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Selected Poems of Sylvia Plath (York Notes Advanced)

By: Rebecca Warren
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Longman
ISBN: 0582424771
ISBN-13: 9780582424777
Released: 28 Sep 2001
RRP: £6.99
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Customer Reviews

Awe-Inspiring - By: , 07 Nov 2002
I am a huge fan of Sylvia Plath's poetry and, for me, this selection is where it alll began back when I was a student. All the great poems are included here, such as 'Daddy', 'Ariel' & 'Tulips', printed in chronologic order. What I love most about Plath's poetry is the theme of identity; trying to understand herself & the times at which she doesn't is the cause for such isolation & vulnerablity. Clearly, there are some extremely depressing aspects to her work - the hospital visits, the suicide attempts & death in general, yet for me these just add more depth & profundity to her work. What many people alll too easily forget I think, is that there is also much that is uplifting here too. Poems of motherhood & the joy that insires in the poet are evident in 'You're' & 'Morning Song'. I would almost be criminal not to read this selection alongside her fabulous novel 'The Bell Jar' just to see how deeply personal both her prose & verse truely are, alll relating to events in Plath's difficult life. Personal favourites would have to be 'Ariel' & 'Cut' - the later makes you feel weak by the end of it! Yet, over alll the rest, the final two poems of the selection, which were indeed her final poems, written days before she took her own life, 'Words' & 'Edge' are pure perfection. Indeed, the sense that Plath knew what she was about to do, even when writing these poems, is made clear; "The woman is perfected./Her dead//Body wears the smile of accomplishment". Plath is a fanatatic writer & this is a fantastic selection. My only criticism of this selection is it misses out some wonderful poems, such as 'Lady Lazarus', but still is utimately awe-inspiring.