Your Own, Sylvia by Stephanie Hemphill

Module 9/SLIS 5420/August 2-7 Bibliography

Hemphill, Stepahnie. (2007). Your Own, Sylvia. New York: Random House
ISBN: 978-0-375-83799-9

Summary

Stephanie Hemphill attempts to portray a biography of Sylvia Plath's life through verse and through the eyes of her friends, family, professors etc. Each poem is from a different point of view - each describing Sylvia from their perspective. The poems take the reader from her beginning at Smith through and after her suicide.

My Impressions

I really wanted to like this book, because I really love Sylvia Plath (both her poetry and prose). But, and I realize I may be alone in saying this, it just didn't do it for me. Now, I understand the poems are for young adults, but let's give them more credit than this book. These aren't poems, they are prose that are artificially broken up into verse. I wish the author would have written actual poetry - that would have given the young adults who read this a challenge and opened their mind up to Plath. Anyone can pick up one of Plath's biographies or - better yet - read her unabridged journals, but skip this. I knew it would be hard to write a book in verse about Plath - because her poetry is tough to live up to - but this didn't even attempt at coming close.

Reviews

School Library Journal: Grade 8 Up—Through a series of skillfully crafted poems, Hemphill has pieced together a collage of the life and work of the American writer. Arranged chronologically from Plath's birth to the month of her suicide, the poems are written from the points of view of people involved in her life. The voices of Plath's mother; her poet husband, Ted Hughes; and other intimates are interspersed with those of more fleeting acquaintances, each chosen to underscore a unique aspect of the subject's fiery life and tumultuous literary career. Hemphill rises to the challenge of capturing the life of a poet through poetry itself; the end result is a collection of verse worthy of the artist whom it portrays. Form is of paramount importance, just as it was to Plath herself. Many of the selections were created "in the style of" specific Plath poems, while others are scattered with Plath's imagery and language. While the book will prove an apt curriculum companion to Plath's literary works as touted on the jacket, it will also pull the next generation of readers into the myth of Sylvia Plath.—Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT
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Booklist: *Starred Review* As in Margarita Engle's The Poet Slave of Cuba (2006), this ambitious portrait uses poetry to illuminate the facts of a famous life, in this case, Sylvia Plath's. Although classified as fiction, the book draws from numerous nonfiction sources, including biographies and Plath's journals and letters, and each poem is accompanied by footnotes grounding Hemphill's imagined scenes within the facts. Rather than write in Plath's voice, Hemphill channels the voices of those who knew the poet in chronologically arranged poems, written from the perspective of family members, friends, colleagus, even Plath's doctor. Plath's own voice is evident in the poetic forms, though, with many of the poems written "in the style of" specific works. The result is an intimate, comprehensive, imaginative view of a life that also probes the relationships between poetry and creativity, mental fragility, love, marriage, and betrayal. Some readers may be slowed by the many poems that chronicle the bitter dissolution of Plath's marriage, and readers who know the Plath poems Hemphill references will have an advantage. But Plath's dramatic genius and personal struggles, particularly the difficulties of reconciling the writing life with the roles of wife and mother, have long attracted teen interest, and this accomplished, creative story may ignite new interest in Plath's original works. A bibliography of sources is appended. Gillian Engberg
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Suggested Library Use:

I probably would rather use Plath's own journals and poetry in a Plath or poetry segment at the library.