Annotated Bibliography
While many biographers tend to dramaticize their subjects and exaggerate their talents and life story, Paul Alexander simply tells the truth in his biography Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath. Alexander tells a story of her life rather then cramming facts down the readers throat. However, he has done his research well. The biography draws information from many sources including extensive and inclusive interviews. He captures what it felt like to be Sylvia Plath and takes the readers through a typical day in her life as well as numerous significant ones. For this reason, his biography reads more like a story than a biography. This holds the reader's attention much more effectively than a biography that is practically a clutter of facts. I would suggest this biography to any reader who wants to really get a deep look into Sylvia Plath's everyday life events and feelings.
Perhaps the greastest aspect of Butscher's biography is that he details Sylvia Plath's background to such an extent as to briefly spend time discussing her parents prior to her birth. This small section of pre-Sylvia history spans her father's college education and continues describing his life until his death. While Butscher also describes Plath's mother's background, the description for her is far more brief than that of her father's. A good portion of the book spans the years of Sylvia's education, most of which describes he high school and college years. During these years described in the book is also described the influences of the people with whom she consorted with and the effect they had on her life and her poetry. Like all biographies on poets, the book eventually takes a turn to analyze Sylvia's poems and the events that surround them, however I feel as though the early sections on her school life and the extensive details of her early writing history and personal background give the reader great insight into her future works and emotions.
Ronald Hayman's biography chronicles and analyzes the life of sylvia Plath through her poetry, relationship with death, and her death itself. Hayman attempts to show the incredible biographical connections in her poetry, by analyzing her poems to explain sentiment during certain time periods in her life. he states that "her poems contain lines which are partially or wholly incomprehensible without biographical explanation" showing how her poetry can serve as a biography itself due to its strongly "confessional" nature. He attempts to explain that her poetry was just as revealing of her true thoughts as was her diary, if not more. Because of the connection of her poetry to her life, Hayman also explains how her relationship with death throughout her poetry was reflective of her relationship with death throughout her life. He says it is "impossible to understand Sylvia Plath's life without understanding the long relationship with death which was eventually consumated in suicide." Because of the connection of events in her life (primarily her death) with her poetry, Hayman's book attempts to show the reader how "her poetry, her fiction, and her life would form a triangle," and that it is imperative to connect the three.
Malcolm's
biography gained critical acclaim as "an astonishing feat of criticism
and literary detection."However, her biography is less biographical than
most works regardin the life of Sylvia Plath Malcom's biography attempts
to portray not her life, but her afterlife. The astonishing feat
which Malcolm accomplishes is brilliantly portraying how her own poetry
forged a reputation after her death and greatly affected some of the most
important people in her life. Malcolm attempts to reveal the paradox
between her life and her written life, and how the two fit into each other.
A beautifully written biography about a real-life genius made the assignment to read Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath as easy as plopping down for an afternoon snack in front of the TV. Almost story-like, Stevenson is able to pull the reader into Plath’s world instantly, similar to a decadent work of fiction that guides the reader through a romantic, intelligent, complex, sexy, and glamorous story. On almost every page of her biography Stevenson includes either a quote, poem or diary entry of Plath’s. Sometimes she uses secondary sources, including brief quotes of her friends and family. Either way, the primary works are framed and explained by the biographical text surrounding them, manifesting and proliferating the reality of Sylvia’s life. She successfully humanizes the author who in many people’s minds remains elusive behind mysterious poetry such as that of Ariel. The biography points towards Plath's inability to embody all desires and persons in one lifestyle and ego-centricity as causes of her suicide attempts.
Although less detailed than Stevenson's biography, it is still a great book providing essential information about Plath. This book covers the major periods in her life, but concentrates mainly on her desire to be a writer. There are chapter dedicated only to her works and how her previous experiences affected them. In this book, Wagner-Martin often made use of original manuscripts and journal entries of Plath. Also, an added bonus is the numerous rare pictures in the book. The author gives a true and real account of Plath which is not influenced by Ted Hughes, who proved to be a nuissance during the book's production. Wagner-Martin made sure that her biography maintained an unbiased view about Plath's life. This book is a good book for any student who wants to know about Sylvia Plath's life, but mostly about how it affected her works.
Hughes, Ted and Frances McCullough, eds.
The Journals of Sylvia Plath. NY:
Dial Press, 1982
This source was the first collection of Sylvia Plath’s journals to be published.
Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, was the collection’s consulting editor, and
he included a foreword to introduce her journals. The editors chose
to leave out a number of entries and segments of entries because they seemed
inappropriate; the editors did not feel that the content was intended to
be read by the public. Since a number of gaps in Plath’s journal
entries, not all of them entries appear to progress in a coherent manner.
For the most part, though, the reader is left to interpret the material
on his own.
Having been edited
for the public, these journals are more appropriate for younger students
to read. However, because such large segments of her journals have
been removed, this work does not provide the most complete source of Plath’s
profound thoughts and feelings. For those who are striving to learn
as much about Plath as they can, we recommend that they instead explore
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, which is also discussed
in this portion of the web site.
For those who have been looking for a Sylvia Plath book that will make them smile, The Bed Book may do just that. This children’s story brings the reader to a state of bliss that it unparalleled in Plath’s other works and uncharacteristic of the morbid image we usually associate with her. This book is a shining example of Plath’s life as a caring and devoted, for she originally wrote The Bed Book as a nighttime story for her own two children, Nicholas and Freida. It is full of fanciful prose that carries the reader through the many transformations and wonders of the imagination. With whimsical rhyme, we are shown the how an ordinary bed can be a magical, jet-propelled, pocket-sized, fur-covered bed. This childhood fantasy is full of vibrant imagery that makes it the ultimate sleep book.
This poetry collection,
edited by Plath’s husband Ted Hughes, contains a chronologically ordered
list of Plath’s poetry from 1956 to 1963, the year of her death.
The poems are accompanied by useful notes regarding the major events of
the author’s life during the years 1956-1963 and allusions or references
made in the poems. Hughes also prints a list of the original poems and
the order in which they were to be published (as intended by Plath) for
Ariel, which was the last volume of poetry Plath had been working
on prior to her death. It was published posthumously after Hughes
edited it, removed several of the poems Plath intended to include, and
rearranged the order of the poems. However, the intended poems can
be found in this collection along with fifty of Plath’s early poems, in
a section Hughes entitles "Juvenilia." The majority of these "early" poems
were written during the 1950s and some of them were even assignments for
her classes at Smith College. For those still interested in her beginnings
as a writer, another portion called "Uncollected Juvenilia" lists all of
Plath’s poetic works written before 1956. This comprehensive collection
is by far an excellent source of information and background on Plath, especially
for those interested in understanding the connections between Plath’s life
and her writings.
The Colossus
was one of Plath’s earlier collection of poems. It is a combination
of some of her older works as well as a few new ones, including "The Colossus"
and "The Manor Garden." The most significant difference between these
recent and previous selections is that the new poems were written with
a revived inspiration. Even Plath referred to the more latter works
as being uncharacteristically "colorful and amusing." The Colossus
provides a fair contrast with her later works, which tended to be more
depressing and dismal. The collection offers the reader a lighter
sense of Plath’s poetry and therefore plays an important role in completing
the overall view of Plath’s literary accomplishments.
Another collection of
Plath’s poems, called Crossing the Water, was also put together
and edited by Ted Hughes. Plath wrote the majority of these poems
between the period of The Colossus (1960) and Ariel (1965).
This collection marks the beginning of the period when she was most prolific
and wrote her most recognized works. Crossing the Water is
often referred to as gathering of Plath’s transitional poems. It
displays themes consistent with those in her other books of poetry, but
it is not as self-revealing of Plath’s character. Plath specifically
seems to focus less on her personal life and more on revealing distant
thematic ideas.
Surprisingly, this children’s book is an original piece written by Sylvia Plath. It was originally a manuscript that was discovered in the University of Indiana library. After reading all of her dark poetry, this publication is a shot of light and hope out of Plath’s life of gloom. It tells the story of a young boy Max wants a suit of his own. He finally gets the suit, but not until his father and all six of his brothers reject it for one reason or another. None of these reasons matter to Max, however. Plath tells the story repeated phrases and playful rhyme. She supposedly wrote it as a lesson to her own children to appreciate what they had, a message suitable for all children.
This collection of poems was compiled from Plath’s assorted work at the end of her life. The poems in Winter Trees come from the same pile from which Ariel was created. One poem, entitled "Three Women," has in fact been identified as a bridge between Colossus and Ariel. It is at this time that Plath began to write her poems to be read aloud, a technique used to generate tone and imagery along with audio interpretation. The reader can then determine the mood of the poem. The pieces of writing contained in this collection provides the reader with excellent insight into Plath’s later and darker works. Although not nearly as provocative as Ariel, many similarities exist between images and techniques Plath used both of these poetry collections.
