Sylvia Plath (1932-63) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963). Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
"[Her poems] have that exquisite, heart-breaking quality about them
that has
made Sylvia Plath our acknowledged Queen of Sorrows, the
spokeswoman for our most
private, most helpless nightmares. . . . Her poetry is as deathly
as it is impeccable;
it enchants us almost as powerfully as it must have enchanted her."
--Joyce Carol Oates,
The New York Times
"Sylvia Plath's eye is sharp . . . and her wits responsive to what
she sees." --Richard Howard, Poetry
..."The Colossus, which appeared earlier in England to unusual
acclaim [was] her first volume to be published in America.
Certainly the praise bestowed on her by British critics is
warranted; Sylvia Plath is indeed a rare talent and a consummate
craftsman...her powerful poems crackle and smolder with
energy."--Guy Owen, Books Abroad
"She steers clear of feminine charm, deliciousness, gentility,
supersensitivity and the act of being a poet. She simply writes
good poetry."--Al Alvarez, London Observer "From the Trade
Paperback edition.
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