Plath critics

She captures the malaise of her generation…

…caught between the austere aftermath of WW2 and the radical 1960s (Warren)

Oblivion is a state…

…that is sought actively (Warren)

She was deliberately…

…provocative and subversive (Warren)

In spite of the prevailing doom evident in her poems…

…it is impossible that anyone could have been more in love with life (Bate)

Fascination with…

…the seductive beauty of death (Faas)

She regarded herself as…

…a voice for the disenfranchised and the voiceless (Markey)

She made language…

…into a verbal assault (Markey)

It is nonetheless abundantly evident that it is life…

…not death that is celebrated in her work (Markey)

For many, her poetry remained the output of a dangerously…

… neurotic and egotistical woman who was self absorbed to a frightening degree (Warren)

Even in poems that suggest the power of enduring strength and maternal love…

…there is often an undertone of fear or darkness (Warren)