Customer Reviews

Sylvia Plath Reads

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...to actually hear Sylvia Plath read her own work. The poems here are wonderful(the selections are taken from radio broadcasts, I think)and not surprisingly, the author's voice adds much more to their enjoyment. And it is an interesting voice: deep, with a slightly stilted, "unplaceable" accent, and a throaty emotional quality. I only wish there was more-more poems, and perhaps even one of her interviews that are sometimes excerpted in documentaries. Nevertheless, a must for Plath readers.

"Sylvia Plath Reads" is an asset to any Plath fan or scholar's collection. However, keep in mind that this 50 minute cassette tape focuses primarily on her early work, and not the infamous Ariel poems which epitomize Plath's legacy and that made her name. Taken in this light, these poems are luminous, haunting, and executed with her characteristic immaculate craftsmanship. At times, they can be quite thesaurus-driven and artificed. Several excellent poems represented include the following: "Berck-plage" (the only Ariel poem on the recording), "Mushrooms," "November Graveyard," and "The Stones" (from "Poem for a Birthday").

The only reasons I gave this audiobook 4 stars is that it lacks any introduction to each poem - does not even give a title. I know Plath generally announced something about her poetry when she read for BBC.

It would have been helpful to include a small booklet of the poems read simiar to Anne Sexton's Audiobook.

I wish more poems had been included. The actual audiobook is pretty sparse.

I was delighted to hear her mature beyond her years voice reading one poem from the original "Ariel" -- about the death of her neighbor Perce, entitled "Berek-Plage".

Her voice is powerful, full of anger and anguish that builds in such intensity it is though she is in the room with you.

A rare treasure. Hearing Sylvia Plath read her own material is a necessity for any Plath fan. Some fine moments throughout. Would like to have heard selections from "Ariel". Still, a rewarding purchase.

this is one of the most comprehensive audio poems collections by Sylvia Plath as far as I know, it has 2 downsides however - the first is why on Earth haven't they published it on CD? and 2 in my opinion it would have been better if they included the titles of the poems each time a new poem starts, unless you are not a beginner or unless you know Sylvia's poems by heart you don't have a clue of where you are, namely where does a poem end and where does the new one start? however considering the audio production of her poems are not that many and considering she is reading her own poems, and she does a great job of it, this audio book deserves 5 stars.

What more can be said? She reads emphatically, and there can be no better translation to her work, than by her reading it, herself. Each time i hear any of these poems, my heart goes out to her and i FEEL what she reads deep in my soul. For anyone who resonates w/her writing and even anyone who is remotely "into" Sylvia Plath, i cannot recommend this audiotape higher. The only so-called negative that i can think of, is that there aren't more readings on the tape.

10/10: this the value of Sylvia's voice. Deep into her own private poetry, she talks to her self and let us to listen her. Storm behind the clouds, her voice is the rain and we are the white (or grey) cloud. She is so quiet in this hyperballad, like a postmodern hypertext where the meaning is not all.I wonder why the Poetry, in our days, is only another slave of Establishment.