I have long been a fan of the writer Sylvia Plath. At school, we had to learn "The Applicant" for our English Lit exam and in first year uni, I read "The Bell Jar" for the first time (my copy is now well thumbed). While I realise many people are perhaps ambivalent about Plath due to the tendency for her poetry to appeal to angsty university undergrads (!) or for the choices she made in her own life - I continue to just love the way she uses language. If I could manage even a part of what she did with my own writing, I'd be very happy! This poem, "Cut", is a delight for me. Such richly envisaged, cleverly employed words - and crafting such a piece about something so commonplace as cutting your finger while cooking. Brilliant. I was especially thrilled to find clips on You Tube with Plath herself reading her poems. That voice!
Her more sombre and complex poems are on You Tube too and are equally wonderful, but I leave you to listen to those of your own choosing. They are heavy going and not for the heavy-of-heart.
Have a beautiful weekend :)
4 comments:
Hi feronia,
I've got an award for you!
http://bodecea.blogspot.com/2009/10/gewinne-und-verluste.html
Best
Bodecea
Thank you Bodecea! And thank you so much for your very kind words about my blog...they mean a lot to me :)
Sylvia Plath... I still love her poetry (even the time I thought she was a soul-mate is over and gone for long years). I remeber as I first heard of her - I was about 15, and there was a documentation about her in the TV late at night. My parents went to sleep already, and I sneaked in the living-room, sat before the TV, the sound almost off not to disturb my parents, and watched the documentation with open mouth.
Bodecea
I agree, Bodecea - I don't feel quite as I did about SP as when I was at uni but I do still think her poems (and her life) have a lot to say about what it is to be female.
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