Sylvia Plath reads November Graveyard

[krisatsea]

Thanks for posting this with pictures of her-hard to find her readings on here without someone's interpretation of what they mean.... and I love her nose it's an artist's nose :)

[2010MahaKhan9700]

she was born at such a time into such a family and was married to such a man such that she did not deserved!a sensitive innocent and talented deserved a good family and a loving faithful husband!!she deserved help and support at a time when she was alone and in crisis!!her folly was that she had loved ,poured too much of herself and found refuge n a man who going to disappoint her!!poor soul!an excellent poet!!her fans recognised her true condition way too late!!she deserved better!!far better!

[2010MahaKhan9700]

hey guys i didnt recheck so soo sorry for the tenses words and spelling mistakes!hope u got the idea of my message!!



[gwizdawka]

Poor and excellent Sylvia!

[radoxme]

I feel her very cynical. After reading the bell jar I think she was essentially tortured for such cynicism of religion, men, marriage and hypocracy. This torture still goes on today in hospitals. One has the option to cheer up and gain acceptance or end it all. I think you have to learn to be two faced as my nurse has told me to be. Some people just put themselves on a mission to change this perverted world and end up getting crushed. At least now we have the net to voice contempt anonymously.

[my3rd3y3]

Blake would have loved this

[orstiff]

You can sense her British accent, due to her life she spent in London. I've been reading most of her work and still wait until I can have some courage to start "The Bell Jar". Have no idea why I am so nervous about. It's so much pain and reality in that book that even her own mom refused to have that book published in the States during her lifetime :(. Amazing poet & novelist. Beautiful craziness!!

[thelegendrubyrodd]

@orstiff thats how i feel about all her work. i was at the book store and could have gotten her entire collection of poems for 5 bucks and i put it back. i dont think im ready to take it in. im working myself up to it though. well, take care and have a nice day.

[MrMoviemaverick]

What a sad loss, of such a exquisite person. x

[Jazzdog40]

I can't believe Joni Mitchell said, "I smell a rat," when referring to SP. Jealousy, I suppose.

[LoveisLightintheDark]

@Jazzdog40 I used to love Joni Mitchell but I just lost every shred of respect for her.

[swiminthissilense]

@Jazzdog40 nooo! did she say that? i love them both immensely

[xXBronzedBalletXx]

she sounded happier here



[Nightsurf59]

Syliva was beyond Genius...

[DaftSwank]

She speaks with that Trans-Atlantic accent that was so en vogue from the 1930s through the 1960s. Katherine Hepburn spoke this way too. Aubrey Plaza satirized this accent in a "Parks and Recreation" episode where she was masquerading as "Janet Snakehole" . . .

[MrPeternix]

she is Irish

[vidsee]

@MrPeternix She's about as Irish as Obama is American

[Uzzie101]

It's probably a cross between Boston and English, the accent. She has quite a sharp accent, but I think it might be slightly put-on, to add emphasis onto the onomatopoeia.

[sweetmtl]

I don't want to come across as ignorant, but I don't completely understand this poem. Would anyone be able to explain?

[vidsee]

@sweetmtl It's describing a graveyard on an English moor and observing that is where we all end up. There is nothing.

[vidsee]

@oren011

Fair point, but I think Sylvia's accent is wonderful. Certainly it is not an English accent and it would be pleasing if it is indeed New England, like some have said here.

[princicrib]

She sounds like she is 75 years old.

[kagomeonetwo]

@princicrib she died when she was only 30. so she wasn't even close.

[SagaciousSilence]

I would achieve any accolade if the prize was Sylvia Plath's hand in marriage! I love her mind and beauty!

[Helios601]

I actually find her rather creepy

[Unnoticed37]

@Helios601 Yeah, but a good kind of creepy.

