Sylvia Plath Reads Lady Lazarus

[mmafinatic]

just bought a book of her poems titled plath. they rly depress u and make u feel like life has no value.it scares my girlfriend when i read them. shows that plath's words r very powerful.

[tinamukerji]

a voice from the labyrinth... love her...

[Rawrzz55]

I love Sylvia Plath. She is one of the greatest poets. In my book.

[PoetryPoemsPoets]

Such a talented Poet. I love her! She is, in fact, my favorite modern day Poet. I'm a Poet myself. I just created my channel, so I only have 2 poems on there so far. Check them out.

[XxiMPACT24xX]

wtf fucking wierd

[sixteenforty]

When was this recorded?

[DefLepFan1991]

Her voice is a lot different to what I imagined

[aliceinvunderland]

@DefLepFan1991 Yeah, it is a lot lower and stronger than I thought it would be. 

[Jokster86]

15 people in this world do not see a poets anguish.

[PennyTraition]

Dying is an art like everything else...I do it exceptionally well...I do it so it feels like HELL; I do it so it feels REAL...

It's easy enough to do it in a cell, it's easy enough to do it and stay put...It's the Theatrical come-back In Broad Day to the same place,the same face,The same Brute, amused shout:"A Miracle!" That Knocks ME Out...

I think the fact that she WROTE it suggests she 'Did (it) well'...No.She never died. She just ceased living.(Physically...) X



[ZnEyeP]

@PennyTraition a lot of people think they know what living means.

[PennyTraition]

@ZnEyeP I must agree...The problem is they think they know what other peoples' living is...

[pumarunner254]

was this recorded before the final draft of the poem? every version I've seen has different wording

[cognial42]

Out of the ash I rise

With my red hair

And I eat men like air.

[swiminthissilense]

beautiful.. i read it along with the lyrics from a differnet site and literallly gave me chills. the park about her being like a cat on her third life. i love it. must have been a few months before her sucide

[everythingstakensux]

"Dying

Is an art, like everything else,

I do it exceptionally well."

[alexandradeyl]

amazing, i love her voice

[MJRookieRook]

@alexandradeyl Me too!!!

[ceili1094]

I don't think that this authentic. Ms. Plath was quite young at the time of her death, but this is the voice of a mature woman. It's also nothing like other authenticated readings I have heard.

[chimeracrusher]

@ceili1094 back during the time that she would have recorded this, this is how women of that time spoke. They strove to sound Mature and Aristocratic, it would have been insulting to be told that you sound like a little girl when you speak.

[MartyredxMaiden]

@chimeracrusher thankyou! no one else realizes this! women dont sound like women anymore, thats why womanhood has been disregarded entirely. now one's just a "girl" forever untill no one wants to have sex with her anymore she becomes a "lady" or a "hag" or any other silly word.

[everythingstakensux]

@ceili1094 she read with anne sexton and dorothy parker, she was also in england a long time...this is authentic. she was an english major

[katymay87]

please listen to the song lady lazurus by robert james selby ..

[jamielynnfox]

I cannot stop watching this video and listening to Sylvia's perfectly haunting enunciation. Thank you for posting it. It stirs me to the bone each time that I hear it.

[beksinski]

daaaaammmmnnnn

[RENTR0]

@beksinski dude, that's exactly what i said.

[DarKnightofCydonia]

Her voice gives me chills.

[michealdark]

This is probably her scariest and most moving of her poems, I think Probably because I've been suicidal before, and this is all about her suicidal tendencies. It's sad too, knowing that she eventually...not long after writing these poems that made up Ariel in fact...she succeeded in the task, taking that way out before reaching her full potential.

[GangsterLogan]

This is my favorite poem.

[noelle1213]

An amazing poem, even more amazing when read aloud. Thank you for sharing.

[bixnqq]

OMG, that voice, so, so TEMPTING, IT has some meaning, jesus :O i dont know what to say more

[SarahLeeAnn]

I wish I could join a discussion about this: Do you think that self-harm in this way is anger that should be directed outward but is turned on the self. I know women (esp. at this time period) have a terrible time actually expressing their anger. But it must go somewhere . I wonder if this was Sylvia's case, and if she could've found the peace she was looking for if she had been able to push on her anger to what was really distressing her? What do you think?

[666Desolate999]

"What is a poet? An unhappy person who hides deep anguish in their heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music.... And people flock around the poet and say: 'Sing again soon' - that is, 'May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful."

~Søren Kierkegaard, Either - Or ~

[trustmysister]

No matter how hard I try not to- I die about three times per viewing.