This journal uses The Bell Jar,
to illustrate the author’s argument that Plath perceived the
world as a
society of male and female languages competing against each other. Through her
writings, she attempts to portray the female aspect. The author uses the Bell
Jar to demonstrate the language that Plath attempts to use that saves women
from male domination; it’s meant to define and illustrate a solution to
“sociological and psychological problems” of women. Crofts, Charlotte. "The Peanut Crunching Crowd" in the
Work of Sylvia Plath: Holocaust as Spectacle?” Online. 12 October 2000. This
is an article about how readers see Plath in light of her views on the
holocaust. It general point is that Plath should not be heralded as a great
writer because she compares her pain to that of the jews.
In reality her pain isn’t even close to that of the Jews according to
the writer. It offers excellent
comparison and portrays anaspect of Plath’s writing which may not be normally
explored. This analysis provided a very stylistic
view on Plath's writing. Richard
Giles pointed out Plath's lyrical ability, confessional tendencies, symbolism,
and very personal style. He stated:
"Plath's greatest talent lay in her ability to transform everyday
experiences-- the kind that would be appropriate entries in a diary-- into
poems." Giles uses excellent references and textual support in his
convictions. Although it was broad
and did not bring forth just one aspect, Giles allowed the reader to understand
how and why Plath wrote what she did, Interestingly
enough, this critique is written by Sylvia Plath's husband, Ted Hughes. The commentary discusses the importance of Plath's journals
in understanding her works. He
states, ". . . these papers, which contain the nearest thing to a living
portrait of her, are offered in the hope of providing some ballast for our idea
of the reality behind the poems" (Hughes, 1-2).
Hughes examines the mood of her journals as a "drama",
beginning with a lyrical "death", followed by a long
"gestation" or "regeneration", and resulting in a
"rebirth". He concludes
with the argument that Plath's journals are the evidence of her transformation,
both in her writing and in her life. Preceding the long awaited release of
many of Sylvia Plath's journals, Kellaway states: " as the train of
literature about Plath and Hughes thunders on, as often as not Plath's poetry is
left behind. No one stops to ask how good it was. Is it Plath's doomed life we
care about most? Was death her best poem? Are her poems anything more than
anguished poetic diaries? And can they be separated from her life?"
Combining information about Plath's life and works, Kellaway provides a solid
and effective critique of this problem, stating the above as her interpretation
of the meaning in Plath's works. Kenner, Hugh. "Sincerity Kills" Sylvia Plath: New Views on
the Poetry. Lane, Gary. ed. Johns Hopkins University: The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1979. In this
discombobulated article, the author attempts to analyze Sylvia Plath's tones in
her writings. Kenner discusses the different forms that Plath uses
throughout her poetry. Through these forms, Plath conveys her messages.
This article was extremely difficult to read, due to lack of fluidity and
cohesiveness. Kenner constantly switched his point of focus and did not
prove his thesis in an adequate argument. It’s been stated by some that writing
poetry was harmful to the mental health of both Sylvia Plath, as well as Anne
Sexton. Both poets suffered from severe depression and other psychological
issues. The journal analyzes how writing for each poet allows a certain amount
of distance from the issues terrorizing their minds. Writing provides the poet
with the ability to objectify their pain into words. The concluding point of the
journal article was that according to the critique of each poet’s writings
provided, writing allowed both Plath and Sexton to live longer then they may
have if they did not implement writing as their form of expression. This essay is an excellent comparison
between the writing of Sylvia Plath and Dylan Thomas. McKay
brings forth and refutes the lack of energy and meaning which is commonly
associated with both Plath and Thomas' writings.
