The Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath

The photograph on the front cover of this Companion shows the fingers of a hand passing what appears to be a single carnation to the young Plath. Meanwhile Plath's smiling face is turned in the opposite direction, looking upwards and beyond the frame of the photograph. Her right hand is distractedly adjusting her neck scarf.

This photograph encapsulates the two principle approaches to Plath studies explored in this Companion: the fascination with Plath biography and the literary context of her poetry. The cover photograph seems to offer the viewer a glimpse of the “spontaneous” Plath, but by placing the...