Sylvia Plath

[Dantetier]

Alright... I have a friend's birthday coming up, and she really likes sylvia Plath... so I went to B&N and got the collected poems of Sylvia Plath.... my question is.... WHY???? Dear lord... I've never read such horrid wastes of paper!. I'm not even kidding when i say that I can (and HAVE) written better poetry than she has...

I just don't understand you women

 

[peachykeen]

I've never really understood the fascination with her either. I think it was just a timing thing, coupled with the ever-poetic touch that only suicide can add.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

LOL

What rhymes with "Ditto"?

 

[lilminx]

I haven't read any of her poetry, but I enjoyed "The Bell Jar". It was a required reading for one of my special education classes.

 

[Dantetier]

I haven't read any of her poetry, but I enjoyed "The Bell Jar". It was a required reading for one of my special education classes.

This surprises me none whatsoever... only someone needing Special Education can enjoy Sylvia Plath

 

[peachykeen]

This surprises me none whatsoever... only someone needing Special Education can enjoy Sylvia Plath

whoa, now THAT'S a little over the top there pal.

 

[Dantetier]

whoa, now THAT'S a little over the top there pal.

Don't make me go get the book out of my car and post "the man on the other side of the Telephone" or whatever it's called. I read that while sitting in the drive thru of Taco Bell just crying with laughter, it was so horrible.

And I apologize for the remark. It was offhanded and rude.

 

[lilminx]

This surprises me none whatsoever... only someone needing Special Education can enjoy Sylvia Plath

Asshole- it was a class on how to work with and understand people with disabilities. Mental illness is considered a disability, hence the reason for reading a book about a person with mental illness. Get your fucking facts straight before you decide to be insulting.

 

[Dantetier]

I didn't mean to imply that peachy needed Special Education. I apologize for that interpretation of my words.

I was trying to be mildly amusing...but, like most times I try that, it backfires on me. I should stay with the logic, leave the humor to Carlos Mencia

 

[lilminx]

I didn't mean to imply that peachy needed Special Education. I apologize for that interpretation of my words.

I was trying to be mildly amusing...but, like most times I try that, it backfires on me. I should stay with the logic, leave the humor to Carlos Mencia

Actually, you were implying that I needed it, not Peachy. Apology accepted.
I'm actually a special education teacher, and I come across children with all types of disabilities. I was upset that you insulted me as well as the children I teach. I get a little protective of them, in case you couldn't tell.

 

[Dantetier]

I could tell, and I respect t utterly.

My intent was not to insult. I have nothing but empathy and love for people with mental disabilities. Hell, 9 times out of then, they are far and away better people then those of us with "normal" brains.

I was going to try to explain my joke, but I tend to ramble when I do that, only to dig myself even deeper into the hole I've managed to dig for myself, so please (again) accept my apologies and respect, for it was truly not my intent to be disrespectful to anyone other then Sylvia Plath

 

[Dantetier]

Also, thank you so much for doing what you do. It takes such willpower and love to be able to care for Spec. Ed. kids and adults, and by doing so, you are a much better person then I could ever be.

 

[lilminx]

you are a much better person then I could ever be.

Thanks, but I highly doubt that.

 

[Dantetier]

The simple fact that you can do what you do proves it. I could never do it. i'm far too impatient to do it, and I would feel sorry for them constantly... I know it's not the right thing, but I couldn't help it. And I know it's not for the money. It's a damned shame that teachers are one of the lest respected and paid professions out there. Japan has the right idea. Teaches in Japan are the most respected, and I don't have the figures, but probably extremely well paid.

 

[seXieleXie]

my favorite plath poem

The Thin People

They are always with us, the thin people
Meager of dimension as the gray people

On a movie-screen. They
Are unreal, we say:

It was only in a movie, it was only
In a war making evil headlines when we

Were small that they famished and
Grew so lean and would not round

Out their stalky limbs again though peace
Plumped the bellies of the mice

Under the meanest table.
It was during the long hunger-battle

They found their talent to persevere
In thinness, to come, later,

Into our bad dreams, their menace
Not guns, not abuses,

But a thin silence.
Wrapped in flea ridden donkey skins,

Empty of complaint, forever
Drinking vinegar from tin cups: they wore

The insufferable nimbus of the lot-drawn
Scapegoat. But so thin,

So weedy a race could not remain in dreams,
Could not remain outlandish victims

In the contracted country of the head
Any more than the old woman in her mud hut could

Keep from cutting fat meat
Out of the side of the generous moon when it

Set foot nightly in her yard
Until her knife had pared

The moon to a rind of little light.
Now the thin people do not obliterate

Themselves as the dawn
Grayness blues, reddens, and the outline

Of the world comes clear and fills with color.
They persist in the sunlit room: the wall paper

Frieze of cabbage-roses and cornflowers pales
Under their thin-lipped smiles,

Their withering kingship.
How they prop each other up!

We own no wildernesses rich and deep enough
For stronghold against their stiff

Battalions. See, how the tree boles flatten
And lose their good browns

If the thin people simply stand in the forest,
Making the world go thin as a wasp's nest

And grayer; not even moving their bones.

 

[Nora]

LOL

What rhymes with "Ditto"?

"Tritto"

Dan, I personally think Plath's a waste of paper, too. I think her poetry is akin to teenage angst poetry written on the insides of loose-leaf binders in junior high schools everywhere.


Word of advice, be careful with blanket statements around here. Not every woman likes Sylvia Plath (obviously) and there are MANY parents/teachers/siblings of special needs kids around here. Be creative and accurate with your insults on the GB. We appreciate it.

 

[Dantetier]

Heh... I'm Dan... I just figured that out... Actually, I'm Dante, but Dan works too, now that I know I'm him.

And again.... I didn't mean what I said to be insulting to anyone other than Ms. Plath...I just... don't consider all the interpretations of my thoughts... so over the years, I've learned to enjoy the taste of shoeleather...

 

[Nora]

Heh... I'm Dan... I just figured that out... Actually, I'm Dante, but Dan works too, now that I know I'm him.

And again.... I didn't mean what I said to be insulting to anyone other than Ms. Plath...I just... don't consider all the interpretations of my thoughts... so over the years, I've learned to enjoy the taste of shoeleather...

neh. Dante's too long. Besides, if you *really* wanna discuss a plodding and depressing author, Mr Alighieri takes the dry, dusty-tasting cake. You're Dan now. Learn to like it.

Wouldn't it be cool if they made shoes outta fruit leather? That way when you had to stick your foot in your mouth, at least it would be all grape-y or apple-y or something.

 

[Dantetier]

neh. Dante's too long. Besides, if you *really* wanna discuss a plodding and depressing author, Mr Alighieri takes the dry, dusty-tasting cake. You're Dan now. Learn to like it.

Wouldn't it be cool if they made shoes outta fruit leather? That way when you had to stick your foot in your mouth, at least it would be all grape-y or apple-y or something.

*LMAO* I officially like you, Nora. You made me laugh. You also know who Dante is, AND you gussed correctly enough that I stole his name. I'm a huge fan of Dante... well... Inferno, anyway.

Dante and Sylvia are different though... Dante had a story... Sylvia just makes up stuff just "cuz". it'd be like me looking at the Wienerschnitzel cup on my desk and composing a sonnet about it... Dante at least made it a story...

 

[peachykeen]

you say you're impressed she knows who Dante is, like he's some kind of obscure figure. puh-leeze, you think because this is a porn site board that none of us are familiar with literature or something? Dante my man, you're not making a stellar debut here this evening...

 

[Nora]

Ermm...

lol. Thanks Peachy. *grin* He's just new. I don't see malice in him, just um...preconceptions.

Dan, most folk around here would get the Dante reference. We're a relatively literate bunch. I'd hazard to guess that the average education levels around here are higher than the US norm, and those without formal education aren't of the "grunt and point" variety either. To communicate effectively using nothing but the written word takes a bit of sophistication and a decent grasp of language and it's uses. In short (too late!), the GB (i refuse to speak of the other boards) is a pretty darned well-read, knowledgeable group. Especially anyone who'd open a thread entitled "Sylvia Plath."

