The Colossus and Other Poems

Plath, Sylvia

ISBN 10: 0394704665 / ISBN 13: 9780394704661

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1968

Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 4716675-6

Synopsis:

With this startling, exhilarating book of poems, which was first published in 1960, Sylvia Plath burst into literature with spectacular force. In such classics as "The Beekeeper's Daughter," "The Disquieting Muses," "I Want, I Want," and "Full Fathom Five," she writes about sows and skeletons, fathers and suicides, about the noisy imperatives of life and the chilly hunger for death. Graceful in their craftsmanship, wonderfully original in their imagery, and presenting layer after layer of meaning, the forty poems in The Colossus are early artifacts of genius that still possess the power to move, delight, and shock.

From the Back Cover: "Although her work has appeared widely on both sides of the Atlantic, The Colossus, which appeared earlier in England to unusual acclaim [was] her first volume to be published in America. Certainly the Praise bestowed on her by British critics is warranted; Sylvia Plath is indeed a rare talent and a consummate craftsman ... her powerful poems crackle and smoulder with energy ... Miss Plath is not averse to using traditional forms -- she is drawn to various modifications of terza rima, for example -- but her rhymes are mint-new, so often 'slanted' as to be nearly disguised. And like Dylan Thomas, whom she resembles in other ways, she is not afraid of pushing alliteration and assonance to the breaking point."

-- Guy Owen, Books Abroad, University of Oklahoma Press

"Sylvia Plath's eye is sharp ... and her wits responsive to what she sees. She prefers, though, to make you hear what she sees, the texture of her language affording a kind of analog for the experience she presents."

-- Richard Howard, Poetry

"She steers clear of feminine charm,deliciousness, gentility, supersensitivity and the act of being a poet. She simply writes good poetry."

-- A. Alvarez, (London) Observer

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Colossus and Other Poems
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication Date: 1968
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Good