Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was one of the most gifted and innovative poets of the twentieth century, yet serious study of her work has often been hampered by a fierce preoccupation with her life and death. Tim Kendall seeks to redress the balance in his detailed and dispassionate examination of her poetry. Taking a roughly chronological structure, he traces the unique nature of Plath's poetic gift, finding - with reference to <b>Letters Home</b>, <b>The Bell Jar</b>, <b>The Journals</b> and the stories and autobiographical reminiscences - an essential unity in her inspiration, tracing the evolution of recurring themes and at the same time exhibiting her accelerated development from the formal restraint of <b>The Colossus</b> through to the ground-breaking techniques of <b>Ariel</b>. He shows that Plath was a poet constantly remaking herself, experimenting with different styles, forms and subject matter.