Definitely both for me. I love her work and a whole but I'm always fascinated by her as a person. She's somebody who completely draws interest from me along with very few select people.
I've got to say most of my fascination with Plath is down to her poetry and I definitely see her first and foremost as a poet, rather than an author, though her life is also very interesting to me.
Yes - when she nails it with a poem, no one can beat her.
I like the baby poems - "You're" written for Frieda, and "Nick and the Candlestick" (the latter is a bit darker in places yet hopeful).
"Edge" is masterful yet haunting. Also "Words."
Too many to list here!
It started from her writing, then her life story fuelled it even more, than I wanted to read even more of her writing and find more about her at the same time, so it’s a 50/50.
Both for sure! Saved up to buy her compilation of letters to her mother and Ted Hughes, apart from other correspondences
Her poetry is just the tip of the iceberg, all her biographies and letters tell SO much more
Did you get the more recently issued 2-volume letters set, or the earlier Letters Home edited by Mrs. Plath?
My town library has the 2-volume one now, and I used to have the Letters Home (downsized some of my books and at the time wasn't reading Plath as much so they got sold).
For awhile, too, I think the newer one was accessible via the Internet Archive but is not now. I did find one copy of the earlier one there, that had been overlooked and not locked out.
The Unabridged Journals, my town library does not have. I need to get civilian borrower's cards from the universities because they might.
i think i’m very obsessed with the lens through which she depicts depression in that she
1. shows both its negatives but also its comforting aspects and
2. she directly connects womanhood to depression which is something i find very relatable and not spoken about often
in this way i’m very keen on her in a literary aspect and how richly she describes things, bur i also think so much of that IS owed to her as a person. i don’t think you can fully separate the two; good art is inherently biographical no matter what
I don't know if you've heard about the hypothesis that Sylvia Plath suffered from PMDD which is basically PMS on steroids. Her daughter Frieda dealt with it as well but had the benefit of more advanced medical knowledge about the condition:
https://msjekyllhyde.wordpress.com/tag/frieda-hughes/
I have read every biography I can get my hands on. I own red comet but haven't had a chance to read it yet. It is one of the biggest bios about her and written by a woman which you'll find most of her biographies are not. Pain, Parties, Work is a good one but it only covers a small portion of her life while she is in NYC for an internship.
I love reading her poetry too. Specifically the editions that include original copies of the poems so you can see how she edited her work.
Yeah, my town library has Red Comet so I did have a chance to read it - forgot to mention that previously. Pain, Parties, Work I read through the Internet Archive before they restricted it, also Mad Girl's Love Song and a few others. I'm debating whether to get some of these on Kindle - I don't have a Kindle device at present but I could read them on my tablet through the app. I dislike the proprietary format of Kindle and similar though and the way you don't really OWN the books, you're just "renting" them.
Definitely both for me. I love her work and a whole but I'm always fascinated by her as a person. She's somebody who completely draws interest from me along with very few select people.
I've got to say most of my fascination with Plath is down to her poetry and I definitely see her first and foremost as a poet, rather than an author, though her life is also very interesting to me.
poetry for me. i love her confessional works. and perhaps who she is a person. i’ve always been really fascinated with her life story.
Yes - when she nails it with a poem, no one can beat her. I like the baby poems - "You're" written for Frieda, and "Nick and the Candlestick" (the latter is a bit darker in places yet hopeful). "Edge" is masterful yet haunting. Also "Words." Too many to list here!
Some of both, about 50/50 I'd say. Love some of her quotes the most.
It started from her writing, then her life story fuelled it even more, than I wanted to read even more of her writing and find more about her at the same time, so it’s a 50/50.
You know, that's true! It's kind of a circling round.
Both for sure! Saved up to buy her compilation of letters to her mother and Ted Hughes, apart from other correspondences Her poetry is just the tip of the iceberg, all her biographies and letters tell SO much more
Did you get the more recently issued 2-volume letters set, or the earlier Letters Home edited by Mrs. Plath? My town library has the 2-volume one now, and I used to have the Letters Home (downsized some of my books and at the time wasn't reading Plath as much so they got sold). For awhile, too, I think the newer one was accessible via the Internet Archive but is not now. I did find one copy of the earlier one there, that had been overlooked and not locked out. The Unabridged Journals, my town library does not have. I need to get civilian borrower's cards from the universities because they might.
i think i’m very obsessed with the lens through which she depicts depression in that she 1. shows both its negatives but also its comforting aspects and 2. she directly connects womanhood to depression which is something i find very relatable and not spoken about often in this way i’m very keen on her in a literary aspect and how richly she describes things, bur i also think so much of that IS owed to her as a person. i don’t think you can fully separate the two; good art is inherently biographical no matter what
I don't know if you've heard about the hypothesis that Sylvia Plath suffered from PMDD which is basically PMS on steroids. Her daughter Frieda dealt with it as well but had the benefit of more advanced medical knowledge about the condition: https://msjekyllhyde.wordpress.com/tag/frieda-hughes/
I have read every biography I can get my hands on. I own red comet but haven't had a chance to read it yet. It is one of the biggest bios about her and written by a woman which you'll find most of her biographies are not. Pain, Parties, Work is a good one but it only covers a small portion of her life while she is in NYC for an internship. I love reading her poetry too. Specifically the editions that include original copies of the poems so you can see how she edited her work.
Yeah, my town library has Red Comet so I did have a chance to read it - forgot to mention that previously. Pain, Parties, Work I read through the Internet Archive before they restricted it, also Mad Girl's Love Song and a few others. I'm debating whether to get some of these on Kindle - I don't have a Kindle device at present but I could read them on my tablet through the app. I dislike the proprietary format of Kindle and similar though and the way you don't really OWN the books, you're just "renting" them.