I always thought I hated Sylvia Plath, because I couldn't abide "Daddy" and "Medusa" and the Ariel poems that made her famous. Imagine my amazement when I discovered an early Plath who wrote formal poetry that was dam good. What are the critics thinking??
A sample:
PURSUIT
There is a panther stalks me down:
One day I'll have my death of him;
His greed has set the woods aflame,
He prowls more lordly than the sun.
Must soft, most suavely glides that step,
Advancing always at my back;
From gaunt hemlock, rooks croak havoc:
The hunt is on, and sprung the trap.
Flayed by thorns I trek the rocks,
Haggard through the hot white noon.
Along red network of his veins
What fires run, what craving wakes?
******
I hurl my heart to halt his pace,
To quench his thirst I squander blood;
He eats, and still his need seeks food,
Compels a total sacrifice.
His voice waylays me, spells a trance,
The gutted forest falls to ash;
Appalled by secret want, I rush
From such assault of radiance.
Entering the tower of my fears,
I shut the door on that dark guilt,
I bolt the door, each door I bolt,
Blood quickens, gonging in my ears:
The panther's tread is on the stairs,
Coming up and up the stairs.
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