McKay states Plath uses energy as power from nature which means it is
spontaneous and can come out at any time, The
comparison with Dylan Thomas is effective and expresses why both writers
flourished in their various time periods. This article proved to be very useful
because of the connection and associations between Sylvia Plath and Joyce Carol
Oates. Coming from a fellow writer’s point of view and one who is regarded in
the same light as Sylvia Platt, the article has much more meaning than if some
other person had written it. Joyce Carol Oates has the ability to interpret some
of the subtle aspects of Plath’s life and poetry that an ordinary person could
not. More importantly, the article is useful
because it provides a different view than the conventional ideas of Plath’s
legacy that is often written about. As
she begins her analysis of Sylvia’s legacy, Oates compares Plath to a tragic
figure. It is through her works that we understand her tragedy. Oates, herself,
even writes that the article because she is amazed at the way that people have
lifted up Sylvia Plath and is curious as to the reasons. Despite its interesting title, this
article aids in giving the reader an idea about the legacy of Sylvia Plath. It
discusses how she is remembered today in the world with regard to both feminism
and her husband, Ted Hughes. It was extremely helpful because it did not delve
into her whole life story, but simply stuck to the point of the article, which
was to discuss her legacy. However, toward the end of the article it tends to
talk about how another woman, Janet Malcolm, wrote about Sylvia Plath’s legacy
instead of continuing with Andrea Sachs’ explanation of her legacy. Perhaps
the line from Sach’s article, which reads, “The details of Plath's suicide
have assumed totemic significance for a cult of followers who regard her as St.
Sylvia, the high priestess of suffering,” best exemplifies the sentiments that
most people have toward Sylvia Plath. This shows her “canonization” in a
symbolic sense. Whether in the world of feminism or simply through her poetry,
Plath has become somewhat of a model for feminists and has written words to live
by for others. Schwartz, S. (1976). “Using Adolescent Fiction That Deals with
Current Problems and Lifestyles to Explore Contemporary Values”.
Rutherford, New Jersey: Annual Meeting of the English Teachers on Creative
Survival. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED 119 199). This paper was part of a presentation at
an educational conference in 1976. The focus of this paper was directed towards
the argument that a value structure must be developed in schools and taught in
that manner to the students. To prove this point, the author discusses books
that the author believes demonstrate humanistic values, which in turn will,
hopefully, prepare students for the “coming humanistic century”. Sylvia
Plath’s The Bell Jar. This paper, discusses and analyzes the depth and
mannerism in which Plath illustrates these characteristically humanistic values
in The Bell Jar. It’s a good source for analytical context of that
specific work by Plath, as well as other sources which the author felt
illustrated such humanistic values. Although it starts out more as a
biography of Sylvia Plath’s life, this article helps the reader to understand
how Sylvia Plath’s life in turn determined her legacy because it was
exemplified through her writing. The
author discusses thoroughly the fact that “Plath has also left us a poetry
that specifically explores female identity in a thoroughly courageous way.”
Sylvia Plath’s poetry and writing draws the reader in to become part of
it and experience it with her. The
fact that Sylvia Plath’s poetry deals with death to a great extent is also
discussed. The author quite
obviously favors Sylvia Plath and holds her in high esteem. Alvarez states that Plath’s goal and final achievement is to make death and poetry inseparable. He starts out by how she is not efficient in her poetry and attempts to tap the "roots of her inner violence" (Alvarez). He develops his thesis to the point of defining her goal as describing the intricacies of mass-produced suffering and the inhuman atrocities involved. I do not quite agree with Alvarez in his assessment of her poetry because he makes generalizations about her works as a whole and I have found that they do not all have one purpose, but that they are separate and individual.
Blackburn, Statesman (Copyright 1960 The Statesman and Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), Vol. LX, No. 1551, December 3, 1960, p. 1061.
An article written comparing the works of various poets. Blackburn compares Plath's works to those of Ted Hughes in that the two write with exuberant vitality. He goes on to criticize Plath's over abundance of imagery, yet compliments her on how she handles the language used to describe her observations. He is commenting on her first collection of works, The Colossus, and in his criticism he uses her poem, "Sow", toshow her extensive description and lively tone. This is a brief yet concise source to see how her works relate to other works, and gives a balanced criticism on, at the time, a novice poet.
Dickey, James. Sorties: Journals and New Essays. New York: Doubleday, 1971. 190-91.
In this essay, Dickey takes a rather negative view of both Plath herself and her writing. He discusses the falsity of the type of poets he calls “poets of personal complaint.” He particularly faults Plath and her collection of poems, “Ariel” as being of this genre. Dickey’s thesis centers around the idea that although Plath purports to be showing “real life” in all its naked grotesqueness, she and those like her are in fact reducing life, and all its complexities into angst-ridden catch phrases. Dickey contends that Plath relies on a pseudo-confessional approach to garner sympathy from the reader for the vast system of atrocities that committed by the world against her, as if her hardships should weigh more heavily than those of others. This was an interesting criticism to read because it was one of the few I found that criticized Plath and her working this way. It presented an interesting perspective on the possible motives behind her writing, however this criticism did not really address the substance or method of her writing or any of her specific poems and struck me as slightly subjective.
