I Am the Arrow

Acclaimed translator Sarah Ruden shares a fresh, myth-busting reading of Sylvia Plath's poems, revealing the full range and towering ambition of a great American poet.

One of our leading interpreters of ancient literature, acclaimed translator Sarah Ruden (the Aeneid) has long had a passion for Sylvia Plath’s poetry. In this profound reconsideration of Plath’s genius, Ruden argues that Plath is more than a consummate mythmaker; the poet herself takes on the role of the classical hero: striving, suffering, descending to an underworld that threatens meaninglessness and despair, and returning to speak the previously unspoken. For the first time, a writer and a woman becomes that hero.

For Ruden, this achievement, like the deep learning and driving ambition that fueled it, has been overshadowed by the sensational and tragic details of Plath’s life, especially her ill-starred marriage to British poet Ted Hughes and her suicide at the age of thirty. Ruden offers a much-needed corrective through close readings of 6 poems

• “Mushrooms"
• “You’re”
• “The Babysitters”
• “The Applicant”
• “Ariel”
• “Edge”

that reveal how Plath persisted in the face of illness to produce works of disquieting beauty and uncanny power.

Devoted fans will find many new insights here, while readers looking to discover Plath’s poetry for the first time will find no better introduction to her work.“Original and compelling. This book will be an inspiration to new and seasoned readers alike.”
—Amanda Golden, co-editor, The Poems of Sylvia Plath

“This book will help the next generation of readers, writers, critics and (not least!) young poets learn from what Plath proved she—and sometimes she alone—could do. There’s no introduction to this very popular poet with this kind of purpose or this kind of spareness, or this kind of force.”
—Stephanie Burt

“Too often when the cult of personality gets too overgrown the actual work of the artist can get overshadowed. Such it is sometimes with poet Sylvia Plath, so I was glad to read this clear-eyed reconsideration of her life and literary impact told through six of her poems. Ruden is a fan and a Plath completist, as am I, so is able to offer up a fresh and welcome perspective.”
—Sam Miller, Carmichael’s Bookstore Sarah Ruden is an award-winning classics scholar, a poet, and a widely published writer on religion and culture. Her many translations of Greek and Roman works include Vergil’s Aeneid.