Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath. New York: Knopf, 2007.

Sylvia Plath was a poet from age eight. She knew she was destined to be great. Stephanie Hemphill uses poetry to explore Plath’s life from birth to death. Here’s how Hemphill sees Plath:

Your Own, Sylvia

She could not help burning herself
From the inside out,
Consuming herself

Like the sun.
But the memory of her light blazes
Our dark ceiling.

She could not know how long
Her luminary would map the sky,
Or where her dying would lead the lost.

But for those who gaze heavenly
Or into the reflected pool of night,
She is fuel. She is dust. She is a guiding star. (246)

To find out more about Hemphill and her Sylvia Plath, you’ll have to read Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath.