Module 14: Poetry and Story Collections

Your Own Sylvia by Stephanie Hempshill is the beautifully crafted biography of Sylvia Plath. In this self-titled verse portrait, Hempshill creates a Plath that is both accessible to young adults but also true to the real woman. Hempshill is careful to include important moments in Plath's life, her childhood, college experiences, her struggle with depression and her marriage to Ted Hughes. In addition to staying true to Plath's life, Hempshill is careful to include citations and additional information about the people and events she writes about. This book is a beautiful journey that stays true to Plath's style.

Hemphill, S. (2007). Your own Sylvia: A verse portrait of Sylvia Plath. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers.

Picture Credit: http://www.scls.lib.wi.us/sun/Memoirs.html

Impressions:
As a fan of Sylvia Plath I wasn't sure whether or not I would enjoy this book. Hempshill, however, does a great job of creating poetry that follows the same form that Plath's does. Each time Hempshill tackles another part of Plath's life, she models the verses after one of Plath's own poems. I think this really works to Hempshill's benefit; not only does she inform the reader of Plath's life but she also gets him or her accustomed to the poetry. Her information is accurate and she is sure to include references. This book is not only enjoyable but also educational and can act as a great introduction to Plath's work.

Reviews:

“Distinct, skillfully crafted character voices portray brilliant and beautiful Sylvia Plath, torn apart by her public ambitions, private life, and personal demons. "Drawing on both Plath's writing and nonfiction sources, each poem conveys an experience in the author's life told from the perspective of one of her family members, friends, fellow writers," or acquaintances. Hemphill includes a prose explanation of each poem's factual base. Burdened with guilt over her father's death when she is eight, Plath obsessively strives to prove her worth. She is never too thin, too popular, or too accomplished. Her drive and talent win scholarships to Smith and Cambridge but also require her to seek psychiatric help. Rejecting many suitors, she marries Ted Hughes, a British poet to whom she subordinates her work. After two children, Plath divorces her husband when he finds another woman. His rejection consumes her. Her failure as the perfect wife and mother drives her to suicide at thirty-one. In an absorbing and informative portrait, Hemphill leads readers to Plath's work through specific citations and sometimes uses the form and tone of other Plath poems to create the voices. Hemphill's concluding letter to the reader describes the journaling technique she used to write the text, and her last source note cites http://www.sylviaplathforum.com as an excellent site for research. Hemphill will immerse the mature student and many adults in Plath's life and work and motivate them to learn more about Plath and other poets”—Schall, L. (2007). No title. [Review of the book Your Own Sylvia by S. Hemphill]. Voice of youth Advocates. Retrieved from Bowker’s Books in Print.

“Hemphill ambitiously undertakes a fictionalized portrait of Sylvia Plath in poems, many of them inspired by Plath's own works. Hemphill stays true to the basic framework of the poet's life, highlighting her major milestones: her childhood, college years, her hospitalization and first suicide attempt, as well as her first meeting with poet Ted Hughes-whom Plath would marry (in a poem from his viewpoint, he describes her as "Blond and tall as a magazine/ swimsuit model. I nibble/ at the whippet's neck./ Her lips fury-red, she bites/ me-teeth tearing my cheek./ I retreat, imprinted, stunned")-and her suicide ("She could not help burning herself/ From the inside out,/ Consuming herself/ Like the sun./ But the memory of her light blazes/ Our dark ceiling," Hemphill writes, in the style of Plath's poem "Child"). Accompanying each entry, the author includes footnotes with background information about the people and events alluded to in the poems. Plath committed suicide during a prolific time in her life. Her autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, had just been published, and she was working furiously on a collection of poems (Ariel) which would be published posthumously. Hemphill's innovative portrait may not shed any new light on this tragic figure, but it could well act as a catalyst to introducing Plath to a new generation. Ages 12-up.”—Publisher’s Weekly (2007). No title. [Review of the book Your Own Sylvia by S. Hemphill]. Retrieved from Bowker’s Books in Print.

Suggestions:
This book would be a great start for younger patrons who show interest in Plath's work. It is filled with citations and references and will undoubtedly peak their interest. Since much of what Hempshill's does is modeling her own writing after Plath's, it could also be used in a creative writing program for teens as a means to help them create their own poetry.