emmamarcelle 's review for:

Three Women by Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath

4.0

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This is a collection of poems, of three different women, three voices during different periods in their life, wherein Plath speaks to the identity of women and singularly female experiences. One woman gives birth, another experiences a miscarriage, the last reflecting on her life in old age (reflecting on the trauma of her life). What I noticed was how physical Plath’s descriptions are of these women: their bodies with highly physical language about breasts, milk, blood. This juxtaposes with the men in the poems who are often described as “flat.” These poems made me think about how women are seen in terms of their relationships to others, as mothers, daughters, caregivers. Plath delves into the ways women are treated in birth/delivery, after a miscarriage, and in old age; they are treated clinically or as objects, while much is felt below the surface. I thought about how isolating and lonely it can be to be a woman (especially in the time this was written in 1962, she committed suicide in 1963. This also made me consider how much is based on her own experiences). These poems deserve to be read over and over, as each read will uncover something new.