Sylvia Plath

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I was wondering if anyone here is a fan of the poet and novelist Sylvia Plath. I've read many of her poems over and over again, most notably "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus". I'm also reading The Bell Jar.

If you want, you can post your opinions on her and her work here.

'Lady Lazarus' and 'Daddy' are almost the same poem: same patriarchal angst, same Holocaust metaphors, same 'I'm a survivor!' statements. The only substantial differences lie in the meter and the quality of the respective poems. 'Lady Lazarus' is a masterpiece, especially the very last lines, about ashes and red hair and eating men like air. Daddy crosses the line into der Kitschenzlager* too often, though. I preform a dramatic reading of that poem at dinner parties to entertain the guests. People especially like my way of shouting, "a Jew? A JEW, to AUSCHWITZ, BELSEN, DACHAU! yes, I MAY BE A BIT OF A JEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWW!" while pounding the floor with my fists. It's always a hit.

I read the Bell Jar a while ago, but I don't remember much about it.

*Literally, "The Kitsch-camp"

I like Daddy, as it helps me get my anger out over my dad and step-dad. Its nice to know that the absent father crisis isn't one from the 50s on.

I also love to read Lady Lazarus out loud. When I do, I feel this enormous surge of energy, which climaxs at "'a miracle!/That knocks me out!'". And then that climax lowers and stays the same throughout the rest of the poem. It is also fun to say "so so herr Doktor", along with all the herr lines.

Do you think it was a bad on Plath's part to reference the Holocaust?

Naw. In the fifties, that wasn't a cliche yet. Most of Plath's Our-Ever-Cheerful-Sylvia-Is-Obsessed-With-Death-Camps series of poems are really good. 'Daddy' just overdid it a little. Okay, a lot.

I once disliked her use of referring to that. At the time, I thought that was bad taste. But my opinions have changed, and have realized that it is extraordinarily effective.

I don't think she overused it in Daddy, but that is probably because I relate to the pain of that work well. When she called her father a Nazi, that was no stretch of my imagination. My dad is a neo-confederate, and my step-dad can be a complete control freak.

I loved Bell Jar and her poetry when I was young. Now it doesn't makes so much sense to me (but I still feel the strong movements of her prose when I listen an audiobook driving to work). Maybe it have to be very attached to our moment of life.

I can see why you say that. It seems like the writers, poets and other creative artists that we like best are the ones that we can relate to.

More famously, the same thing is true of The Catcher in the Rye. My English teacher says that there is a six-month window (it usually appears in the early teens) when that book will be meaningful to you. If you read it inside that window, J.D. Salinger will be one of your favorite favorite writers for the rest of your life. Read it before or after the window, and you can't reach any deep, resonant understanding of what that novel is getting at.

I didn't read The Bell Jar until I was in my middle 50's. I was astounded at how real it was. When she fitted herself under the eves in the basement to die I was ripped raw. Absoluetly raw. And when she was so insufferably haughty while wrapped in a blanket stalking the halls of the mental institution, I remembered Doris Hasslehoffer in Boisen North wing and her disdainful, shriveled face looking down her cigarette smoked stained nose at me for singing my little song by myself at the barred window.

Merle

So I guess 15 would be too late to read The Catcher in the Rye? If it isn't, I'll try to read it. After I get done reading Walden and The Count of Monte Cristo for my English class. The former is a roller coaster regarding interest level, but the latter looks unbelievably long. Since when does over 600 pages become an abridged version of a book?

Dude, that was just my teacher's opinion. Go for it.

Ok. I will as soon as I can.

Back to Plath, her poem "Thalidomide" fascinates me. I think it's about her husband.

You might want to know that Thalidomide (tha-lid-o-mide) was first marketed in Europe in the late 1950's. It was used as a sleeping pill and to treat morning sickness during pregnancy. At that time no one knew thalidomide caused birth defects

Tragically, when thalidomide was used by pregnant women, it resulted in the birth of thousands of deformed babies. In 1961 scientists discovered that the medication stunted the growth of fetal arms and legs (sometimes only 'buds' of the limbs.) In fact, taking only one dose of thalidomide early in pregnancy can severely affect the growth of fetal limbs (arms, legs, hands, feet). It also puts the fetus at risk of other injuries, including eye and ear defects and severe internal defects of the heart, genitals, kidneys, digestive tract (including lips and mouth), and nervous system.

Merle

Walden is a book that made a lot of sense to me... wow... I was seventeen and after this book I started to look for places to build a little house and live by my own... Fortunately I couldn't afford anything at that age...
Now I can't even think about a life without all this tech stuff... lol

My aunt was a thalidomide baby. She was born with a T-shaped uterus and a deformed cervix. I have no cousins.

Great. Now I feel bad for saying that. I don't know anyone affected by thalidomide. I've seen pictures of them, though, and I feel bad for them.

I like the poem because it is so mysterious. I think that is Plath criticizing Ted Hughes for having an affair. And the last line: "The image/flees and aborts like dropped mercury" shows that he shattered the perfect image that she had of their life together, and that it can never be fixed.