[MrHeslopian]

Such a beautiful picture of desolation. Normally I don't agree with the whole "if you don't like it, you don't get it" notion, but here I think it does apply. Even if you're not a Plath fan, and don't respond to this poem on the same emotional wavelength, you should at least be blown away by her clear, precise, almost painfully brilliant gift for poetic expression.

"Flies watch no resurrections in the sun."

"Un-pick the elaborate heart."

How can you not be affected somehow?

[laurarox01]

Her poetry is so rich!!!!!

[mediakel]

Beautiful words... beautiful woman. RIP Sylvia

[boboxp]

Honest graveth pickest dumbest words fun toungue

full of sun gravel pit dazzling and howling across a pit of monkeys

scouring for pitted grapes longing for mango beasts of opportunity

Turning toe into foot curling into the mirror of discontented Infection of my toe blasphemy of contorted foot longing

for the summer wind.

[msh464]

November is coming

[ChannelingusIV]

and her son has now died from the same illness :(

[florenciasoprano]

Wonderful use of imagery and metaphors! she's great! thank you, polymorphic boy!

[alsonross]

Red Cloth Series: Ross McCague (In tribute to Plath)

[OrbitallyReArranged]

Wonderful! Awesome!

[Nannhay25]

Has anyone ever questioned if it's really depression, that makes someone beacome an artist or is the disease called oversensitivity? hipersensitivity? I myself am musician and people who are closest to me think I am depressed, but I on th other hand think I am blessed, for they will never preceive and inhale the world as I do. Nor will they be able to give in the form in which I constantly give.

[thelegendrubyrodd]

@Nannhay25 you are absolutely correct actaully. some folks can only do their art when they are depressed which is when they are able to allow themselves to be sensitive to the world but they to me are not true artist. a true artist can use everyday sensitivity and perception to create at any given moment but what do i know, lol. my name is ruby rodd and i approved this message.

[9raider]

@Nannhay25 Maybe so but in Sylvia Plath's case, it was depression. If you read The Bell Jar this is quite clear and of course the fact that she killed herself provides further evidence. Such a loss - she was literally a genius (her IQ was genius-level).

[sugarrayofsunshine]

If you don't like it - you don't get it.

[baldbollocks]

Random Dave

She doesn't know either what shes on about.

Plath was another' whack job' poet thumbing through her thesaurus.

Sadly as no-one knows whats shes on about they think she's clever.

Disturbed..yes..interesting...­yes love her voice but in my opinion a lousy poet !

[sugarrayofsunshine]

What is wrong with the thesaurus? My love of SP's poetry inspired me to have a "poetry glossary" at the age of 15. It introduced me to a number of different terms that would increase my knowledge and inspire me to want to learn more.

[randomdave30]

I should like to know precisely what she was on about...

[procommenter]

What a fruitcake!

[ysl1518]

I absolutely love it! "Flower forget-me-nots between the stones,Paving this grave ground" my new fav. poem from her.

[hopkins4545]

Sylvia Plath was great but not as great as her grotesquely enhanced "depressed teenage girl" image makes her out to be. And she was no victim of Ted Hughes: she was a victim of depression.

[islandrocketman]

Hopkins 4545, if you were a poet, or, if you were an astute poet, you would marvel at her amazing, visionary metaphors and her exacting, flawless use of poetic forms. She was a natural genius.

[florenciasoprano]

I absolutely agree with you! such a natural genius!

[ChickyKat88]

@islandrocketman she was!

[warriorprince1010]

@islandrocketman I agree. Sylvia is wonderful. Can listen to her and try to imagine what she means, amazing. Poetry gets so little attention sadly.

[cammo6901]

all great artists are victims of depression.

[samiissam]

@cammo6901

Good said i like it. It's the proof in the line of history as far we've seen it.

[beth898989]

Love Sylvia Plath. So inspirational.

[CAWTEXCAWTEX]

I quite like sylvia plath but she shouldn't have killed herself.

[theboombody]

She did seem quite depressed in this poem.

