These poems are, in Robert Lowells' words, "events rather than the record of events, and as such, represent the triumph of the poet's romantic ambition". See all Product Description
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Ariel - Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath churned out her final poems at the remarkable rate of two or three a day,
... more
masterworks Robert Lowell describes as written by "hardly a person at all...but one of those super-real, hypnotic, great classical heroines." Even more remarkabl...
Ariel - Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath churned out her final poems at the remarkable rate of two or three a day,
... more
masterworks Robert Lowell describes as written by "hardly a person at all...but one of those super-real, hypnotic, great classical heroines." Even more remarkabl...
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Ariel - Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath churned out her final poems at the remarkable rate of two or three a day,
... more
masterworks Robert Lowell describes as written by "hardly a person at all...but one of those super-real, hypnotic, great classical heroines." Even more remarkable, she wrote them during one of the coldest, snowiest winters (1962-63) Londoners have ever known. Snowbound, without central heating, she and her two children spent much of their time sniffling, coughing, or running temperatures (In "Fever 103°" she writes, "I have been flickering, off, on, off on. / The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss."). Pipes froze, lights failed, and candles were unobtainable. As if these physical privations weren't enough, Plath was out in the cold in another sense--her husband, Ted Hughes, had left her for another woman earlier that year. Despite all this (or perhaps because of it), the Ariel poems dazzle with their lyricism, their surprising and vivid imagery, and their wit. Rather than confining herself to her bleak surroundings, Plath draws from a wide array of experience. In "Berck-Plage," for instance, clouds are "electrifyingly-coloured sherbets, scooped from the freeze." In "The Night Dances," the poet stands crib-side, revelling in her son's own brand of do-si-do: "Such pure leaps and spirals--Surely they travel / The world forever, I shall not entirely / Sit emptied of beauties, the gift / Of your small breath..." Though at times they present the reader with hopelessness laid bare, these poems also teem with the brightest shards of a life, confounding those who merely look for the words of a gloomy, dispassionate suicide. Plath rose each morning in the final months of her life to "that still blue, almost eternal hour before the baby's cry" and left us these words like "axes/After whose stroke the wood rings..." --Martha Silano
Ariel - Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath churned out her final poems at the remarkable rate of two or three a day,
... more
masterworks Robert Lowell describes as written by "hardly a person at all...but one of those super-real, hypnotic, great classical heroines." Even more remarkable, she wrote them during one of the coldest, snowiest winters (1962-63) Londoners have ever known. Snowbound, without central heating, she and her two children spent much of their time sniffling, coughing, or running temperatures (In "Fever 103°" she writes, "I have been flickering, off, on, off on. / The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss."). Pipes froze, lights failed, and candles were unobtainable. As if these physical privations weren't enough, Plath was out in the cold in another sense--her husband, Ted Hughes, had left her for another woman earlier that year. Despite all this (or perhaps because of it), the Ariel poems dazzle with their lyricism, their surprising and vivid imagery, and their wit. Rather than confining herself to her bleak surroundings, Plath draws from a wide array of experience. In "Berck-Plage," for instance, clouds are "electrifyingly-coloured sherbets, scooped from the freeze." In "The Night Dances," the poet stands crib-side, revelling in her son's own brand of do-si-do: "Such pure leaps and spirals--Surely they travel / The world forever, I shall not entirely / Sit emptied of beauties, the gift / Of your small breath..." Though at times they present the reader with hopelessness laid bare, these poems also teem with the brightest shards of a life, confounding those who merely look for the words of a gloomy, dispassionate suicide. Plath rose each morning in the final months of her life to "that still blue, almost eternal hour before the baby's cry" and left us these words like "axes/After whose stroke the wood rings..." --Martha Silano
Ariel's Gift, an extensive commentary on Ted Hughes' acclaimed Birthday Letters, published in the last year of his life in 1998. Exploring the powerful image of the destructive, and poetic, couple through the life and writing of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Wagner situates Birthday Letters as a type of conversation: Hughes' engagement with the legacy of his wife's poetry as well as her suicide, his "return" to Plath's writing--her titles, words, phrases haunting his--as well as the drama of her life.In this sense, Ariel's Gift is suspended between two traditions of reading, tracing both the literary dialogue between poets and poems and the life--the biographical, and personal, incident--that goes into the writing. Responding to the lure of Plath's intense, even selfless, exposé of self in her writing, as well as to what was felt to be Hughes's breaking of his 30-year silence about their relationship, Wagner provides a chronological account of the relationship between the two poets--an account which then frames her readings of the poems included in Birthday Letters. This is not, however, an attempt to reduce lyric poetry to personal experience. Wagner's reading is always alert to the ways in which Hughes is (re)working Plath's poetry and sensitive to fact that the "memory of Sylvia Plath, and her legacy, does not belong solely to Hughes". Read as a dialogue not only with Plath but with the broader cultural controversy which surrounds his relationship to Plath's work, Wagner explores the complex texture of Birthday Letters as Hughes's final tribute to a unique poetry. --Vicky Lebeau
