Embark on a gentle, fantastic trip into a magical world that lies between reality and dream. Your child's imagination (and your own) will drift into sleep with images of acrobats, submarines, elephant beds, and so much more!

That this book should be out of print is a complete mystery to me, not enough violence in it, I imagine. As for the used price above, I can just imagine snuggling in bed with my child and an antique book... Books like this are meant to be read again and again, not placed in a gilded cage on a pedestal.

"Not just a white little, tucked in tight little, nighty night little, turn out the light little, Bed."

And this is not just an ordinary book. I came accross it one day and decided to give it a go, having read other Plath works. This book is incredible, te utter childishness of it, every time I think of it, it brings a smile to my face. This book is a must-read.

My son and I read this book for years at bed-time - It was our absolutle favorite. Somehow we have lost the book and I have been searching for another copy for ages. Can the DC reviewer provide me with the name of the British publisher that is going to re-release this book - or any other details that might lead me to a copy? I would be very appreciative!

There are poems here to warm your heart, and others to chill your blood. The 1957 poem "Sow" is a fulsome celebration of the muddiness and bloodiness of thriving, procreating life, redolent of the optimistic romanticism of Wordsworth or Robert Graves. When we get to the later recordings, on side two, the poet's nerve ends are raw-exposed. "Daddy", with its dark and terrible imagery - "Every woman adores a fascist, the boot in the face..." - makes you wonder exactly how her father, who died when she was a child, behaved toward her. That and "Lady Lazarus" are about as dark as poetry can get. Not every poet is the best reader of their work, but Plath conveys her agony in these recordings in a way that surely no one else could do. If you are prepared to probe the very centres of poetic pain, get this tape.

This cassette is an amazing recording. Hearing Plath read her poems "Lady Lazarus" and "Ariel" is an experience beyond compare. Hearing the intonation of her voice leads one closer to discovering another dimension to the poetry beyond that written on the page. Her poems are works of art that are brought to a new plateau when she infuses her voice. They begin to stand in a new space, replicating the motion that her poem "Ariel" describes.

This tape is amazing. From the moment I first read Plath's poetry, I longed to hear her read it herself. Her poetry is so extremely personal. The sound of her voice makes the poetry all the more powerful. This tape also allows the listener to hear the beauty of the words and the rhythm of Plath's works.

...to actually hear Sylvia Plath read her own work. The poems here are wonderful(the selections are taken from radio broadcasts, I think)and not surprisingly, the author's voice adds much more to their enjoyment. And it is an interesting voice: deep, with a slightly stilted, "unplaceable" accent, and a throaty emotional quality. I only wish there was more-more poems, and perhaps even one of her interviews that are sometimes excerpted in documentaries. Nevertheless, a must for Plath readers.

10/10: this the value of Sylvia's voice. Deep into her own private poetry, she talks to her self and let us to listen her. Storm behind the clouds, her voice is the rain and we are the white (or grey) cloud. She is so quiet in this hyperballad, like a postmodern hypertext where the meaning is not all.I wonder why the Poetry, in our days, is only another slave of Establishment.

This is probably my favorite collection of Plath poetry, although some of my favorite poems aren't in here (Morning Song is my very favorite). From the time I looked at the cover (dark waves at night, what could be better for the writer who crossed the Atlantic to die by her own hand?) to the last poem in the book, I felt that I was seeing Plath's vision at its most clearly expressed. You can feel the dark weight of her impending collapse, but her head is still above water, so to speak. I also think that it's the book with the least amount of self-pity; she's strongest as a poet and as a person in this collection. This is not to discount Ariel, which contain some of her best poems, but they're like flashes of lightning in a grey sky of self-pity. In Crossing the Water, on the other hand, we get to see the loneliness of the long distance swimmer, sure and strong, who knows she's heading into danger.

In this juicy, lively memoir of the Boston poetry scene in the 1950's, Davison dishes the dirt not only on himself but also on such luminaries as Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Robert Frost. The decade of the 1950's was a time of delirious creativity for these poets perched on the threshold of fame and notoriety, and at the center of the vortex sat Robert Lowell, brilliant teacher, mentor and model of the wounded artist. Davison's group portrait shows men dominating these mythologized poetic years with the women cajoling, wheedling and flirting to be noticed, and then, once they had the men's attention, stepping forward with fierce work to be taken seriously. As readers will see, Plath and Sexton were up to any challenge and left behind for posterity both their great works and tales of their wild vamping exploits. Although Davison makes no secret that everybody in the group drank like fish and acted out with impunity, he ultimately celebrates those years as the apex of his social and creative life, a time populated by people of immense charisma and talent. The book is simply a love letter to the difficult geniuses of one of the great moments in 20th century American literary history.

This book gives an great insight into the mind of one the most incredible writers ever. All her thoughts and feelings are expressed so wonderfully. Even in her letters she keeps the same dry wit and rage that draws so many people to her. She was an incredible writer and this is just another example of her fine work.

A really excellent selection by Diane Wood Middlebrook, includes almost all the important last poems ('Letter in November' is missing), and a good selection of the 1950s stuff. There is even some juvenilia and some of Ted Hughes' notes.