[vidsee]

Why don't Americans speak like this anymore?

This accent seems to have faded away.

Wonderful diction.

[Freakgrl04]

I think it's a more of a New England accent, but even people up there don't talk like that anymore!

[magister92]

some of us still do, this is called a boston brahmin accent

[vidsee]

I like your accent. Have a nice day ;-)

[marinagipps]

@vidsee It helps if you lived in England like she did...

[septip123]

@vidsee language and voice is always changing

thank god.

[dtnewtonesquire]

@vidsee I met a few people who spoke like that, ancient expats, in France.

[tbtbtwotwos]

@vidsee immigration you moron.

[Jakey92407]

@vidsee

I know what you mean; almost sounds British. You can hear that type of speech in early American films up to about late forties, early fifties. All the actors/actresses had voice coaches for diction, etc.

Then again, Sylvia was east coast/upper crust. So brilliant and tragic. Too bad she wasn't alive with her emotional illness today; she may have really been helped, treated and survived.

[rjosephhoffmann]

@vidsee It's npt American, dear heart; it's New England. And "they" do, some of them

[rjosephhoffmann]

@vidsee It's not American, dear heart; it's New England. And "they" do, some of them

[vidsee]

@rjosephhoffmann

I'm pleased to hear it, both from Sylvia and you.

[rjosephhoffmann]

@vidsee It's not American, dear heart; it's New England. And "they" do, some of them...

[616geek]

@vidsee I think her accent is beautiful. I believe it is a combination of her origin (Austrian, German) and her Boston accent.

[Dreamer00]

@616geek She doesn't sound like she's from Boston.

[russiandoll87]

@616geek I think it is beautiful too. And to correct MrPeternix, Sylvia Plath has absolutely NO Irish origins. I wish people spoke like this today, but chances are if they did, they'd get laughed at. :( No dignity anymore. :(

[michealdark]

@vidsee She did have a very pleasant but commanding voice, didn't she?

[MartyredxMaiden]

@michealdark ohhh i agree! very strong indeed!

[ritalate]

@vidsee Partly because of vowel shifting but also because she's reading as a performance. I'm willing to bet this is not her conversational voice.

[westpsmity]

@vidsee This accent was completely fictional, it's known as a "transatlantic" accent, and was invented to sound neither British or American, but appeal to both. No one grew up talking like this, it was something people put on to make themselves sound like something they were not.

[drweetabix]

it appears that you are lacking in any class coldswift

[LUKEHAPPYSAD]

great put-down!

[Dimebag204]

SYLVIA PLATH = LEGEND

[farnium]

Its amazing....She sounds like the poem reads. Her words seem to drip with imagery and metaphore. Thanks a Million to whoever posted this!

[polachee]

If you're stuck on the tone of her voice or the accent , you've missed the message.....Try again!

[thekingofmoney2000]

Its funny how a lot of people here are criticizing her accent; it sounds more like an old New England accent than an English accent, but who cares? It was a different time; anyway does that take away from the fact that she was a great poet? NO! She could have talked however the hell she wanted only idiots would take the time to criticize something as trivial as that.

[autisticninja4]

i read the bell jar and a lot of her prose before i actually heard her voice. i always imagined it somewhat like this minus her small accent.

[barnyardrose]

Such a sad legacy - no hope.

[sappho6]

Rest in peace, Nicholas Hughes.

[hahauserunavailable]

Figures must have lived in england with the accent.. how we picture someone often is not.

What is so sad is so many are drawn to depressing accts of depression. Do not dwell in it. Yet so many of you seem so happy , going out, drinking, having fun. in the world for the last 3o yrs. If I talked like that nowadays, people would laugh and or say youre crazy (the voice in this reading).

[stankerpooch]

she had a british husband,

it rubs off, and she was from Massachusetts...some of us are NOT depressed...and we drink...we just walk with sorrow...like our shadow...and don't need you or Pfizer

to help us out

with our

balance

or lack there of....

maybe you just need

to go read

Rudyard Kipling

and suck a Ritz cracker....eh?

