READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Please read the following poems from Sylvia Plath's The Collected Poems:

"Pursuit," p. 22
"Ode for Ted," p. 29
"The Disquieting Muses," p. 73
"Full Fathom Five," p. 92
"Electra on Azalea Path," p. 117
"The Beekeeper's Daughter," p. 118
"The Colossus," p. 129
"Stillborn," p. 142
"Face Lift," p. 155
"In Plaster," p. 158
"Tulips," p. 160
"Insomniac," p. 163
"The Moon and the Yew Tree," p. 172
"Mirror," p. 173
"Berck-Plage," p. 195
"Poppies in July," p. 203
Bee Poems, 211-219
"Daddy," p. 222
"Fever 103," p. 231
"Cut," p. 235
"Ariel," p. 239
"Poppies in October," p. 240
"Purdah," p. 242
"Lady Lazarus," p. 244
"Edge," p. 272

Please also click on the links below (unless otherwise noted) to download, print off, and read the following materials:

Chapter 13 from The Bell Jar. (Sorry about the upside-down pages. If you print them out, it obviously won't matter, but if you're reading on-screen, you can use the Rotate Page button to turn them around into the correct position.)

Journal Fragments from Sylvia Plath's Unabridged Journals.

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Discussion Questions for Sylvia Plath:

Here are some questions that will ideally provide fodder for our discussions of Plath over the next few periods, and hopefully help structure/guide your initial readings of Plath and the related articles.

1. Sylvia Plath is always one of the first names that comes to mind in any discussion of “Confessional” poetry, but is Sylvia Plath really, in fact, a “Confessional” poet according to the most common definitions of “Confessionalism” as laid out in class last week? Why, or why not?

2. Sylvia Plath has been appropriated as an early feminist icon, and her work (despite being a relatively small oeuvre due to her suicide at the age of 30) plays a significant role in studies of women’s poetry and women’s literature in general. What about Plath’s work (or her life), do you think, makes it of particular significance to feminist studies and criticism?

3. Sylvia Plath was not only a patient who underwent Freudian psychoanalysis, she was also an avid reader/student of Freud as well, frequently alluding to Freudian psychoanalytic terminology/concepts in her journals, and even proclaiming that she suffered from “an Electra complex.” In what ways are Freudian concepts and/or images present in Plath’s poetry, and how does Freud function as a critical lens by which to understand/interpret her work?

4. An accomplished artist herself, Sylvia Plath was very interested in the visual arts, and was particularly enamored with Surrealist painters. In what ways might this interest be present in the imagery of Plath’s poetry, and are there other ways, as critics have argued, that Plath’s work evinces an ekphrastic, or painterly, eye? How about her use of color, for example?

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Please don't forget to post your weekly blog entries no later than Monday, September 11, by midnight. And speaking of which, here is this week's memoir prompt, from The Autobiography Box:

Write down a story that you tell people that didn't really happen the way you usually tell it. So many times we have a good story we embellish with exaggerations, switch events for the sake of timing or humor, all kinds of things. Come on, it's fun! But after you write down the story you tell everybody, tell the same story in its bare-bones, no-frills, true version. Think about the reasons why you twisted the facts around.

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And finally, I wanted to encourage you all to consider joining the Vermillion Literary Project--a student-run literary organization that hosts monthly poetry slams, publishes an annual literary journal, broadcasts a weekly radio show, holds an annual short story competition and an annual poetry festival, and much more! It's a terrific organization that gives you the opportunity to learn and/or use valuable real-life skills, and it's also a lot of fun. Come and check out the first VLP meeting of the year on Friday, September 8, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. in Dakota Hall 201. You can also click HERE for more information, or e-mail Michelle Rogge Gannon at mrogge@usd.edu.