The poems in Sylvia Plath's Ariel, including many of her best-known such as 'Lady Lazarus', 'Daddy', 'Edge' and 'Paralytic', were all written between the publication in 1960 of Plath's first book, The Colossus, and her death in 1963.
'If the poems are despairing, vengeful and destructive, they are at the same time tender, open to things, and also unusually clever, sardonic, hard minded . . . They are works of great artistic purity and, despite all the nihilism, great generosity . . . the book is a major literary event.' A. Alvarez in the Observer
This beautifully designed edition forms part of a series with five other cherished poets, including Wendy Cope, Don Paterson, Philip Larkin, Simon Armitage and Alice Oswald.
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[Love set you going like a fat gold watch (MORNING SONG)]***
(Faber & Faber, 17 June 2010 (first published 1965), 96 pages, ebook, bought from Amazon)
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Plath is one of my favourite poets. I have idolised her and her work since I was a teenager. Excuse me with I have a fan-girl moment. Plath made me want to write poetry.
Ariel, her last hurrah is an amazing collection of poetry. It contains some of her best work and some of my favourite pieces.
I love how diverse the poems are in Ariel, the perfect blend of light and dark. The poems are rich in detail, vivid and at times, haunting.
I loved all of the poems but my favourites were The Applicant, Lady Lazarus, Cut, Death & Co and Daddy. Of these Daddy is the best. Daddy may be one of the best poems ever written.