Gosh, I love Sylvia Plath's prose and poetry. I could read and reread some of her poems again and again. This is a great collection of her poems. I keep this book loose on my bookshelf when I feel like getting shivers up my spine before I go to sleep. There are some poems that I can just read and reread over and over again that make me feel... oh, mysterious, anxious, happy, perplexed... and Sylvia Plath is one of the poets who has written multiple poems that give me those feelings. Most people who like poetry are familiar with Mirror or Daddy, but there are other poems that people don't know about. I loved the sonnet "To Time" and the poem "Mystic." It is interesting to read her poems knowing what she was going through... reading the poems that coincide with certain events in her life, like her marriage to Ted Hughes, and poems that she wrote about her attempted suicides. I suggest this collection to anyone who is interested in this woman... and I also recommend that you read The Bell Jar as you read her poems, or maybe a few of her journal entries. Sylvia Plath is one of those poets that writes about herself, and knowing background on her life is crucial in understanding these poems. Well, you can decide for yourself.

This book is the most complete collection of Sylvia Plath's poetry assembled in one volume. It is for this reason that it belongs almost as required reading, not just in American english programs, but in secondary schools everywhere. It's value lies in it's progression of a female poet and her journey towards finding her true voice. We see the early poems, methodically and skillfully written, shedding style after style of obvious influences through excercises of observation and perserverance. Through these verses, she explores and develops an intricate mythology; by the end, however, she has not lost us in her private world of symbolism and imagery, but enthralls us, heartbreakingly, through the mastery of her words. These last poems, that made up her final manuscript, are undisputedly some of the most moving and beautifully executed compositions of this past century. It is a wonderful book, one that forever changes the way the reader interprets art and the world around him that inspires it.

I love poetry, and this every poetry lover's fantasy. Having a volume of one of the best poet's ever almost complete collection. This is a book that I treasure, all the poems are masterpieces, and so beautiful. No one will ever write or think like Sylvia Plath again. This is a must-have for all of her fans. I own many poetry volumes--and this has to be my favorite. I would definitely recommend this--it was well deserving of 5 stars, and even people who aren't big fans of poetry have no choice but to love "The Collected Poems" by Sylvia Plath.

The poems of Sylvia Plath cannot be taken lightly; they are of a sacred and secret dance within the mind. This collection of poems seethes with an unending restlessness, the sense of a woman soul-searching and confronting what lies buried within her mind. The poems form a shell that must be pared down layer by layer, revealing a quiet intensity underneath. Ariel serves as a dramatic discourse with the self for Plath, whose poems are as much about image as they are about personal history. Part eulogy and part celebration, this collection draws upon the strength of Plath's lush description and visual memoirs. A sample of her languid grasp of words is illustrated in the poem "Morning Song", where she writes," All night your moth-breath / Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen: / A far sea moves in my ear." Within poems like Lady Lazarus and the title poem Ariel, Plath paints herself into immaculate dramas of pain and passion, constantly discovering new feeling and associating herself with mythical fables. Sometimes her words seem to speak of madness, while in other moments the language shifts into the dreamiest of visions. She creates a sensation of terror alongside joy, and takes the reader into her delicate confessional world. Her words disturb while seeping a beauty that is a constant in Plath's poems. In "Elm" she speaks of the darkness within the soul, writing, "Clouds pass and disperse. / Are those faces of love, those pale irretrievables? / Is it for such that I agitate my heart?" The poems "Daddy" and "A Birthday Present" address lingering memories of the past that are potent and traumatic, as Plath blends the horror of her anger with elaborate imagery and detail. Plath's poems conjure angels and demons, and her words become reflections of the ways emotions sometimes disguise themselves as both. Ariel stands out as a remarkable visit into Plath's inner dreams and fears. It's not something you can read in one night, for the depth of her words will mesmerize and perplex. Ariel is not merely a collection of poems, for it reads like a haunting diary that unravels more as you read, and it takes time to understand its marvelous secrets.

"I am writing the best poems of my life... They will make my name." --Sylvia Plath, on the Ariel poems

It is a pity that Sylvia Plath is so underestimated--most people I know have never heard of her, and those who have dismiss her as an angry feminist who committed suicide. It is a sacrilege to sum up her person so: Plath is one of the most important poets of our century, and Ariel her most important work.

In it one can find the famous poems "Daddy", in which Plath shakes loose her restraints on her resentment for her father, who died when she was young: "At twenty I tried to die/ And get back, back, back to you... But they pulled me out of the sack / And they stuck me together with glue." ; "Lady Lazarus", a commentary of death and disappointment, which reflects her situation with terrible lyricism; and "Fever 103°", which, to me, is almost mocking; and "Ariel", after which the collection is named.

Ariel is fascinating--her skill with words, her wit, her self-control (for she obviously reigns herself in from being too emotional, too confessional, and yet one feels the pain and torment all the same, perhaps even more sharply), her ability to find Just the Right Words, is vivid and brilliant. When I finished Ariel, I was left with a feeling of vulnerability, pain, and enlightenment, as though I had seen what I had been missing all along and felt the absence of self-delusion deeply.

