Plath's poetry is always a difficult relationship for me. I want to love it, I never do, I feel badly that I don't, I go back to The Bell Jar, fall in love with her again, and take another stab at the poetry.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Plath's metaphors can be gut-wrenching and precise, but more often than not than are unnecessarily obtuse. The work is often verbose and overwrought, and though you can see the lyrical quality to her work, she often drowns it out with her own writing.

I don't hate her poetry, but I admit I fall into The Bell Jar camp of wishing we had more prose to highlight her talents. Despite this, there are always a few gems in each collection, and this is no exception: The Colossus and The Ghost's Leavetaking were two stand-outs for me. Is it enough for me to keep the entire collection? Probably. Will I reach for the collection regularly? Probably not.

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Created Nov 30, 2019 at 10:58am • Submit your own review...