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 I Am the Arrow: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath in Six Poems, she offers a 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.

“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.” -Stefanie Burt