Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath

On a bleak February day in 1963 a young American poet died by her own hand, and passed into a myth that has since imprinted itself on the hearts and minds of millions. She was and is Sylvia Plath and Your Own, Sylvia is a portrait of her life, told in poems.

With photos and an extensive list of facts and sources to round out the reading experience, Your Own, Sylvia is a great curriculum companion to Plath's The Bell Jar and Ariel, a welcoming introduction for newcomers, and an unflinching valentine for the devoted.

"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." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In 1963, young American poet Sylvia Plath died by her own hand and passed into myth. With photos and an extensive list of facts and sources, this biography-in-verse is a welcoming introduction for newcomers to Plath's work.

Stephanie Hemphill lives in Los Angeles, California.