I Am the Arrow The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath in Six Poems

<b>Acclaimed translator Sarah Ruden shares a fresh, myth-busting reading of Sylvia Plath's poems, revealing the full range and towering ambition of a great American poet.</b><br><br>One of our leading interpreters of ancient literature, acclaimed translator Sarah Ruden (the <i>Aeneid</i>) has long had a passion for Sylvia Plath’s poetry. In this profound reconsideration of Plath’s genius, Ruden argues that Plath is more than a consummate mythmaker; the poet herself takes on the role of the classical hero: striving, suffering, descending to an underworld that threatens meaninglessness and despair, and returning to speak the previously unspoken. For the first time, a writer and a woman becomes that hero.<br><br>For Ruden, this achievement, like the deep learning and driving ambition that fueled it, has been overshadowed by the sensational and tragic details of Plath’s life, especially her ill-starred marriage to British poet Ted Hughes and her suicide at the age of thirty. Ruden offers a much-needed corrective through close readings of 6 poems<br><br><ul><li>“Mushrooms"</li><li>“You’re”</li><li>“The Babysitters”</li><li>“The Applicant”</li><li>“Ariel”</li><li>“Edge”</li></ul><br>that reveal how Plath persisted in the face of illness to produce works of disquieting beauty and uncanny power.<br><br>Devoted fans will find many new insights here, while readers looking to discover Plath’s poetry for the first time will find no better introduction to her work.