[philosophyisthebomb]

Is it possible that she suddenly added a few lines because when i look up the poem on internet, there seem to be a few missing. It's right after: "Do I terrify.---"

[ambitionbird]

@philosophyisthebomb

Yes, in this version she reads, "yes, yes, herr professor, it is I, can you deny..." And later, "I may be Japanese..."

I don't know whether she considered this version or the printed version to be more final and complete, or if she considered them both complete, but for different media.

[awdawdawdawdawd1]

they make it seem like their scary people -_-

[MrMattvj]

im listening to this on repeat, im doing it for my english degree exam tomorrow, so thankyou for making this available.

I love it so much too. xx

[mcgigglish]

Scary, compelling reading. Something about this poem that got to me when I was a teenager. She truly sounds like the survivor of some horror, talking matter-of-factly about it. Very moving, even if the horror was internal.

"I may be Japanese" Al Alvarez claims (in a famous essay on suicide*) that Plath read him the poem and he was scathing about this line - and later regretted persuading her to remove it.

*Ted Hughes wrote him angry letters accusing him of glorifying her suicide in the piece

[mossywitt]

This is fantastic. Thanks for posting it.

[AAwildeone]

Just because it's an "art piece" didn't it make it worth anyone's time to actually watch it

[xLordOfTheFliesx]

@xoWildBxo

She must have been around 29 or 30. She sounds much older.

[waltzingstars]

Now this is poetry.

[abby495]

A masterpiece!!

[meanmrmustard89]

I turn and Burn! What a poem!

[MrLajarbor]

為甚麼她唸的比我看的中譯詩版本多，還多了幾句甚致一段？唉。為­甚麼英語總是學不好！.... 不開心了

[artysmokes]

"Dying is an art. I do it exceptionally well." She did indeed.

[BigScaryJoe]

@artysmokes Not really, she failed time and time again.

[Itza123Victoria]

@artysmokes that is irony.

she never died. you'd think if she did it well she would've died long before

[xXBronzedBalletXx]

@artysmokes That makes me lol. This is sad.

[mrlulzmonkey]

@artysmokes That was the only art she did in her life.

[Psypomp]

Love you, Sylvia Plath.

[McMakisha]

Her voice is so strong, she speaks with such conviction at the end. I love it.

[MrCiveniv]

Simply beautiful!!

this is my favorite Sylvia Plaths poem....

Hey bodies, What do you think about the movie (Sylvia)??

[1000yellowcocoons]

listen to this while Max Richter's "The Nature of Daylight" plays in the background.

[insertafeckingname]

@1000yellowcocoons excellent suggestion. The music fits the reading so well. Truly broke my heart in two...

[Molokai17]

Is Herr Doctor her father?

[smellslikechildren1]

@Molokai17 Herr Doktor is probably the doctor that revived her.

[LaGhash]

@smellslikechildren1

Maybe - Sylvia was subjected to insensitive treatment in her 1953 psychiatric hospital stay, creating fear and hostility re doctors, BUT latterly she had a close relationship with her female psychiatrist. 'Herr Doktor' could even be her father - he was a professor and therefore also a doctor, academically. Plath blends/amalgamates her masculine figures into a single overarching, dominating, oppresive male presence/persecutor - i.e. the linking of Hughes/father in "Daddy".

[jonjuan92]

@stevejah7: thank you! that makes sense.

[jonjuan92]

"I may be Japanese." I cannot find that line in any written online version. Huh. Weird.

[stevejah7]

@jonjuan92 the critic Al Alvarez suggested she remove it-maybe because the suggestion of Hiroshima seemed extreme?

[smellslikechildren1]

@jonjuan92

She took it out because it didn't fit with her three-lined stanzas.

[aleisaii]

Someone may have already asked this, but where are the images from this movie from? Is this a film separate from the poetry audio, or did the filmmaker intend them to be part of the background of the reading?

[helenlochburn1]

hmmm. So is there an allusion to the story of "The Death of Lazarus"? Its a story from the bible.

[exkirkby]

@helenlochburn1 God PLEASE read more. Lazarus was 'risen' from the dead by Jesus. He was Mary Magdalene's brother. educate yourself before you post!

[helenlochburn1]

@exkirkby yeah, I know that, but I was wondering if this was some type of modern allusion to the story, thats all.

[kissthegay10]

its so raw and beautiful. i have learned so much from her poetry and my poetry has greatly improved from studying hers. never have i felt so close to another person than to sylvia plath

[risasb]

"...and I eat men like air."

She read it exactly as I thought she would. Thank you for this.

[araneaestone]

simply beautiful

[rofl200]

I acctually had to catch my breath at the end, what art.

[777Kwyjibo]

From what recording is this reading taken from?

[heyhi426]

beautifully harrowing

[rayneval]

I love in love.

[soda495]

she is beautiful, and not just physically.

[snow2555]

wow,this is great.

[webelongtoelvis]

out of the ash i rise with my red hair and i eat men like air

[xXxRav3rRawrBabyxXx]

@webelongtoelvis I think that might just be my favourite line in the whole poem, that last utterance is so intense and beautiful.

[armouredamazon]

My favourite.

[rayneval]

Amazing ~

[skarlet85]

E' impressionante sentire la sua voce che recita una poesia cosi' profonda e terribile.Bellissime le immagini

[sayhitoshas]

You are here and your mentor is Shweta.

[britpete]

Thank you for this. In truth, I have never heard of this lady before. I find her poetry rivetting.

[bigdezol]

Thanks for posting. I just realize that I will be teaching this with Franz Kafka's "A Hunger Artist;" they coincide so well.

[rage4201979]

i really love this, its been awhile since ive watched it

[bigboxbobby2]

This is what makes YouTube marvellous. Really great.

[xXxRav3rRawrBabyxXx]

@bigboxbobby2 Absolutely.

[xxcelticangelxx]

I love slyvia plath's poetry, she'sone of the only poets who actually speaks the truth about her life, her pain and her beliefs. She doesnt try to hide what she is and her poems reflect this. She went through hell, but her poems display a strength...its just a pity that she lost the battle in the end. Thank God for her genius

[alasfran28]

I adore this poem. I wrote an essay on it today as part of my Higher English Critical Essay paper. I actually enjoyed writing it because I find this poem so deep and moving. Hopefully I will have done well. What a startling and moving poem!

[gudrun13]

@alasfran28 Now 3 months later, how was your essay ? Was it good ?

I also love this poem. The more i read/hear it, the more I like it.

[alasfran28]

@gudrun13 Well I got 89% overall in my Higher English. I don't know how that breaks down as there is a close reading worth 50 marks and 2 essays (1 of which was my Plath one) worth 25 each but I'm assuming I did quite well! :)

[gudrun13]

@alasfran28

Ooh, that's great!!!!!!!!!! :D

[theturbocow]

I've read this poem hundreds of times; it was nice to hear Sylvia herself recite it. Our pacing is the same, but I find myself speaking in an angrier voice in certain parts.

[Munn1509]

There's nothing quite like listening to Plath from the voice of Plath herself!

Absolutely love her poetry.

[CandySedatives]

this song still makes me teary every time i read/hear it.

i was reading this to my boyfriend last night. i think the intensity of my voice scared him haha.

I really wish she was still around =[

[jessicabakescupcakes]

goose weasels.

LOVE her.

<3

[Pepsipoo66]

i have to do sylvia plath for year 11 english and at first when i started to read the poems i thought she was crazy .... ect i still think that but i think she is a great poet and she says everything in such a way that makes me love her. the rest of my class hates her but i think that she says so little but means so much which is why i love her.

[hartistry]

Nice!!!!!

[WhimsicalRuby]

Unbelievably phenomenal.

[TheFashionophile]

What a gift that these recordings are still around to enjoy, thanx so much for posting

[SaRiLoKa]

Have you tried the underlines? The text is even creepier... :O<3

[genieva3]

So I'm in the middle of a final and my book opens to this reading of this poem. I so love it!!!

[LeslieGMN]

Critic Al Alvarez convinced Plath to remove the line, "I may be Japanese," and later regretted it, thinking it a trivial change.

[ScarlettPiper]

I could listen to her voice all day long. Her tone is hypnotizing.

[ebonyamberjade]

Thank you Music. It hurts me to see people write mean things about her, especially after what a painful life she led.

[Music2Blackies]

I have to say that I find it sad to see such comments on a video like this. Not only is it highly disrespectful, but it's ignorant and I do not understand what some people are doing here.

This is an art piece. Thank you for putting it up.

[jaymayer777]

@Music2Blackies why would any dumbasses come on here and give dislikes, talk about a f-cking looser,, it just shows ya how dumb some people who think they know anything about poetry.

[jaymayer777]

@Music2Blackies why would any dumbasses come on here and give dislikes, talk about a f-cking looser,, it just shows ya how dumb some people who think they know anything about poetry in all honesty know nothing at all. dorks

[Lamuertequemuerde]

more than 50 years have past, and you scumbags can't understand a genius. kill yourselves bastards.

i should have lived to see you S.

[paclingan1992]

Sylvia Plath is my favorite poet. I bought her collected poems and made a project for her, including painting a Warhammer 40k miniature in her honor. I want to get the cassette Sylvia Plath reads as another addition to my tape collection, but it's more expensive than I thought it would be.

