A great piece! I loved the works of Plath and Sexton as a young poet myself. I did suffer from depression at the time. What a Rollercoaster ride it's been to concertedly rid myself of depression, stay away from men like Ted Hughes and forge a path far from the koolaid pushers. I hadn't heard that much like the Spanish crusaders burning all Mayan codices, Hughes had destroyed some of Plath's. I sometimes think that the greater suppression of women by patriarchy and complicit men boils down to jealousy that women can conceive, carry and deliver life. So they turn it around and treat women like chattel for centuries. And this subjugation of women works like a well-oiled machine to fuel the - what I call - corporatocracy. It's always great to come across an unapologetically fellow "woke" woman. Imagine feeling such despair about your circumstances that you decide to kill yourself. And stifle all that goddess-given talent.
I also love Sexton's poetry. Thanks for this heartfelt and thoughtful comment. It's very difficult if not impossible for women on their own to dispel the forces you speak about. Much appreciated.
Laurie, I appreciated this piece, and I’m not sure why because I’m not a huge Plath fan , but I envy poetry for its...everything. Your perspective here is beautiful and gives real meaning to the struggles of life (for a stereotypical female, as much as a stereotypical male). I think of how Plath may have responded to today’s world, with its kind of opposite problem of being unbound. Thanks for reminding me about the beauty of being human on a Monday morning!
I was heavily influenced by a few of Plath's poems in my late teen years. I think "Daddy" might be one of my all time favorites.
She was a prisoner of her own sharp intellect in a way, being hyper-aware of society's shit. Unfortunately, visionaries like this often leave their mark on the world and peace-out quickly. Fortunately, we have their written words (in Plath's case) and recordings to learn from and enjoy.
hi Laurie, I subscribed a while back and have loved every piece of yours I’ve seen. have forwarded many to friends. today I laughed out loud at the Leonard Cohen song treatment. thank you, and keep going, please.
Thanks for this great support and for suggesting friends. If you can possibly upgrade to a paid subscription, that will help insure the stack continues. If not, please keep reading for free. There is currently a 25% discount. Cheers, Laurie
I read with great interest your writing, which is written from a very innovative point of view. It is restrained, easy to read, and evocative of many things.
Even if Plath had received the best psychiatric care available at the time, her relationship with her spouse may have prevented a stable recovery. One wonders if there was any possibility for Ted the poet to have shared more of his creative struggles, good or bad.
If Plath had survived, there may have been a change in his style after the age of 30.
Let me give another example.
A case of a woman with serious mental illness who was able to write steadily for 24 years because her husband adjusted her rhythm of life, including sleep, listened to her stories, and supported her kindly.
Her name is Virginia Woolf. She too met an unfortunate end, but her husband Leonard Woolf was a man of character, as described in a recently published biography, and in the writings of Mieko Kamiya.who met and interacted with her husband before his death several decades ago (unfortunately not published in English), he was a kind and caring person from her point of view.
Thanks for this comment and for your appreciation of my work. Yes, it's always helpful whether you are "nuts" or "not nuts" to have a helpful guy in the house.
Jo Gill's The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath, 2008, is a very informative and thorough review of the facts. The feelings of the bereaved family are important, and therefore I cannot accept a book that intentionally withholds facts.
I will not write specific names. Your assertion in this case is very interesting. I mean the book you comment that you must read in response to your writing.
A great piece! Somehow, the Plath-Hughes saga seems to have cast a shadow over my life. I don't really know why, though the two of them were living nearby, in deepest Devon farming country, at the time I was born. I am a fan of both poets and always feel conflicted when I read about them. It took me years to get round to reading 'Birthday Letters'. Slightly to my surprise, I enjoyed it. But even more surprising was to realise how keen Hughes was on astrology: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/nov/12/fiction.features. Somehow, it doesn't seem to go with his persona. But as you say, he was "an adherent of the Tarot and the occult". Interesting how relatively little attention this has got.
I read Red Comet twice because I’m a huge Plath fan and the author does a convincing job of explaining Plath’s death as the fault of her male doctors who were not listening to her. She was about to be committed and knew she would have had more shock treatments which had traumatized her. So she was likely feeling very trapped and desperate when she died. I appreciate your take on her death but there were clearly a lot of reasons for it beyond her rejection and betrayal by Hughes. She suffered from depression all her life. I’m not trying to defend Hughes but he’s not the only villain. He also said he destroyed those journals to protect his children. I don’t think we can know what it was like for him to read them.
I love the care with which their daughter writes about both her parents and the awful decisions they both made.
And I absolutely love the hilarious riff on Leonard Cohen and the stunning flash piece.
I am so glad you wrote all of this, and I loved what you wrote about Ted and Sylvia. I have had a similar feeling about them, and I love the way you articulated it so clearly.
Curious - have you read Sandra Simonds’ new book, Assia? Reading it now and it feels very adjacent to this essay. Also, it’s just freakin’ beautifully written.
I’m currently reading... well, plowing through because there is so much and the words are tightly packed ... Milan Kundera’s “Immortality” and I wish I read Czech so I could read the original text but that is neither here nor there but what is there is intersections of legacy and the concept of immortality and I’m sure he mentions The Bell Jar but now I’m not sure so I’m gonna skim through the first half of what I read and anyway also slogging through Plath’s journals and I don’t know where I’m going with this but Agnès is an interesting character...
A great piece! I loved the works of Plath and Sexton as a young poet myself. I did suffer from depression at the time. What a Rollercoaster ride it's been to concertedly rid myself of depression, stay away from men like Ted Hughes and forge a path far from the koolaid pushers. I hadn't heard that much like the Spanish crusaders burning all Mayan codices, Hughes had destroyed some of Plath's. I sometimes think that the greater suppression of women by patriarchy and complicit men boils down to jealousy that women can conceive, carry and deliver life. So they turn it around and treat women like chattel for centuries. And this subjugation of women works like a well-oiled machine to fuel the - what I call - corporatocracy. It's always great to come across an unapologetically fellow "woke" woman. Imagine feeling such despair about your circumstances that you decide to kill yourself. And stifle all that goddess-given talent.
I also love Sexton's poetry. Thanks for this heartfelt and thoughtful comment. It's very difficult if not impossible for women on their own to dispel the forces you speak about. Much appreciated.
Laurie, I appreciated this piece, and I’m not sure why because I’m not a huge Plath fan , but I envy poetry for its...everything. Your perspective here is beautiful and gives real meaning to the struggles of life (for a stereotypical female, as much as a stereotypical male). I think of how Plath may have responded to today’s world, with its kind of opposite problem of being unbound. Thanks for reminding me about the beauty of being human on a Monday morning!
I love your comment for all the reasons you appreciated the post. xxL
Okay, that Leonard Cohen thing, I wish it was real. Because you totally deserve him after writing it. xo
Very lovely thought. My chances with Leonard would have been 20 feet under less than zero. xxL
I was heavily influenced by a few of Plath's poems in my late teen years. I think "Daddy" might be one of my all time favorites.
She was a prisoner of her own sharp intellect in a way, being hyper-aware of society's shit. Unfortunately, visionaries like this often leave their mark on the world and peace-out quickly. Fortunately, we have their written words (in Plath's case) and recordings to learn from and enjoy.
I appreciate what you write, and I want more for women then the quick "peace out."
I very much feel the same. I think folks like Plath have done a great deal to raise awareness of how far we have to go.
hi Laurie, I subscribed a while back and have loved every piece of yours I’ve seen. have forwarded many to friends. today I laughed out loud at the Leonard Cohen song treatment. thank you, and keep going, please.
Thanks for this great support and for suggesting friends. If you can possibly upgrade to a paid subscription, that will help insure the stack continues. If not, please keep reading for free. There is currently a 25% discount. Cheers, Laurie
I read with great interest your writing, which is written from a very innovative point of view. It is restrained, easy to read, and evocative of many things.
