Cassie, Plath wasn't panned. The reviews I quoted from were excellent
reviews. She was just being told her place. I don't find Plath pretentious,
though the knee-jerk reactions she inspires annoy me, i.e., the smarmy,
judgemental anecdotes, the objection to her "appropriation" of the
Holocaust (citing a very small number of poems out of hundreds),
the exclusive concentration on her last poems, the assumption of a right
to be insulting about her, the eagerness to distance oneself from her,
in other words, the creepy crowd mentality that I hate: maybe exemplified
by your phrase "Hugh, myself, and others on the list," and the
righteousness attached to same. I am intemperate but unrepentant.
Mairead
On Wed, 5 Jul 2000 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Dear Mairead,
>
> Yes, I too have always admired Plath's poetry for it's precision and light.
> And I think 'The Bell Jar' is an important book. 'Crossing the Water' is my
> personal favourite and I can't fault it.
>
> Hugh, myself and others on the list have rightly pointed to the
> pretentiousness of some of her work.
>
> But I was interested to be reminded that her work was 'canned' by some even
> when first printed. It's almost as if Sylvia was driven back into herself,
> made miserable? Given her talent, intensity and attention to form, the
> assumption by some that she was a 'gushy' confessional poet must have been
> frustrating and depressing.
>
> This poem's beautiful:
>
>
> Crossing the Water
>
> Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people.
> Where do the black trees go that drink here?
> Their shadows must cover Canada.
>
> A little light from the water flowers.
> Their leaves do not wish us to hurry:
> They are round and flat and full of dark advice.
>
> Cold worlds shake from the oar.
> The spirit of blackness is in us, it is in the fishes.
> A snag is lifting a valedictory, pale hand;
>
> Stars open among the lilies.
> Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
> This is the silence of astounded souls.
>
> Sylvia PLath, 1962
>
>
> I recall that the late poet John Forbes once told me that he admired Plath
> but 'couldn't learn' from her. I wonder what this means? What do you think?
>
> Yours,
>
> Cassie
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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