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Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath Quotes

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Famous Sylvia Plath Quotes

“When they asked some old Roman philosopher or other how he wanted to die, he said he would open his veins in a warm bath. I thought it would be easy, lying in the tup and seeing the redness flower from my wrists, flush after flush through the clear water, till I sank into sleep under a surface gaudy as poppies.”

SaidWould BeWantedLyingDiesEasyWaterSleepClearSeeingFlowerPhilosopherWarmSurfaceVeinsBathsWristsPoppiesGaudyClear WaterWanted To DieRoman Philosophers
Book:the bell jar
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“I want to taste and glory in each day, and never be afraid to experience pain; and never shut myself up in a numb core of nonfeeling, or stop questioning and criticizing life and take the easy way out. To learn and think: to think and live; to live and learn: this always, with new insight, new understanding, and new love.”

ThinkingWayWantPainEasyUnderstandingTasteGloryInsightCoreEach DayCriticizeQuestioningNumbEasy WayLive And Learn
Book:The Journals of Sylvia Plath
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“Yes, I was infatuated with you: I am still. No one has ever heightened such a keen capacity of physical sensation in me. I cut you out because I couldn't stand being a passing fancy. Before I give my body, I must give my thoughts, my mind, my dreams. And you weren't having any of those.”

LoveGivingMindStillsDreamBodyCuttingCapacityPassingPassingsFancySensationsMy ThoughtsInfatuationInfatuated
Book:The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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“Please let him come, and give me the resilience & guts to make him respect me, be interested, and not to throw myself at him with loudness or hysterical yelling; calmly, gently, easy baby easy. He is probably strutting the backs among crocuses now with seven Scandinavian mistresses. And I sit, spiderlike, waiting, here, home; Penelope weaving webs of Webster, turning spindles of Tourneur. Oh, he is here; my black marauder; oh hungry hungry. I am so hungry for a big smashing creative burgeoning burdened love: I am here; I wait; and he plays on the banks of the river Cam like a casual faun.”

GivingPlayHomeBigsEasyWaitingBlackCreativeBabyPleaseRiversGive MeSevenResilienceHungryGutsMistressCasualYellingHystericalWeavingSmashingRespect MeScandinaviansStruttingCrocusesFauns
Author:Sylvia Plath
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“Life was not to be sitting in hot amorphic leisure in my backyard idly writing or not writing, as the spirit moved me. It was, instead, running madly, in a crowded schedule, in a squirrel cage of busy people. Working, living, dancing, dreaming, talking, kissing- singing, laughing, learning.”

PeopleWritingDreamRunningSpiritTalkingLaughingKissingSingingSittingHotMovedDancingBusyLeisureSchedulesCagesCrowdedBackyardsSquirrels
Book:The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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“It was like the first time i saw a cadaver. For weeks afterward the cadavers head, or what was left of it - floated up behind my eggs and bacon at breakfast and in the face of Buddy Willard, who was responsible for my seeing it in the first place, and pretty soon I felt as though I were carrying that cadavers head around with me on a string, like some black, noseless balloon stinking of vinegar.”

FirstsFacesLeftFeltBlackBehindsSawsSeeingWeekFirst TimeResponsibleEggsStringsBreakfastBuddyBalloonsVinegarBell JarCadavers
Author:Sylvia Plath
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“In this particular tub, two knees jut up like icebergs, while minute brown hairs rise on arms and legs in a fringe of kelp; green soap navigates the tidal slosh of seas breaking on legendary beaches; in faith we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.”

TwoRealStarsSeaMinutesParticularHairArmsSacredGreenMadLegsShipsBeachKneesBoardsIslandsBrownSailFabulousSoapFringeNavigateLegendaryIcebergTubsArms And LegsBrown Hair
Book:Collected Poems
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“Strange, when one thinks of all the other boys, infinite experimental kisses, test tube infatuations, crushes, pseudo-loves. All through this physical separation, through the testing and the trying of the others, there has been this peculiar rapport, comradeship, of us two so alike, so similar, but for science-boy and humanities-girl - the introspection, self examination, biannual deep summarizing conversations, and then the platonic parting.”

ThinkingTryingHas BeensTwoSelfHumanityGirlBoysStrangeConversationKissingTestsInfiniteSeparationCrushPeculiarIntrospectionTestingInfatuationExaminationPartingTubesPseudoPlatonicRapportSelf-examinationComradeshipSummarizing
Author:Sylvia Plath
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“I thought if only I had a keen, shapely bone structure to my face or could discuss politics shrewdly or was a famous writer Constantin might find me interesting enough to sleep with. And then I wondered if as soon as he came to like me he would sink into ordinariness, and if as soon as he came to love me I would find fault, the way I did with Buddy Willard and the boys before him.”

IfsWayEnoughMightFacesSleepInterestingBoysStructureFaultsBonesLike MeFind MeBuddyOrdinarinessFamous Writers
Book:the bell jar
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