ENG 5126 Sylvia Plath in Context
This course focuses on the life and work of Sylvia Plath. We will seek to understand what social forces and personal preoccupations led Plath to compose such beautiful and haunting poetry, and how she came to occupy such an iconic place in American literary and cultural history. This course will introduce students to different aspects of Plath's literary output (manuscript vs published poems, letters, diary entries, sound recordings, a novel) as well as selected works of poetry by her peers (Lowell, Sexton, Bishop), and fellow poet and husband (Ted Hughes). We will also survey some of the most provocative pieces of critical commentary that her work has generated since her death in 1963. The course will culminate in a research paper. (Fall)