This is not to say that there were not people who opened this thread thinking they were going to see pics of the latest, hottest porn star they hadn't yet heard of...

I think it's unfair to say that an author's "better" or "worse" because one took a subject and wrote a boring poem about it and another took a subject and wrote a boring story about it. Just means one's more long-winded than the other. Additionally, and keeping in mind that I tend to dislike poetry in general, I think it actually takes a bit more flexibility of mind to create a poem about a subject. Most of the poetry back in the day followed rigid guidelines for meter and rhyme-scheme. Not easy to work with. Especially meter. Also, taking a concrete concept and writing about it symbolically (which poetry does, normally) is harder than just saying, "this is what it is" using pretty words.

On the other hand, I don't know if Dante (to go back to a specific example) was required to write with certain constraints in form.

Could be, but i've only read translations.

 

[Dantetier]

Ermm...

lol. Thanks Peachy. *grin* He's just new. I don't see malice in him, just um...preconceptions.

Dan, most folk around here would get the Dante reference. We're a relatively literate bunch. I'd hazard to guess that the average education levels around here are higher than the US norm, and those without formal education aren't of the "grunt and point" variety either. To communicate effectively using nothing but the written word takes a bit of sophistication and a decent grasp of language and it's uses. In short (too late!), the GB (i refuse to speak of the other boards) is a pretty darned well-read, knowledgeable group. Especially anyone who'd open a thread entitled "Sylvia Plath."

This is not to say that there were not people who opened this thread thinking they were going to see pics of the latest, hottest porn star they hadn't yet heard of...

I think it's unfair to say that an author's "better" or "worse" because one took a subject and wrote a boring poem about it and another took a subject and wrote a boring story about it. Just means one's more long-winded than the other. Additionally, and keeping in mind that I tend to dislike poetry in general, I think it actually takes a bit more flexibility of mind to create a poem about a subject. Most of the poetry back in the day followed rigid guidelines for meter and rhyme-scheme. Not easy to work with. Especially meter. Also, taking a concrete concept and writing about it symbolically (which poetry does, normally) is harder than just saying, "this is what it is" using pretty words.

On the other hand, I don't know if Dante (to go back to a specific example) was required to write with certain constraints in form.

Could be, but i've only read translations.

I've never read the original Italian either... probably because I don't know Italian.

Poetry to me, is just another word for literature... il Divina Commedia is just a story... but it's written in a specific format, and because of that, it is considered poetry. Not all poetry rhymes, and most modern poetry does not follow the accepted grammer rules. I don't have anything against poets, or poetry...the whole reason i started this thread was because I was amused how Sylvia could write something akin to the quality of poetry that I did in 8th grade and become a modern day Edgar Allen Poe

 

[Dantetier]

you say you're impressed she knows who Dante is, like he's some kind of obscure figure. puh-leeze, you think because this is a porn site board that none of us are familiar with literature or something? Dante my man, you're not making a stellar debut here this evening...

Ummm... as 9 out of ten people on the street who Dante is... JUST by saying Dante... not "dante the poet" or Dante Alighieri, and chances are they wont know. I don't believe I've spoken down to anyone here.... I was just being practical. How many other 13th century poets do you know of?

 

[Nora]

Well, I think what Peachy and I are both trying to say is that the GB is a little smarter on the whole than the average bear.

And I'll impress you more by saying how much I appreciate a good TMBG sig line. Now THEY are poets!

 

[Dantetier]

Well, I think what Peachy and I are both trying to say is that the GB is a little smarter on the whole than the average bear.

And I'll impress you more by saying how much I appreciate a good TMBG sig line. Now THEY are poets!

TMBG are the only gods I believe in *G*

and I never assume someone's intelligence. hell, I'm as much of a fan of porn as anyone else on the boards... to assume about someones intelligence is to assume you're smarter then they are, which is the only way to know how smart they are.... and I never assume. I wait until people prove themselves to be idiots before I berate them