Product Description

Originally published in 1960, "The Colossus" was the only volume of Sylvia Plath's poetry published during her lifetime. Showing a scholarly dedication to the craft, the poems in this collection are brimming with originality and the startling imagery that would later confirm her status as one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. 'She steers clear of feminine charm, deliciousness, gentility, supersensitivity and the act of being poetess. She simply writes good poetry. And she does so with a seriousness that demands only that she be judged equally seriously ...There is an admirable no-nonsense air about this; the language is bare but vivid and precise, with a concentration that implies a good deal of disturbance with proportionately little fuss.' A. Alvarez, "The Observer".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74137 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Review
"'She steers clear of feminine charm, deliciousness, gentility, supersensitivity and the act of being poetess. She simply writers good poetry. And she does so with a seriousness that demands only that she be judged equally seriously... There is an admirable no-nonsense air about this; the language is bare but vivid and precise, with a concentration that implies a good deal of disturbance with proportionately little fuss.' A. Alvarez, Observer"

About the Author
Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She died in 1963.

Customer Reviews

An overlooked masterpiece
I know I'm in a minority on this, but I prefer this book to Ariel. There is always something rather touching about early promise: this was the only volume of Plath's poetry published before her death in 1963 and she was disappointed by its reception, and ultimately by the book itself. (She had been writing towards it since her days at Smith College in the early 1950's.)
Brilliant as parts of Ariel were, I find the book as a whole too much; too fragmented and shrill. And I can never separate the poems from the tragic story of Plath's final months.
The Colossus always reminds me that Plath was once a living, breathing, labouring writer: not a myth. The poet of Ariel seems to belong to today's world of distorted and often pointless celebrity. The poet of The Colossus belongs to another age: before conspiracy theories, the man on the moon, The Beatles, the collapse of the Soviet Union. If it lacks the genius of much of Ariel, it has its own strengths. As Bernard Bergonzi wrote in a review in The Guardian: "It shows what a remarkable talent she already possessed and is a very satisfying volume in its own right."