A not-even-a-little-bit-fannish poll (unless you're fannish about Sylvia Plath)

[snick_backup]

Because I'm curious. (And yeesh do I need a poetry icon.)

[Poll #1467551]

Comments

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

In my Junior year of high school, our year-long project in English was reading a book that had made the "banned book" list and crafting an essay to argue for or against its banning (Yeah, this apparently was supposed to take the whole school year). My book was The Bell Jar. I remember loving it oodles, and writing a stellar essay on it. I even remember a lot of what happens in it. But I'd need to reread it to be able to discuss any of the details.

Now poetry...not my thing. While I was researching for my essay, I read a lot about her poetry, but I never actually took the time to read any of it. I'm much more of a book person.

[snickfic]

I haven't read The Bell Jar, so no need to worry about discussing the details with me. :) I'm not terribly familiar with her poetry, either, but she does have some very striking imagery. "Metaphors," in particular, is nothing but a string of images on one theme.

[rahirah]

I've heard a lot about Plath in passing, but have never read her stuff intensely or studied her life, so I don't really have an opinion.

[snickfic]

Yeah. It seemed necessary, after polling about what people had read, to actually ask a more open-ended question about her, but I don't know enough to have an opinion, either, at least not about her personal life. What I've read of her poetry has been very striking.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

If you'd asked me to pick at 15 it would have been "Tragic genius". I'm much more inclined to "Morbidly self-centered" these days!

[snickfic]

Hee. Well, as several people pointed out below, the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. :)

[quinara]

I don't think 'tragic genius' and 'morbidly self-centred' are mutually exclusive... ;) I think she's good, definitely.

The Mirror is the only one I'd know straight off ("like a terrible fish!"), not the other two, though I read quite a bit of Sylvia Plath at one time.

[snickfic]

I don't think 'tragic genius' and 'morbidly self-centred' are mutually exclusive..

Hee, me neither. That's why that was a ticky-box question instead of a radio-button question.

Very interesting about "The Mirror." This whole poll got started because my roommate the English major claimed that everyone read "The Mirror" in their lit class but no one but Plath fanatics ever read "Lady Lazarus." Whereas I ran across "Lady Lazarus" in two completely separate classes and had never even heard of "The Mirror" until she mentioned it.

So far, though, the results are inconclusive. I think my sample set is too small. :)

[quinara]

Hmm - I have to say I've always thought of Lady Lazarus as the more well-known poem (I know the title more than the poem itself). I only know The Mirror well because I have a friend who really likes it and I heard her reading it once (not in a class) and the bit about the terrible fish stuck with me as being quite hilarious.

I've always wondered whether Mad Girl's Love Song is as staggeringly popular as it seems to me, or whether I've just come across references to it several times coincidentally.

[snickfic]

FWIW, I've never heard of Mad Girl's Love Song. So there's a data point for you. :)

I wonder if part of the reason people other than poetry fiends remember Lady Lazarus is because the title is so very distinctive. As opposed to the The Mirror, which just isn't.

(It now occurs to me that someone somewhere needs to title a Buffy-centric fic "Lady Lazarus." Or better yet, a fic about Darla, who by my count has died more often than anyone else in the Buffyverse.)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I've never read The Bell Jar. That's incredibly out of character for me. I should get on that.

"The Mirror" I've read, but it wouldn't leap off the page at me like "Lady Lazarus" or "Metaphors."

As for the final question, I went with the first two options. I don't think they're mutually exclusive.

[snickfic]

Like I said to quinara, this whole poll got started because my roommate the English major claimed that everyone read "The Mirror" in their lit class but no one but Plath fanatics ever read "Lady Lazarus." Whereas I ran across "Lady Lazarus" in two completely separate classes and had never even heard of "The Mirror" until she mentioned it.

(I'd assumed "Metaphors" was minor Plath that no one would ever have heard of, but two Seraph betas out of three recognized it immediately, so that blows that theory out of the water. It occurs to me now, though, that its basic structural premise might make it a popular teaching poem.)

As to the last, no, I don't think they're mutually exclusive, either. That's why that was a ticky-box question instead of a radio-button question. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

My experience lines up with yours--I thought everybody read "Lady Lazarus." But I can specifically remember the one time I read "The Mirror," and that was in an upper-division Lit course for majors.

It occurs to me now, though, that its basic structural premise might make it a popular teaching poem. Perhaps so. I can't remember where I first read it, but it's definitely one I was very familiar with.

That's why that was a ticky-box question instead of a radio-button question. :) Oh, I assumed! ;)

[next_to_normal]

*has just outed self as complete Plath ignoramus*

[snickfic]

*pats you*

I'm actually not a huge fan - I've read a grand total of three poems, including two of the ones listed above. The only reason I've been thinking about her at all is because, well, the next chapter of Seraph is the poemfic chapter, and Plath gets a couple of mentions.

[next_to_normal]

Well, not sure what this does to your roommate's theory, but I managed to get through all of high school and college without ever reading a single thing by Plath. I've heard of "The Bell Jar," of course, but that's about all I'd recognize.

[snickfic]

I really think a person's familiarity with any given poet is almost pure chance, depending on what their HS and college English teachers liked and what textbooks and anthologies were assigned to their classes.