"Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath

Arguably Sylvia Plath's most famous poem, Lady Lazarus was first published posthumously in 1965, in a collection entitled Ariel. Ariel also contains what is arguably Plath's second most famous poem, Daddy, as well as Tulips.

Rather than merely reprinting the text of one of these poems, I was fortunate enough to find a version of Lady Lazarus being read by Plath herself, accompanied by some suitable images; despite the grimness of some of its sentiments, Lady Lazarus also contains many images of light, possibly indicating that following her death - which occurred on this day in 1963 - she would be reborn, as a Phoenix might... In terms of publication, of course, that is just what happened.

In 1982 Sylvia Plath became the first poet to be posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her Collected Poems.
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