Your Own, Sylvia
Hemphill, Stephanie, 2007. YOUR OWN, SYLVIA, New York: Alfred A Knopf, ISBN 978-0-375-83799-9.
Review:
In YOUR OWN, SYLVIA, Poet Stephanie Hemphill takes readers on a journey through the life and death Sylvia Plath. Using Plath's poetry as a guide, Hemphill writes imagined conversations, descriptions, and feelings of Plath and those important to her life. Arranged in chronological order, these poems are written from the perspective of Plath, her mother, husband, friends, family, and even her doctors, among others. Sylvia Plath's voice is heard in many poems written "in the style of" specific works. Each poem is titled and the speaker is clearly identified, along with his/her relationship to Plath.
YOUR OWN, SYLVIA has many dimensions. On one level, Hemphill's poems tell the story of Plath's life. On another level, though, factual information adds the heartbreaking knowledge that these poems are based on the reality of Plath's life and tragic death. The poems in this verse novel help readers create an attachment to Sylvia Plath. Hemphill has achieved her goal with this book as readers previously unfamiliar with Plath will find themselves wanting to read her poetry and learn more about her life.
Highlighted Poem:
Disappear
Aurelia Plath
Autumn 1962
I feared this -
his black demeanor,
towering silence,
sporting the superior
threadbare jacket of the artist.
He doesn't even
phone to inquire
about the children.
Sylvia opens the wounds
she has hidden from me -
the deep lacerations in her back -
Ted neglects Nicholas,
Ted tell her he never wanted children.
Ted has left her,
and her alone darkens
like a cellar door
drawing closed.
This poem is written in the voice of Aurelia Plath, Sylvia's mother. It shows the dissolution of Sylvia and Ted's marriage and Sylvia's despondency over the situation.
Possible Uses:
This book would be an excellent resource in a study of free verse poetry. It would also be a great complement and introduction to a study of Sylvia Plath's Pulitzer Prize winning work. This book would be the perfect complement for an author study on Plath.
YOUR OWN, SYLVIA has many dimensions. On one level, Hemphill's poems tell the story of Plath's life. On another level, though, factual information adds the heartbreaking knowledge that these poems are based on the reality of Plath's life and tragic death. The poems in this verse novel help readers create an attachment to Sylvia Plath. Hemphill has achieved her goal with this book as readers previously unfamiliar with Plath will find themselves wanting to read her poetry and learn more about her life.
Highlighted Poem:
Disappear
Aurelia Plath
Autumn 1962
I feared this -
his black demeanor,
towering silence,
sporting the superior
threadbare jacket of the artist.
He doesn't even
phone to inquire
about the children.
Sylvia opens the wounds
she has hidden from me -
the deep lacerations in her back -
Ted neglects Nicholas,
Ted tell her he never wanted children.
Ted has left her,
and her alone darkens
like a cellar door
drawing closed.
This poem is written in the voice of Aurelia Plath, Sylvia's mother. It shows the dissolution of Sylvia and Ted's marriage and Sylvia's despondency over the situation.
Possible Uses:
This book would be an excellent resource in a study of free verse poetry. It would also be a great complement and introduction to a study of Sylvia Plath's Pulitzer Prize winning work. This book would be the perfect complement for an author study on Plath.
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