Sylvia Plath: An Introduction to the Poetry

by Susan Bassnett

In this lively and accessible introduction to Sylvia Plath's writing, Bassnett offers a balanced view of one of the finest modern poets. Bassnett argues that there can never be any definitive version of the Plath story, but from close reading of the texts she left behind, readers can discover the excitement of her diverse work. The second edition includes three new chapters and ends with a reading of Ted Hughes' Birthday Letters.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1987

About the author

Susan Bassnett is Professor of Comparative Literature in the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B...

Reviews

[Ivy-Mabel Fling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a useful introduction to SP and her writing. Many analytical biographies rely on the reader's knowledge of the author's work - here Susan Bassnett quotes a good deal from the poems, which makes life easier for someone who is not very well acquainted with them.

[Dorotea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems are full of pain, of references to suffering and death as release from suffering but to read them as coded references to her suicide seems unfair. Better to read the poems, as Ann Sexton suggests, for their own sake, for what they say to those who read them, rather than in an attempt to use them in the making of the text that is Sylvia Plath’s life. […] What we are left with is the pain in the poem and the pain of knowing that she died.

There can be no simple, definitive reading of Sylvia Plath’s poetry or of her life. Only by accepting that contradictions exist in a dialectical relationship with each other can we move beyond a dead-end ‘reading to find out the truth’ kind of process. […] Sylvia Plath, like the rest of us, was a complex human being full of contradictory impulses and feelings and, perhaps more honestly than many of us, she recorded those contradictions in her work. Just as it is impossible to discover the ‘truth’ about anyone else’s heart, so it is impossible to have a single true reading of a work. We have come to recognise that there is no such thing as a single definitive reading of anything, that there are as many versions of a text as there are readers reading it and though there have been some attempts to restrict the anarchy of that suggestion we are today offered the prospect of a text as an open entity. The poem, once written, is rewritten in every reading and the notion of a single definitive reading becomes the absurdity it is.

[Tassia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfetta introduzione per cominciare ad avvicinarsi al mondo della Plath. Chiaro, coinvolgente ed esaustivo, ha anche il merito di essere imparziale nelle vedute e di attenersi più ai fatti che alle critiche sbilenche (cosa più unica che rara per un volume monotematico su un autore). Inoltre offre numerosi spunti su testi critici di letteratura generale che non sono da sottovalutare. Ovviamente chi vuole approfondire tematiche più specifiche o critiche più settoriali, dovrà rivolgersi poi ad altri tipi di testi successivamente.

[Syd · Rating 5 out of 5]

stressed me out at first because i'm not used to non-fiction and also did really bad in AP english, however this book really helped me to better understand the world of poetry in general. it paid a lot of attention to the patterns in plath's work and how what we learn from the journals can be used to better understand her poetry and prose. i have mixed feelings about ted hughes as a husband but the last chapter really made me want to read everything i could about the two of them. very very interesting overall :)

[Sophie Bowns · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it a little dreary and hoped for better!

[Lillibet Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

pg 14
Perhaps what I do miss most here is the lack of my friends who have known me in my past. I can't explain fully how much it means to have people who have shared years of one's life and with whom you can assume a deep understanding and common experience...14 November 1955

pg 52
she should be in turn Arianrhod, Blodeuwedd and the Old Sow of Maenawr Penardd who eats her farrow, and should write in each of these capacities with antique authority. She should be the visible moon: impartial, loving, sever, wise.

pg 115
out of the ash
i rise with my red hair
and i eat men like air.

The speaker is a woman who has the great and terrible gift of being reborn. the only trouble is, she has to die first. she is the phoenix, the libertarian spirit, what you will. She is also just a good, plain resource ful woman.

138
The chimneys of the city breathe, the window sweats,
the children leap in their cots.
The sun blooms, it is a geranium.

The heart has not stopped.

The suffering heart can still experience the daily life of a city, still reach out towards the energy of children adn the colour of flowers. Whatever remedy is sought, the poem seems to answer itself. the remedy is living, it is continuing to experience thsoe parts of life that are beautiful, despite the encounter in the past with God.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book that contains not only the authors thoughts and interpretations of Plath's work, but several other peoples points of view as well. The book is broken up into different chapters pertaining to her works on family, the struggle to survive, and how Plath has become a muse to many other writers. I really liked how this isn't the typical surface interpretation of Plath's methodical writing as "depressive" "all leading up to her suicide and death at the hands of an oven". She worked incredibly hard on her poetry and her two books, she deserves all credit due to her.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Some parts got a bit too deep/analytical for me and, I confess, I skimmed them. But it was really insightful into Plath's poetry and life and avoided the clichéd analysis of her poetry as evidence that she was suicidal. Her life, and poetry, was a lot more complex than that.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only skimmed through this book as a means to glean some form of direction for my possible English Honours thesis. If my application is successful, I dare say I will be revisiting this book.