Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

A selective list of online literary criticism for Sylvia Plath, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the Modern Language Association Guidelines for Web Pages

main page | 20th-c literature | 20th-c poetry | 20th-c women writers | confessional poetry

introduction

"Sylvia Plath." Excerpts from reputable critical articles on Sylvia Plath's work and life; On "Black Rook in Rainy Weather"; On "The Colossus"; On "Tulips"; About the Bee Poems; On "The Bee Meeting"; On "The Arrival of the Bee Box"; On "Stings"; Drafts of "Stings"; On "The Swarm"; On "Wintering"; On "Daddy"; On "Ariel"; On "Lady Lazarus" Modern American Poetry (U of Illinois).

"Sylvia Plath." A biography of Sylvia Plath. Also "A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry," and On McLean Hospital. Academy of American Poets.

"Sylvia Plath." Poetry Archive. Directors, Andrew Motion & Richard Carrington.

Axelrod, Steven. "Sylvia Plath." 17 September 2003, Literary Encyclopedia. Eds. Robert Clark, Emory Elliott, Janet Todd. An introduction to the poet, from a database that provides signed literary criticism by experts in their field, and is available to individuals for a reasonably-priced subscription.

literary criticism

Aird, Eileen. "'Poem for a Birthday' to 'Three Women': Development in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath." Critical Quarterly 21 (1979).

Annas, Pamela J. "The Self in the World: The Social Context of Sylvia Plath's Late Poems." Women's Studies 7 (1980).

Axelrod, Steven. A review of Axelrod's Sylvia Plath: The Wound and the Cure of Words. Reviewed by Susan Van Dyne in The New England Quarterly, Dec. 1991 [first page only].

Bonds, Diane S. "The Separative Self in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar." Women's Studies 18 (May 1990).

Britzolakis, Christina. A review of Sylvia Plath and the Theatre of Mourning by Christina Britzolakis. (Clarendon Press 1999). "Emphasizing the rhetoricity and self-reflexivity of Plath's writing, Britzolakis convincingly argues that the texts reflect a sophisticated awareness of audience, literary tradition, and the cultural authority of poetic discourse." Reviewed by Steven Axelrod. Criticism, Fall 2000.

Bryant, Marsha. "Plath, domesticity, and the art of advertising." Bryant explores the ways in which "Sylvia Plath is not only one of America's major poets, but also literary culture's ultimate commodity." College Literature, Summer 2002 [first page only].

Bucker, Park. Bucker discusses Sylvia Plath's marginal notes in her copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Yemassee, Fall/Winter 1995.

Churchwell, Sarah. "Ted Hughes and the corpus of Sylvia Plath." Criticism, Winter 1998.

Diehl, Joanne Feit. "Plath's Bodily Ego" in Women Poets and the American Sublime (Indiana UP 1990) Publisher's web site.

Dobbs Jeannine. "Viciousness in the Kitchen': Sylvia Plath's Domestic Poetry." Modern Language Studies 7 (1977).

Folsom, Jack. "Death and Rebirth in Sylvia Plath's Berck-Plage." Journal of Modern Literature XVII, 1991.

Freedman, William. The Monster in Plath's 'Mirror.' Papers on Language and Literature 108 (Oct. 1993).

Gerbig, Andrea and Anja Muller-Wood. "Trapped in language: aspects of ambiguity and intertextuality in selected poetry and prose by Sylvia Plath." Style, Spring 2002.

Gill, Jo. "Textual Confessions." Gill examines the current, generally low critical esteem for confessional poetry. Twentieth Century Literature, Spring 2004.

Hughes, Ted. "On Sylvia Plath." Raritan 14 (Fall 1994).

Lindberg-Seyersted, Brita. "Sylvia Plath's Psychic Landscapes." English Studies 71 (Dec. 1990).

Luck, Jessica Lewis. "Exploring the 'Mind of the Hive': Embodied Cognition in Sylvia Plath's Bee Poems." [Criticism and interpretation, Bees in literature, Literature and science]. Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 26 (Fall 2007).

Martin, Wendy. "'God's Lioness'--Sylvia Plath, Her Prose and Poetry." Women's Studies 1 (1973).

Oates, J. "The Death Throes Of Romanticism" Article on Sylvia Plath's poetry by novelist Oates. Southern Review 9 (July 1973).

Oates, J. The noted novelist reviews Winter Trees, Sylvia Plath's last volume of poetry. Library Journal 1 (November 1972).

Oberg, Arthur. "Sylvia Plath: 'Love, Love, My Season.'" In Modern American Lyric (Rutgers UP 1978).

Perloff, Marjorie. "Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems: A Review-Essay." Perloff considers twelve poems omitted from Ariel, including "The Rabbit Catcher," "Thalidomide," "Barren Woman," "A Secret," "The Jailer," "The Detective," "The Other," "Magi," "Stopped Dead," "The Courage of Shutting-Up," " Purdah," and "Amnesiac." Resources for American Literary Study 11 (Autumn 1981).

Perloff, Marjorie. "'A Ritual for Being Born Twice': Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar." Contemporary Literature 13 (Autumn 1972).

Strangeways, Al. "'The Boot in the Face': The Problem of the Holocaust in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath." Contemporary Literature 37 (Fall 1996).

Uroff, M.D. "Sylvia Plath and Confessional Poetry: A Reconsideration." Iowa Review 8 (1977).

Vendler, Helen. Brief comments on "Lady Lazarus" from eleven important critics, including Dr. Vendler, at the Modern American Poetry web site.

Wagner, Linda. "Plath's 'Ariel': 'Auspicious Gales.'" Concerning Poetry 10 (1977).

Wagner, Linda. "Plath's The Bell Jar as Female 'Bildungsroman.'" Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 12 (1986).

Wagner-Martin, Linda. Teaching Guide for Sylvia Plath, from Heath.

Zivley, Sherry. Sylvia Plath's transformations of modernist paintings. College Literature, Summer 2002 [first page only].

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