevant to the discussion, but I read this in a college poetry anthology once, and thought it was fascinating. In discussing the poetry of Ted Hughes: "They [Hughes and Plath] were married in 1956...their marriage was troubled...as poets they both dealt in raw sensation and lacerated nerves, though Sylvia Plath's work centered in the plight of the victim as that of her husband centered in the consciousness of the predator." I thought that was really cool - can you imagine the marriage between those two? Knowing this and reading their poetry makes for an interesting read.

[Jean-Baptiste]

We haven't studied the book in class yet. It's a survey course and we're only up to Ethan Frome (amazing novel, by the way). I also have yet to read any criticism of The Bell Jar, but I was thinking that it might be related to Cather because of the one reading I've heard that has it that Holden is writing to his psychiatrist, or from a mental institution (which would explain all the references to "this madman business"). I can't wait to go over it in class, though, my professor is a gem.

I like the quote about Joyce in your sig, by the way. I have to go through a bit of Finnegans Wake for my (other) English course. Holy god. I love it, but holy god.

Holy God, indeed! :lol: I've only read about 100 pages of Finnegans Wake, but I've been trying, and persevering for years. I look forward to taking some classes on Joyce and his unreadable books.
I was thinking of reading Ethan Frome a while ago. I quite like Edith Wharton's writing. The House of Mirth is incredible as well. Thanks for the passing report.
Yes, that's how I always read Holden's account, as coming from an asylum. There seems to be enough textual support for the view.

That is very interesting, Red, about Sylvia and Ted, and their opposing poetic perspectives. I've only read a couple of pieces by Ted Hughes, and don't really remember anything about them--but I'll have to look into this comparison.

[starbuck]

i love her. She is one of the few masterful poets that have come from America in the 20th century. The Bell Jar is very much a statement about the women in her time. I have a huge collection and am going to do my thesis about her eventually.:D

[Jean-Baptiste]

I'm glad you like her, starbuck. Welcome to the forums!

"one of the few"? Really?