Ariel's Gift, an extensive commentary on Ted Hughes' acclaimed Birthday Letters, published in the last year of his life in 1998. Exploring the powerful image of the destructive, and poetic, couple through the life and writing of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Wagner situates Birthday Letters as a type of conversation: Hughes' engagement with the legacy of his wife's poetry as well as her suicide, his return to Plath's writing--her titles, words, phrases haunting his--as well as the drama of her life.In this sense, Ariel's Gift is suspended between two traditions of reading, tracing both the literary dialogue between poets and poems and the life--the biographical, and personal, incident--that goes into the writing. Responding to the lure of Plath's intense, even selfless, exposé of self in her writing, as well as to what was felt to be Hughes's breaking of his 30-year silence about their relationship, Wagner provides a chronological account of the relationship between the two poets--an account which then frames her readings of the poems included in Birthday Letters. This is not, however, an attempt to reduce lyric poetry to personal experience. Wagner's reading is always alert to the ways in which Hughes is (re)working Plath's poetry and sensitive to fact that the memory of Sylvia Plath, and her legacy, does not belong solely to Hughes. Read as a dialogue not only with Plath but with the broader cultural controversy which surrounds his relationship to Plath's work, Wagner explores the complex texture of Birthday Letters as Hughes's final tribute to a unique poetry. --Vicky Lebeau
Advantages: Beautiful, an insight into a troubled mind Disadvantages: Not easy reading, overflowing with bitterness and pain
...My favourite poem in Ariel has to be 'Lady Lazarus'. It tells the story of a women who goes repeatedly through the agony of being reborn every time she kills herself. It is this blunt admission of Plath's desire to die that makes this poem so real and so harrowing. 'It's the theatrical
Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout.'
She is bored with life, she is bored with not being able to die. Her world ... ...detached from the action which the 'Peanut-crunching crowd' view through their voyeuristic eyes. It is all the 'same', nothing changes, she is sick of plodding through life, death clearly seems more attractive.
This image is beautiful and so sadly bitter. I believe Plath knew she was going to die here, she wrote these poems in a frenzy, she was alive with the thought of death. Her candid descriptions of her own suicide attempts run through this ...
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Advantages: Deep, colourful work Disadvantages: Can be hard 'to get into'
...Quite a few of the Ariel poems can be associated with death and dying or depressive behaviour (Lady Lazarus being the most famous example of this), Dying Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call. which makes Plath's poetry ( especially Ariel) very popular 'depression culture' reading. Not that's it's all doom and gloom - there are a few ... ...from feeling helplessly suicidal. What I find the most attractive aspect of her writing is the unique use of metaphor - a juxtaposition of precious words which somehow have managed to tell it like it is - display those personal moments on paper which you always knew exisited, but never thought could be expressed. What a thrill?? My thumb instead of an onion. The top quite gone Except for a sort of a hinge Of skin, A flap like a hat, Dead white. Then ...
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24.06.2001
Real plath Review ofAriel - Sylvia Plathby
PaulVerrico
Advantages: pathos, dark work of some considerable magnitude Disadvantages: its painful
Ariel
Ariel
Lady lazarus and others combine to make this spellbinding work painful to the human psyche with its discusion of pathos and suffering.
Plath is sadly dead, but the strength of her work continues to inspire,..
Read this. Weep. Read this. Smile. Such is the emotion of the greatest poet of the 20th century
All that I can suggest is you read Lady Lazarus.. 'the tulips are too red, they bleed'
Feel the rawness of a tortured mind, revel ...
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Advantages: Easy to read Disadvantages: too thoughtful and melancholy for some
I really enjoyed reading this collection of poetry. Plath has a graphic imagination evident in poems such as 'Cut' and her imagery is at times explicit but so apt. 'Morning song' is yet another beautiful poem. The title plays upon the two seperate meanings of 'morning' and 'mourning'. Describing a mother's feelings after birth, Plath describes her as 'cow heavy' using the image of the lactating mother and effortlessly transferring it to the accurate ... ...Plath's poetry is as intriguing as her life. People might suggest her poetry is depressing and such but i urge you to read it. She has such a way with words. Also i would highly recommend reading 'The Bell Jar'. A fascinating insight into the world of insanity through the eyes of a young girl. ...
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Advantages: Very deep and meaningful Disadvantages: Takes a lot of effort
When I first picked up this book in the shop, I thought to myself, 'Ah, some nice relaxing poetry', but once I got it home I realised this wasn't the case! As a keen poet myself, this book has been very useful, it is very inspiring and the quality of the poetry is absolutely fantastic! It does, however, require a lot of hard work on the part of the reader. I had to read each poem several times before discovering the true meaning of it, but they are ...
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These poems are, in Robert Lowells' words, "events rather than the record of events, and as such, represent the triumph of the poet's romantic ambition". See all Product Description
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