(October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963 / Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts)

poet Sylvia Plath
#14 on top 500 poets

Quotations

  • ''I only know that a rook
    Ordering its black feathers can so shine
    As to seize me senses, haul
    My eyelids up, and grant

    A brief respite from fear
    Of total neutrality.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Black Rook in Rainy Weather (l. 27-32). . . The Penguin book of Bird Poetry. Peggy Munserber, ed. (1984) Penguin Books.
    196 person liked.
    		67 person did not like.
  • ''A certain minor light may still
    Leap incandescent

    Out of kitchen table or chair
    As if a celestial burning took
    Possession of the most obtuse objects now and then—''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Black Rook in Rainy Weather (l. 14-18). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    144 person liked.
    		65 person did not like.
  • ''I used to pray to recover you.
    Ach, du.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 14-15). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    124 person liked.
    		48 person did not like.
  • ''Daddy, I have had to kill you.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 6). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    144 person liked.
    		49 person did not like.
  • ''If I've killed one man, I've killed two—
    The vampire who said he was you
    And drank my blood for a year,
    Seven years, if you want to know.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 71-74). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    31 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.
  • ''I was ten when they buried you.
    At twenty I tried to die
    And get back, back, back to you.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 57-59). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    23 person liked.
    		9 person did not like.
  • ''There's a stake in your fat black heart
    And the villagers never liked you.
    They are dancing and stamping on you.
    They always knew it was you.
    Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 76-80). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    28 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.
  • ''You do not do, you do not do
    Any more, black shoe
    In which I have lived like a foot
    For thirty years,''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 1-4). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    19 person liked.
    		7 person did not like.
  • ''the language obscene

    An engine, an engine
    Chuffing me off like a Jew.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Daddy (l. 30-32). . . The Collected Poems [Sylvia Plath]. Ted Hughes, ed. (1981) HarperCollins.
    15 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.
  • ''Every woman adores a Fascist,
    The boot in the face, the brute
    Brute heart of a brute like you.''
    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), U.S. poet. Encounter (London, Oct. 1963). Daddy, st. 10, Ariel (1965).
    32 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.

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Balloons

Since Christmas they have lived with us,
Guileless and clear,
Oval soul-animals,
Taking up half the space,
Moving and rubbing on the silk

Invisible air drifts,
Giving a shriek and pop
When attacked, then scooting to rest, barely trembling.

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