Hope, Francis, “Suffer and Observe,” in the New Statesman (1965 The Statesman and Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), Vol. LXIX, No. 1781, April 30, 1965, pp. 687-688.
In Francis Hope’s criticism, “Suffer and Observe,” Hope explores both the positive and negative aspects of Plath’s work, stating “there are several bad reasons for admiring Sylvia Plath’s posthumous volume, and they are intricately involved with the good ones.” Hope covers the “terribly direct and sinister” imagery of Plath’s work, along with the “energetic and pleasurable” tones used in poems such as “You’re.” Hope’s criticism serves as both an informative, and unbiased exploration of Plath’s work, allowing the reader to come to his or her own opinion on the matter.
Howard, Richard. “Sylvia Plath.” Alone With America: Essays on the Art of Poetry in the United States Since 1950. New York: Athenum, 1969. 413-22.
Howard clearly has an affinity for both Plath and her works. In his critical analysis, he discusses the totality of her works, from her first collection of poems “Colossus” to her autobiography, The Bell Jar, to her final collection of poems “Ariel.” Howard believes that these three works must be viewed in relation to each other in order for a critic or reader to be able to fully appreciate Plath’s genius and skill. Howard looks at Plath’s collective works from the vantage point of her death and sees them as an autobiographical tracing of her development as a person and as an author. The believes that her collective works form an attempt to find communion with death and “otherness.” He cites a line from Plath’s poem, “A Birthday Present,” “the cold dead center/where spilt lives congeal and stiffen to history,” as an example of the almost totally detached tone of her later works, revealing a clarity of thought that usually is possible only after death. Howard’s analysis of Plath and her works, presents a distinct contrast to that of Dickey, revealing the polarity of criticism on Plath. Howard takes the view that Plath’s works are actually a form of cathartic self-analysis, a sort of running inner monologue that she chosen to share with the reader. This work is very well written and well researched, citing actual textual examples to illustrate point, and should be helpful for many students.
Rosenthal’s thesis is recognizing Sylvia Plath’s pattern of confusing motive and art (real and ideal) under which lies another contradiction of her terror of death mixed with fascination by it. Rosenthal starts with looking at her fault of mixing writing poetry so heavily with her life that they become inseparable. Rosenthal then progresses to recognizing her obsession with death while still pointing out that such a poem as ‘Poppies in October’ was written in joy. Rosenthal recognized many dualities in Plath’s life and poetry and I believe that these happy and sad extremes which Rosenthal points out could be indicators of manic depression.
Simon, John, "More Brass than Enduring" (originally published in theHudson Review, Vol. VX, No.3, Autumn, 1962), in his Acid Test (Copyright 1963 by John Simon; reprinted with permission of Stein and Day, Publishers), Stein and Day, 1963, pp. 236-52.
This is quite an extensive article about many poets' first works, yet holds a brief criticism on Plath and her first volume, The Colossus. He is quick to present her as a youth of poetry, and therefore criticizes many of her poetic aspects. Both her literary devices and her form are unstable yet he gives her credit on possible talent that needs to develop. He represents this with a stanza from her poem "Blue Mole". This is a condensedcriticism of Plath's talents, but interesting to see a negative aspect on such a famous poet.
Taubman, Robert “Anti-heroes,” in New Statesman
(1963 The Statesman and Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), Vol. LXV, No.1663,
January 25, 1963, pp. 127-128.
In Robert Taubman’s criticism, “Anti-Heroes,” Taubman analyses the idea of an “anti-hero” within a modern English novel, specifically concentrating on five primary works, including Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Taubman explores The Bell Jar’s main character, Esther Greenwood in an attempt to support his own conjecture that an anti-hero “needs a whole baggage of pet attitudes, intense vitality and off-hand integrity.” This criticism is quite vague and contains little “in depth” detail pertaining to Plath’s work, yet it also offers an interesting viewpoint pertaining to Plath’s stylistic form of writing.
Wain, John. Farwell to the World. The Spectator, 1961.
In this publication John, Wain gives a positive and open-minded view of Sylvia Plath’s The Colossus. He describes it as, “clever, vivacious poetry, which will be enjoyed most by intelligent people capable of having fun with poetry…”(p.50). On a few occasions Wain makes reference to the similarities between Plath’s work and other poets, notably Wallace Stevens and Theodore Roethke. Despite these flaws the work is still held in the utmost regard, especially for a first book.
