Sylvia Plath: An Introduction to the Poetry

Sylvia Plath is one of the best-known and most widely-studied writers of the twentieth century. Since her death in 1963, critics have presented different images of Plath: the ’suicidal’ poet, the frustrated wife and mother, the feminist precursor.

In this lively and approachable introduction to the author’s poetry, Susan Bassnett offers a balanced view of Plath as one of the finest contemporary poets, and shows the diversity of her work. Bassnett’s refreshing perspective on the writer provides a welcome alternative to the many studies which attempt endlessly to psychoanalyse Plath posthumously. Bassnett argues that there can never be any definitive version of the Plath story, but, from close readings of her texts, readers can discover the excitement of her diverse work. Plath is not viewed as an author driven by a death wish, nor does the book focus on her suicide - instead, she is considered in the cultural context in which she wrote, and viewed as a complex writer.
Now thoroughly revised and expanded in the light of recent research, the second edition of this essential text contains new chapters and more close reading of the poetry. It concludes with an analysis of Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters, a collection of poems which he wrote about his wife after her death.

SUSAN BASSNETT is Professor of Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. She is the author of books on poetry, translation, women’s writing and theatre. A collection of her own poems and translations, Exchanging Lives, appeared in 2002.