Why Sina Queyras got immersed in the life and feminism of Sylvia Plath
CBC Radio | Posted: February 4, 2019 3:02 PM | Last Updated: February 4, 2019
With My Ariel, Montreal poet Sina Queyras takes an analytical and poetic look at Sylvia Plath's Ariel. As a poem-by-poem engagement with Ariel — and the mythology surrounding it — the book examines the iconic text, and, by extension, cultural norms and attitudes.
Poetic exploration
"My Ariel is a multi-pronged engagement with Sylvia Plath's collection of poetry. I wanted to explore the poems themselves. I thought that I would have a nice way to reflect on the state of motherhood, which I had just entered into myself. But all of my work is an of exploration of the bridge between conceptual work and lyric work."
Emotional impact
"It's always a mystery to me when a poet can pack so many varied emotions into a poem so successfully and so succinctly. The book is also an exploration of the way in which we can do that both can such a compressed way and then letting it go in a real, expansive way."
Sina Queyras's comments have been edited for length and clarity.