Why Sina Queyras got immersed in the life and feminism of Sylvia Plath
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.