Even if Plath had received the best psychiatric care available at the time, her relationship with her spouse may have prevented a stable recovery. One wonders if there was any possibility for Ted the poet to have shared more of his creative struggles, good or bad.
If Plath had survived, there may have been a change in his style after the age of 30.
Let me give another example.
A case of a woman with serious mental illness who was able to write steadily for 24 years because her husband adjusted her rhythm of life, including sleep, listened to her stories, and supported her kindly.
Her name is Virginia Woolf. She too met an unfortunate end, but her husband Leonard Woolf was a man of character, as described in a recently published biography, and in the writings of Mieko Kamiya.who met and interacted with her husband before his death several decades ago (unfortunately not published in English), he was a kind and caring person from her point of view.
Best regards.
Thanks for this comment and for your appreciation of my work. Yes, it's always helpful whether you are "nuts" or "not nuts" to have a helpful guy in the house.
Yes,indeed.
Jo Gill's The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath, 2008, is a very informative and thorough review of the facts. The feelings of the bereaved family are important, and therefore I cannot accept a book that intentionally withholds facts.
What book are you referring to "that withholds facts"?
I will not write specific names. Your assertion in this case is very interesting. I mean the book you comment that you must read in response to your writing.
A great piece! Somehow, the Plath-Hughes saga seems to have cast a shadow over my life. I don't really know why, though the two of them were living nearby, in deepest Devon farming country, at the time I was born. I am a fan of both poets and always feel conflicted when I read about them. It took me years to get round to reading 'Birthday Letters'. Slightly to my surprise, I enjoyed it. But even more surprising was to realise how keen Hughes was on astrology: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/nov/12/fiction.features. Somehow, it doesn't seem to go with his persona. But as you say, he was "an adherent of the Tarot and the occult". Interesting how relatively little attention this has got.
I read Red Comet twice because I’m a huge Plath fan and the author does a convincing job of explaining Plath’s death as the fault of her male doctors who were not listening to her. She was about to be committed and knew she would have had more shock treatments which had traumatized her. So she was likely feeling very trapped and desperate when she died. I appreciate your take on her death but there were clearly a lot of reasons for it beyond her rejection and betrayal by Hughes. She suffered from depression all her life. I’m not trying to defend Hughes but he’s not the only villain. He also said he destroyed those journals to protect his children. I don’t think we can know what it was like for him to read them.
I love the care with which their daughter writes about both her parents and the awful decisions they both made.
And I absolutely love the hilarious riff on Leonard Cohen and the stunning flash piece.
I am so glad you wrote all of this, and I loved what you wrote about Ted and Sylvia. I have had a similar feeling about them, and I love the way you articulated it so clearly.
Wonderful to hear. Thanks so much. xxL
I learned some significant new-to-me facts
reading the Plath piece. So Shocking.
You’ve done your research and it shows.
Bravo!✍️👏👏👏👏👏✍️🙏
Thanks so much for your attentive reading. xxL
Curious - have you read Sandra Simonds’ new book, Assia? Reading it now and it feels very adjacent to this essay. Also, it’s just freakin’ beautifully written.
I have not, have heard good things from others as well.
Need to get that book
It's fantastic!
Thanks!
Yes! Re: Plath and LOL re: Cohen.
Great piece on Plath and the contemplation of how she would have fared had she lived long enough to see the women's movement.
Thanks!
I’m currently reading... well, plowing through because there is so much and the words are tightly packed ... Milan Kundera’s “Immortality” and I wish I read Czech so I could read the original text but that is neither here nor there but what is there is intersections of legacy and the concept of immortality and I’m sure he mentions The Bell Jar but now I’m not sure so I’m gonna skim through the first half of what I read and anyway also slogging through Plath’s journals and I don’t know where I’m going with this but Agnès is an interesting character...
Thanks for the slog report . . . It's appreciated!
Love love this piece so much.
Thanks so much!
Well written on the Lake fast fiction! 🤌💯✨