Next Monday I’ll be attempting to confront the question of the relative value of extremely bleak or intensely negative works of art such as Plath’s, as against those such as Hayden’s that do not shirk the darkness but also have a clearer sense that there is light. One of the poems I’ll mention towards the end as a point of comparison is this by Emily Dickinson: Ted Hughes felt his wife was as great a poet. I’ll be leaving you all to decide for yourselves on that one
Anyway, it seemed a good idea to give everyone a chance to ponder before I start sounding off.
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