h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963) - A946578
Author: Hairy Dolan - U216802

I've never done this before. Advive please.

Hi Hairy Dolan

I'm just new to this article writing business myself! I thought of a few points about the article.

One mistake I noticed: there’s an extra “he” in “She separated from Hughes in August 1962, he who she had previously described in 'Ode For Ted':”

The fact that Hughes lover Assia committed suicide has nothing much really to do with Sylvia’s life (it was a few years later). Though I admit that it some might argue it says something about Hughes. You could maybe mention the controversy surrounding this and also Plath fans attitude to Ted Hughes in later years. Also his burning of one of her journals.

You never mentioned her earlier suicide attempt and how it featured in The Bell Jar.

You could also refernce Hughes Birthday Letters, which has lots of biographical info on their marriage.

My suggestion would be to have the biography first with a minimum of quotes. Then after this a section analysing some of her poems and relating these back to her life. Perhaps a structure like:

Introduction - who is Sylvia Plath? "An Amreican confessional poet... etc."
Biography
Analysis of some of her poetry
Conclusion - what has Sylvia Plath become? Sum up views of her life. Feminist icon. Creative genius. etc. (really just a reiteration of the intro)

As it stands the article jumps about slightly and presupposes some knowledge but with some rewriting, it should be good.

But don't listen to me! I'm just a

deemikay

This article has some interesting information, but it is not presented in a clear way. The best way you could achieve clarity is by dividing it up into sections and putting a heading at the top of each section. Then go through each section carefully and decide is there anything in it which is irrelevant, in the wrong section or needs a section of its own.

*Suppressing my personal opinion of Plath's writing*

This does need some headers and some around the actual quotations, apart from that its quite reasonable.

I'd like to see more about her life, rather than the effect of her life upon her writing - but that may be driven by what I said at the top.

Maybe if the title changed to 'The effect of Sylvia Plath's life on her writing'? I know too little about poems/literature/etc. to be specific in my criticism. From a general perspective this Entry probably needs more information on Sylvia's biography.

HELL

I agree with the title change and also with the other comments calling for more structure in this.

It would be possible to structure this showing how her life and her poetry evolved simultaneously - a few more subheaders breaking up her life/work would help.

I hope Hairy Dolan comes back and finishes this off, because it's a good piece and we need more entries on poets in the guide.

Sprout