[ebonyamberjade]

I am sad that she died the way she did

[AndThenIExplode]

Well tolington, if she was an attention seeking woman, wouldn't she do it in a more public way? A gun shot to the head or something would certainly draw more attention.

I think she's a great poet. I have to do a poetry project and she's my number one choice. Her poems are dark, but they're amazing.

~Ansley

[tolington]

typical attention seeking woman. if you're gonna top yourself, do it properly, not by taking sleeping pills and chillin under a house

[chaostears]

well when she died when she was 30, she put her head in an oven and died that way.

[TheShmexyProduction]

Her head wasn't IN the oven, look it up. She was laying on the open door of the oven- she gas here self in her kitchen you idiot.

[MrArtVanderlay]

@TheShmexyProduction

According to the Ronald Hayman and Anne Stevenson biographies, both of which are exhaustive and authoritative, her head WAS inside the oven.

You madame, are an ignorant bitch........

[Schadenfreude24]

Sexist much tolington?

The fact that she hid under a house indicates she -didn't want to be found- Not that it's great or even human that you're trying to ridicule people who don't live up to what you consider the most successful way to kill themselves.

But really, I shouldn't feed the troll.

[tolington]

@Schadenfreude24

shut up woman

[Schadenfreude24]

Way to make my point, thank you!

[tolington]

@Schadenfreude24

i'm not sexist, but the woman's an idiot. what are the chances of her not being found under her own house?

if she did want to successfully kill herself with no one finding her, she could've been a bit more creative is all i'm saying

[RequiemVortex]

@tolington

She probably did want to be found.

[TheGrayButton]

I have never really been into poetry, but I had to do this for a school project. I have to say that she is an extremely great poet, with a horrible life, and a fantastic voice. I love this poem!

[GFSista]

Amazing. What a powerful poem. I love her voice, it has such depth.

[SKeene1956]

Very deep and hits with a powerful punch to those of us who have died before and come back to the doctors disbelief and wonder.

[LaFemmeNinockha]

no dude you're totally missing the point. Sylvia Plath tried to kill herself once. And it didn't work. The next time it worked. This is not about medical miracles. it is about suicide.

[ibanezsam4]

more than once

[sugarrayofsunshine]

You should read "The Bell Jar" - semi-autobiographical book - it may give you an insight to this poem.

[blurtitout]

shut the fuck up you total loser!

[onlytuesday]

absolutely beautiful.

her voice is so powerful.

one of the greatest poems ever written.

[mrstimpy]

calm down guys...you searched the link you cant hate all this that much...

[soundsprettysweet]

Notice the Boston accent. "There is a charge, a very large charge" I'm proud to be from MA, man. This is on my "Top Ten Poems of All Time" list.

[Hitrockbottom]

Powerful stuff

I adore this poem

[chambernine]

I love this video!!!!!! Sylvia Plath is my favorite author of all time.

[xks]

Wow.

[MagicShadeMask]

This is wonderful, it gave me goose bumps. Sylvia Plath is genius, the name alone is genius. God, I love her.

[zerolohland]

id like to hear it tomorrow when i wake up just as much as i would like to hear it the last moment of my life

thats how much i like it

-hero

[vigilante666]

"I may be Japanese" she edited this out then. Very impressive, one of my favourites.

[marchiesal]

holy shit beautiful.

[johnm233]

Good to get this out there. Frightening voice.

[Ardepuente]

Thanks!!

Sylvia Plath <3

[Xiansiempre]

Thank you, I never heard her voice before. It's interesting how she almost developed an English accent, but I wish I could hear her at a younger age and see if she had a Boston accent too, hehe.

Beautiful poem, we love you Sylvia always!

[princeton284]

My favorite Sylvia poem :)

[JulaGem]

as soon as you say "I like Sylvia Plath" people like roll their eyes er sumthing, but wutever any1 might say, she might have been depressed and "neurotic" or wutevr ppl say, but the one fact remains: she was BRILLIANT, her work is MOVING and MEANINGFUL I love this poem

[Sindizwe]

Absolutely horrifying! Gives a look into a very dark and disturbed mind indeed. *shivers* she has a very powerful voice. Such strong imagery and emotion in it.

[KaitoArina]

My favorite poem! Thank you very much!

[surrenderinggravity]

this is amazing! thanks so much for posting!

[saltbabe]

amazing.

[prestolovesvarla]

fuck! this is breathtaking. i confess i found myself holding back a tear!

[kenazztorch]

Great! Sylvia Plath lives on. Love the video. Could never get Plath's voice out of my head after hearing it for the first time; over 20 years ago.

[brendadada]

superb stuff, thanks mishima

Really Well done, Did you shoot the video yourself? Or found somewheres? Really interesting.