“From the beginning of her development, Sylvia—or Sivvy, as her family called her—came to associate words as a substitute for love”

“Olivia was her only beautiful child. Julia, with her dark curls and snub nose, was pretty but her character wasn't, Sylvia --- poor Sylvia, what could you say? And Amelia was somehow ...bland, but Olivia, Olivia was spun from light. It seemed impossible that she was Victor's child, although, unfortunately, there was no doubting the fact. Olivia was the only one she loved, although God knows she tried her best with the others. Everything was from duty, nothing from love. Duty killed you in the end.”

“Her words made her pause. She couldn't have anything that was truly worthwhile without fighting for it-her farm, her family, and perhaps even love-Annalisa”

“Love begins with a metaphor. Love begins at a point when a woman enters her first word into our poetic memory.”

“Love begins with a metaphor. Which is to say, love begins at the point when a woman enters her first word into our poetic memory.”

“Sylvia Plath is an example of the egotistical sublime: her subject is herself, her predicament, her violent Romantic emotions,” wrote the poet Craig Raine.”