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Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath

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All I'd previously known of Sylvia Plath was that she'd been a poet who'd written THE BELL JAR and had committed suicide. All I knew of Ted Hughes is that he wrote poems for adults that I'd never read and THE IRON GIANT which I'd really enjoyed reading. I was not aware of Plath and Hughes having been married.

I know much, much more about them now.

"Madness
Dr. Ruth Barnhouse Beuscher, Sylvia's therapist
Fall 1953

"Repression cuts off
circulation like a tourniquet,
and Sylvia throbs with desire.

"I advise Sylvia to experiment,
to stop fretting over a white
wedding dress. Does this shock
the patient? Not really.
Sylvia has been slicing at her arm,
waiting for someone
to grant her permission. "A junior in college,
she may be ready for this.
'But what would Mother think?'
Sylvia snickers. She wraps a mink stole
of secrets around her shoulders,
luxuriates in playing foul
behind her mother's back.

"Perhaps when she holds back
her desires, her mind
splinters into madness, into deadwood
that we must burn away by electric shock.
I encourage her to release her idea
of the bad girl, punishable for physical contact.

"I ask her to think about herself, not her mother,
about how Sylvia represses Sylvia.
I want to tell her to do what she wants.
I need to help her to let go of her fears."

"Dr. Ruth met with Sylvia for daily psychotherapy sessions, during which Ruth explained to Sylvia her methods and techniques and why she was using them. Sylvia responded well to this sort of inclusion and respect. Dr. Barnhouse Beuscher employed fairly orthodox Freudianism, which entailed leading analysis and discussion about Sylvia's childhood. At the time of the above poem, Sylvia and Dr. Ruth met at McLean Hospital for inpatient treatment, but later they would have sessions at Dr, Beuscher's private practice. They were in contact via phone, letters, or in person every week until Sylvia's death ten years later."

Through inclusion of a book-long series of artistic images, the creators of a graphic novel provide readers with a second dimension -- a visual dimension -- to a story that is also being told with words. In those cases where the images work harmoniously with the text to create an exceptional graphic novel, the reader experiences a piece of literature that is greater in its impact than the sum of its textual and visual elements.

In crafting YOUR OWN, SYLVIA, a striking portrait of the poet who took her own life at an early age nearly half a century ago, author Stephanie Hemphill has similarly provided a second dimension. That second dimension in this case is not visual but textual.

Some may believe that Hemphill's poems, which are conveying the story on one level, constitute the second dimension that adds depth to the factual information appearing throughout the book. Others would propose that, on the contrary, the factual information is the dimension that supplements the poems which are written with the guidance of primary source materials and from the points of view of an amazingly large cast of family members, friends, colleagues, and mental health professionals who knew this a poet who, like a shooting star, burned brightly and was then gone.

What cannot be argued is that, like a graphic novel done to perfection, the author has intertwined these two integral textual dimensions of the story in a manner that makes this portrait of Sylvia Plath consistently intriguing and compelling with all the power and edge of the best tragic, contemporary verse novel.

In fact, there are events within this tale that are so horrific that it is sometimes necessary to remind oneself that they took place in the real world.

Interspersed with the poems from the various points of view are several which are co-titled "Imagining Sylvia Plath," and are each written in the style of one of Sylvia's better-known poems.

"...She blocks Ted out, the rake, her children's
Unfaithful father, invisible as the man who draws
The stage curtain, who ties up the show.
She doesn't need him
To tell her when to begin, when to end.

"Poetry taps beat after beat
From her typewriter keys.
She studies the page, astonished
At her maniac poems, buzzing real as an ear.
She cannot send them back.

"She cannot remember writing them down.
She can only remember the way
The words felt, honest as a morning moon.
And she is their creator,
Standing alone in her laurel crown.

"She escapes this way.
Her early-morning pen
Breaks the kill hours, cleanses her in blood,
Burns the wrinkles from her face.
She radiates language.

"She will not be shut up, will not be eclipsed."

Sure, at times it is like staring in fascination at a terrible accident happening in slow motion, but there is no question that YOUR OWN, SYLVIA will be responsible for bringing the words of Sylvia Plath to the attention of a new generation. It is a haunting and true story that certainly grabbed and held my attention.

Loved every page!!! This was a refreshing look into the life of Plath, told through poems from those who actually knew her.

I find her fascinating. I don't know what it is about her, not her poetry, but her. Each poem ends with a footnote. These are important! I actually found reading the footnote before each poem extremely helpful.

The poems are from everyone: her brother, her mother, her father, her grandmother, her grandfather, her therapist, her downstairs neighbor, etc.

This takes about 45 minutes to read.

Forty-five years after her death, Sylvia-Plath-mystique is alive and well. This story of Plath's life, from childhood to tragedy, is told in verse, purportedly in Plath's own style. Hemphill, an outstanding poet in her own right, admirably gives more than suitable voice to those who knew Sivvy--her mother, brother, friends, editors, therapist, husband and Sylvia herself, defining Sylvia's hopes and aspirations, fears, vulnerabilities and dichotomies. Each poem is titled and the point of view and speaker are made clear. Factual end notes enhance the biographical aspect. "Your Own, Sylvia" reads like a novel, a good one. Readers are rewarded with an intimate look at this remarkable young woman and brilliant poet, and may deduce that she was a modern female, ahead of her time. The nature of this book is that Sylvia's suicide becomes less frightening, less intimidating, less sensational, allowing readers to embrace Sylvia and accept her as their own.

