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A review by veelaughtland
The Colossus by Sylvia Plath
2.0
2.5 stars.
The Colossus was the first and only poetry collection by Sylvia Plath published in her lifetime, and unfortunately it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. From what I understand of the collection, the order in which the poems appear in the collection is generally chronological, and you are able to see Plath's poetry expand and her ability grow throughout the course of reading the book.
I find Plath's poetry at times to be beautiful and arresting, but more often than not in this collection I was either bored or bemused. Plath uses a great deal of metaphor in her poems, but to me it was not always that clear exactly what images she was trying to convey, which affected my ability to enjoy them and 'read into them'. Instead I just found them quite verbose at points.
I noticed another reviewer on here had commented that they would not have known when any of Plath's poems had ended if it wasn't for the fact there was a large blank space at the end - and honestly I had to agree. I didn't feel like there was a great finality or rhythm to most of the poems contained here. I also found that a lot of the poems, particularly nearer the beginning of the collection, focused a little too much on nature and fairytale whimsy for my personal tastes.
However, there are some poems in here that I am still thinking about, and that I think really show the talent for writing that Plath clearly had - the titular poem The Colossus had an amazing Lilliputian Gulliver's Travels kind of vibe, and my absolute favourite was The Ghost's Leavetaking which held a beautiful, dream-like quality and made me consider the difference between the dreamworld and the waking world. I would thoroughly recommend these two poems, if you are mulling over whether or not to pick up this collection.
Overall not a fantastic read for me, but there were enough gems in there that I'm glad I picked it up.
The Colossus was the first and only poetry collection by Sylvia Plath published in her lifetime, and unfortunately it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. From what I understand of the collection, the order in which the poems appear in the collection is generally chronological, and you are able to see Plath's poetry expand and her ability grow throughout the course of reading the book.
I find Plath's poetry at times to be beautiful and arresting, but more often than not in this collection I was either bored or bemused. Plath uses a great deal of metaphor in her poems, but to me it was not always that clear exactly what images she was trying to convey, which affected my ability to enjoy them and 'read into them'. Instead I just found them quite verbose at points.
I noticed another reviewer on here had commented that they would not have known when any of Plath's poems had ended if it wasn't for the fact there was a large blank space at the end - and honestly I had to agree. I didn't feel like there was a great finality or rhythm to most of the poems contained here. I also found that a lot of the poems, particularly nearer the beginning of the collection, focused a little too much on nature and fairytale whimsy for my personal tastes.
However, there are some poems in here that I am still thinking about, and that I think really show the talent for writing that Plath clearly had - the titular poem The Colossus had an amazing Lilliputian Gulliver's Travels kind of vibe, and my absolute favourite was The Ghost's Leavetaking which held a beautiful, dream-like quality and made me consider the difference between the dreamworld and the waking world. I would thoroughly recommend these two poems, if you are mulling over whether or not to pick up this collection.
Overall not a fantastic read for me, but there were enough gems in there that I'm glad I picked it up.