I have always been disturbed by the idea that Plath's creative energy seemed to stream from the destructive void that she felt inside of her soul and shared with the world, with skill and admirable lyricism... and yet I think that this is what made her such a *different*, unique poet. "Dying / Is an art, like everything else." She did it exceptionally well. -- K. Rivera

I first read Ariel at the age of 13, when the anger and blackness was a perfect outlet for my teenage angst. I memorised the vicious but gorgeous poems Lady Lazarus and Daddy and walked around holding these words as a kind of talisman against all of the nameless terror of growing up. Twenty years later, long since past the angst of my youth, I thought it would be fun to revisit this poetry which was so important to my generation, thinking perhaps I had outgrown it. However, like Lazarus, Plath rises from the ashes of her own depression to reveal a linguistic beauty which is, at times, astonishing. There is, of course, terrible bleakness. In Death & Co, for example, "I do not stir. The frost makes a flower, The dew makes a star, The dead bell. The dead bell. Somebody's done for." still leaves me shivering and feeling terribly cold and alone. Lady Lazarus, Cut and Getting There come to mind immediately as touching the very edge of death. However, there were also some light and lovely surprises, as with Morning Song, where the wonder at the miracle of a child hit a familiar note with me (having had my first child recently), in the moment the child wakes and its "clear vowels rise like balloons". It has been a long time since I've read poetry of such power, anguish or beauty. Often hard and painful, with moments of vulnerability, tenderness and even a strange kind of joy, there is something timeless and permanent in this work. Worth a re-read.

"Eight American Poets," edited by Joel Conarroe, is a fine anthology. The introduction notes that this book was "designed as a companion volume to 'Six American Poets,'" also edited by Conarroe. "Eight" follows the same plan as "Six": rather than anthologize a huge company of poets who are represented by only a few pieces each, each of Conarroe's books focuses on a relatively small group of poets, each of whom is represented by a substantial selection. Conarroe's approach allows the reader to get a fuller feel of each poet in the anthology format.

The poets of "Eight" are Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsburg, and James Merrill. Each poet's work is prefaced by a substantial individual introduction.

There are many masterpieces in this book. Curiously, I found the most compelling poems to be those that focus on nature: Roethke's "The Meadow Mouse," Bishop's "The Fish," Plath's "Mushrooms," and Merrill's "The Octopus." Poems like these combine skillfully used language with keen insight, and reveal these poets to be true heirs of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson (two of the featured artists in "Six American Poets").

Overall, I felt that "Eight" was not as strong as its sister volume, "Six." Although there are many poetic masterpieces in "Eight," there is also much material which, in my opinion, hasn't aged well. The so-called "confessional poetry" of some of these writers strikes me as overwrought. Some of the longer poems failed to resonate with me. I was particularly disappointed by Berryman's "Homage to Mistress Bradstreet," especially since I am an admirer of Anne Bradtreet's own work. Admittedly, this criticism may merely reflect my own personal tastes, but I submit it for the reader's consideration.

The fact that so many of these poets either wrote about each other, or pop up in the editor's introductions to each others' work, sometimes gives the book as a whole a creepy, incestuous feel. And the fact that so many of these poets committed suicide, had long-term mental health problems, and/or suffered from addictions further gives the book as a whole a rather morbid feel. On second thought, maybe this group of eight is a bit problematic!

Still, editor Conarroe has assembled an impressive anthology that I would recommend for students and teachers, as well as to a general readership. Although a mixed bag, "Eight American Poets" contains some truly enduring work by an octet whose legacy is secure.

.........the best known and loved poetry of eight well-known twentieth century American poets. Includes well known poems such as Bishop's "The Fish", Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz", Berryman's "Dream Songs", Merrill's "Lost in Translation", Sexton's "Ringing the Bells", and many others.

Like Conarroe's "Six American Poets", the anthology introduces us to each poet with a short biography that is presented before the poet's work. We learn about their lives and come to understand some of the primary forces that have shaped their poetry. I have found that this greatly enriches the experience of reading poetry because I better see the struggles that lead to each individual creation. After each collection, Conarroe offers a list of books and anthologies where each poet has been published so that we, should we wish, can come to know the work of a given poet much better.

This anthology is a wonderful starting place for someone who, like me, desires an introduction to some of the greatest American poetry ever produced. Personally, I feel, after reading this anthology that I have come to truly appreciate the work of Elizabeth Bishop and Theodore Roethke, in particular. I had never known their work well, but suddenly each jumped off the page at me, Bishop for her wonderfully vivid descriptions and Roethke for his intensely moving subjects. Plath and Sexton also really spoke to me, their work so reflecting their lives. Overall, this anthology is superbly worthwhile reading!

Ah, a fine comparison and contrast in studies on the eight best American confessional poets ever. Kudos to the editor on a fine choice of poems, and candid biographies on each poet. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Allen Ginsberg, John Berryman, Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop and the other guy, here's to you.