As part of the Literature for Our Time series, University of Toronto English Professor Nick Mount examines Ariel, Sylvia Plath's posthumously published collection of poems.
I love this lecture, and agree with almost everything Nick Mount says, except that "Ariel" is _not_ so obvious as to be about the horse. It is, among other things, about the bombing of Hiroshima. Mount's earlier quote by Plath to Peter Orr even hints at this. He is almost at the truth in his own words, "the danger of the creator" in the 36th minute. I've done an extensive analysis on this and all the ARIEL poems which I'm hoping to publish soon. --Julia Gordon-Bramer
amazing
juztinos 3 months ago
I love this lecture, and agree with almost everything Nick Mount says, except that "Ariel" is _not_ so obvious as to be about the horse. It is, among other things, about the bombing of Hiroshima. Mount's earlier quote by Plath to Peter Orr even hints at this. He is almost at the truth in his own words, "the danger of the creator" in the 36th minute. I've done an extensive analysis on this and all the ARIEL poems which I'm hoping to publish soon. --Julia Gordon-Bramer
wordgirl1000 4 months ago
This Professor changed my life.
Marialisa101 8 months ago 2
best prof ive ever had
hilaryartilary 8 months ago
Thank you for posting this. Fantastic lecture.
happylilsunbeam 10 months ago
almost accomplishes the impossible:
explaining poetry through prose
valiant effort shows what poets do
breaks through preconceptions
that poets and artists must somehow be mad
in order to achieve their vision
the next step is to accept that great poetry
can be written by absolutely normal people
who from the outside appear to be
living relatively typical lives
EXPOSEtheHYPOCRITES 10 months ago
but who on the inside travel
much further and live much longer
than the few poets whose meteoric
rise and fall we have mistakenly
accepted as a sign of unique genius
the trick for the poet is to control
the rate at which their wick burns
and leave volumes for others to read
rather than to set fire to oneself
and leave behind but one or two solitary pearls
EXPOSEtheHYPOCRITES 10 months ago
Absolutely brilliant. I felt like I was a part of an intellectual conversation that is bigger than myself.
Alekseyyyyyy 1 year ago 2
Inspiring. Truly inspiring.
Driging 1 year ago