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rebeltheflow 's review for:
Ariel: The Restored Edition
by Sylvia Plath
DID NOT FINISH: 77%
slow-paced
DNF about 70/90 pages in. 1 star.
Considering this is a classic in poetry, I can’t confidently tell anyone that it was bad — it is very widely loved — I do however know that it wasn’t for me. I love poetry, and I have studied poetry, but much of my interest and education revolves around contemporary works where there is as much emphasis on the beat and lyric as there is on the meaning. To me, The rhythm and structure I was expecting was hardly there. The words itself were so randomly put together than I got no meaning out of these poems. On the few occasions where I thought I might finally understand (let alone enjoy) one of the poems, Sylvia Plath’s blatant racism shows & turns me off the read. I heard this was accurate representation of mental illness, and as someone with several severe diagnoses I was excited to read this. Perhaps it deserves a revisit sometimes under a different headspace of expectations, but even then, the racism still gives me an ick.
Considering this is a classic in poetry, I can’t confidently tell anyone that it was bad — it is very widely loved — I do however know that it wasn’t for me. I love poetry, and I have studied poetry, but much of my interest and education revolves around contemporary works where there is as much emphasis on the beat and lyric as there is on the meaning. To me, The rhythm and structure I was expecting was hardly there. The words itself were so randomly put together than I got no meaning out of these poems. On the few occasions where I thought I might finally understand (let alone enjoy) one of the poems, Sylvia Plath’s blatant racism shows & turns me off the read. I heard this was accurate representation of mental illness, and as someone with several severe diagnoses I was excited to read this. Perhaps it deserves a revisit sometimes under a different headspace of expectations, but even then, the racism still gives me an ick.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism