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Title: Ariel by Sylvia Plath ISBN: 0-06-093172-8 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.93 (27 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Lady Lazarus : Plath rises from the ashes
Comment: I first read Ariel at the age of 13, when the anger and blackness was a perfect outlet for my teenage angst. I memorised the vicious but gorgeous poems Lady Lazarus and Daddy and walked around holding these words as a kind of talisman against all of the nameless terror of growing up. Twenty years later, long since past the angst of my youth, I thought it would be fun to revisit this poetry which was so important to my generation, thinking perhaps I had outgrown it. However, like Lazarus, Plath rises from the ashes of her own depression to reveal a linguistic beauty which is, at times, astonishing. There is, of course, terrible bleakness. In Death & Co, for example, "I do not stir. The frost makes a flower, The dew makes a star, The dead bell. The dead bell. Somebody's done for." still leaves me shivering and feeling terribly cold and alone. Lady Lazarus, Cut and Getting There come to mind immediately as touching the very edge of death. However, there were also some light and lovely surprises, as with Morning Song, where the wonder at the miracle of a child hit a familiar note with me (having had my first child recently), in the moment the child wakes and its "clear vowels rise like balloons". It has been a long time since I've read poetry of such power, anguish or beauty. Often hard and painful, with moments of vulnerability, tenderness and even a strange kind of joy, there is something timeless and permanent in this work. Worth a re-read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Uninhibited, tragic genius
Comment: This is a compilation that must be read, ideally several times in different moods and in different places. Its genius is undeniable; Plath's pain is hard to witness even 40 years after her death.
Despite the fact that Ariel isn't truly a pure collection of her last works, it is close enough so that one can watch her attachment to life ebb even as her mad genius soars out of the human realm. I particularly appreciate "Lady Lazarus" and "Elm" though there are plenty of other gems in this book. Plath's brutal honesty, her stark and terse mastery of the language, her raw and untamed emotional extremes, all coalesce into a beautiful and haunting poetry that is beyond my ability to describe in a way that does it justice. Ariel is a must-read for those with any interest in poetry, 20th century literature destined to be someday be counted among the "classics," the artist suffering from bipolar disorder or severe depression, feminist literature, or the rapid development of genius in the relatively young.
Of course, that's just my opinion.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best collections
Comment: Plath wrote madly before committing suicide. The result is this book of poems. This is the first book I ever read by Plath. The ongoing theme throughout the book (translated to me was melancholy with little bouts of happiness) drew me in. Of all my books, this is the one I hold in the highest regard. Everything touches base in reality. My favourite poem is "Lesbos" because it's so spiteful. Some of the wording can get a bit muddled, but when you read it enough times to memorize it, it all makes sense. All clicking together. I highly recommend this book to not just fans of Plath but fans of original poetry as well.
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Title: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, Karen V. Kukil ISBN: 0385720254 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 17 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Birthday Letters : Poems by Ted Hughes ISBN: 0374525811 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pub. Date: 30 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Bell Jar : A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Sylvia Plath ISBN: 0060930187 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Colossus and Other Poems by Sylvia Plath ISBN: 0375704469 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Crossing the Water by Sylvia Plath ISBN: 0060907894 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 09 June, 1980 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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