[insanityremains]

she probably did pick up a tinge of an accent while living in england.

[nickowen2]

She speaks with what sounds an English accent to me, faux upper class, and uttering the words as if chiselling them from stone. Maybe that is a good way to read her poetry. I prefer something with music in it.

[insanityremains]

it probably is a good way to read it, especially since there usually is somewhat of an air of bitterness to some of her work, like "daddy".

[nickowen2]

the reading of November graveyard is fascinating. She starts with a cut glass upper class English BBC kind of accent and softens into a normal softer tone with a touch of American accent by the end

[cadaques1978]

!nickowen2 is so damn right, spare him your filthy red hands!

[missremorse]

wonderful thank you

[jellybabykid]

her voice sends continuous shivers through my entire body.

[nickowen2]

she does not read it well

so many poets read badly

sad thing

[novembergraveyard]

the only thing that sucks more than nickowen2 is his grammar..

[vegantrooper]

she doesn't read her poetry badly, though i do agree that many poets have no sense of performance. Plath's poetry is unique in its lack of self-pity. what some may perceive as expressionlessness is precision. she's not going to rant and rave for you. give her a little more credit.

[nickowen2]

She reads in a style that was quite fashionable, still is, I guess. The inauguration poet was pretty dead pan.

The RSC tried it with Shakespeare's plays for a while. It was a disaster.

[Dorian8va]

RIP Sylvia

[dinastein44]

((shiver)) a goose just walked over my grave...

[ELI6888]

LOVE THIS, thanks!

[WhitneyGetz]

I think she schooled in England.

[mg80]

She was from USA , Boston. But she was married to a great English poet Ted Huges.

[damienmetalwind]

Hughes was great, but not to her.

[damnyouposeidon]

too right

[lafosta]

Cambridge

[nickowen2]

She won a Rhodes Scholarship to Cambridge from Massachusetts

[nikkiexbaybee]

unique*

[nikkiexbaybee]

i'm english, and that isn't a particularly english accent- i can't even place it as regional.

i think it must be some kind of unqieu english/american accent that Plath herself concocted.

[spiraldarkseraphim]

I don't think that's an English accent at all. Have you guys ever met a real English person?

It sounds like a sort of unique New England accent to me.

She does have what seems like sort of contrived inflections in her voice as she reads her poems. Yet I've listened to interview recordings of her and she spoke that way.

[verbaud]

Bette Davis accent?

[soulrose27]

more like a 50's english accent lol

[Freakgrl04]

She was American, Ted Hughes, her husband was English though. But she could have picked up a bit of an accent since she spent her last years in England.

[damienmetalwind]

she also went to Cambridge....how do you think she met an English poet?

[CrazyJoe998]

is it just me or is she speaking in an english accent? Didn't she grow up in and spend most of her life in america? Perhaps this is just her poetry voice, what do others think?

[ladyoftheoaks]

Yes, the English accent is off-putting. Kind of like Madonna. I do love Sylvia and when I read her work, she speaks to me in American.

[KiwiManoCornuta]

What difference does her nationality make? Or her accent for that matter? She's a writer, read her work and forget her accent.

[Freakgrl04]

Regardless of what her accent is, I like it!

[mlawren7]

Yes, she grew up in Mass. or thereabouts, and moved to Cambridge, England in her early/mid twenties. Her father was German or Swiss or something similar - Austrian maybe.

[doryangray]

thanks, sylvia is so greath

[obsessivelove69]

i luv the sound of her voice,its soooooo beautifully deep!she is intensity..wow :O

She resites her poetry the best...its easy to read her words and think as them as intense chiberish but when she reads it all comes together beautifuly :):

[donnerbrandpear]

Neat. I hadn't seen some of those pictures.

[holden1787]

thank you for posting this. Beautiful.