I found the notion behind this book, which I read for a book group, off-putting: The author writes a book about the life of Sylvia Plath by writing her own poems, in the voice of characters from Plath's life, and based on the style of Plath's poems. It's an interesting exercise, but I believe reading Plath's actual poems and researching some short bios would be far more satisfying.

(This book is reviewed in connection with Carver: A Life in Poems )

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill received a Printz Honor award in 2008, and Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson won a Newbery Honor in 2002.

Both books are biographies written in verse. When I first heard about this idea, I was intrigued. Although I don't always love it, I do enjoy poetry and I've found that I really, really enjoy novels written in free verse (like Ellen Hopkins). I was very interested to see how reading a poetic biography would turn out, and I'm sorry to say that I was quite disappointed.

I read Carver first and I really expected to enjoy myself. By the time I got around to Sylvia, I was no longer expecting much. Some of the poems were thoughtful and insightful and made for interesting reading, but I never felt like I was really gaining that much knowledge about the lives of either GW Carver or Sylvia Plath. I would have much read an actual biography of each individual that then had these poems interspersed throughout the pages. In each book, there were brief notes offering a little additional insight into the person or time period the poem addressed, and I feel like I learned more about their lives, thoughts, and emotions from these tiny blurbs than from the poems, which I doubt was how I'm supposed to feel.

I feel like I'm missing a lot of essential information that is important for a biography to offer. I don't really feel like I know much more about these two people than I did before picking up the books.

Although I didn't particularly enjoy reading either 'biography' I believe I can understand why both the Printz board and the Newbery board decided to award these books an Honor. It is a unique idea that changes the way we view and understand historical figures. But, I don't think they did their subjects justice. Instead of being more interested in the story of their lives, or coming away more knowledgeable than I was before, I merely felt annoyed.

I don't know of any other biographies written in this style, but I believe I'm safe in saying, I won't be reading them.

While this verse interpretation of poet Sylvia Plath was intended for teen audiences, it's reviewed here because it'd be a shame to limit its meaning to teens alone. Stephanie Hemphill uses verse herself to interpret the events and influences that summed the life of tragic poet Sylvia Plath. Her approach is unique and her verse a testimony to the ongoing power of the poem.

I read Your own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill over the last week. It was well researched and very creative; I enjoyed reading the poems as it re-enforces the work that Plath's biographers have done. I did find its reliance on Rough Magic troublesome. Rough Magic has its moments of decent reporting and I have often referred to it in my Plath studies. Hemphill's book is a unique approach to examining and reading Plath's life and work. Additionally, it provides a creative interpretation of how Plath's friends, family, and other acquaintances view her.

I did find two things worth commenting on regarding Your Own, Sylvia. First, there was no poem for an event that took place the week of her birthday in 1960: Heinemann's publication of The Colossus and other poems. Secondly, and this really bothered me, throughout the poems relating to Plath's time in Devon, North Tawton is called Croton. I believe this is what Butscher called North Tawton in his Sylvia Plath: Method and Madness, presumably to protect the names of the innocent. But, I am disappointed that Hemphill and her editors overlooked this masking and thus, may perpuate the misnomer.

A beautifully written book that allows the reader to understand the backstory to Plath's life and death. This book is a must read not only for Plath-lovers but for every high school student and college English major. Even readers unfamiliar with Plath will relish the protagonist's unpredictable and engaging journey. Hemphill's writing intoxicating.

It is a very, VERY bad idea for a poor poet to attempt to sketch the life of one of history's greatest poets. The poems are laughably awful. If you want to learn about Sylvia Plath, her life and work, buy her collected works and one of the many biographies written about her. I wouldn't waste your time with this book.

I don't feel like this book is deserving of Prinz Honor. To write about a poet's life in a form of a series of poems from POV's of people around Sylvia is an interesting exercise, but the final product itself is not satisfying. Stephanie Hemphill is just not that great of a poet. Her best poems in this book are those that are direct imitations of Plath's own works. I caught myself wanting to read Sylvia's poetry rather than Hemphill's. Other poems are written in free verse with no rhythm or rhyme and pretty much are the usual fare for reluctant readers with short attention spans rather than actual inspired poetry.

However Your Own, Sylvia is useful as an introduction to Sylvia Plath's life and work. The first part of the book is more powerful. Reading it was like reading Madness: A Bipolar Life, with all the mood swings, promiscuity, manic highs and depressing lows. The second part of the story doesn't capture Sylvia's state of mind in similar way.

My favorite part of the book is when Sylvia's psychotherapist advises her to let loose, stop repressing her sexual urges and finally do the deed - as a means of therapy. Apparently, up to that point, Plath, in spite of dating multiple men simultaneously, never went all the way. I never knew that having sex could cure mental disorders.

Anyway, what I am getting at is that while reading the book I kept thinking that I'd rather read Sylvia Plath actual biographies and poetry an not this "portrait in verse."