Decoding Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus: Freedom's Feminine Fire

I can’t say I’ve been a fan of Sylvia Plath’s work, finding it dark, humorless, and scary at times. However, I was intrigued by Julia Gordon-Bramer’s premise in her new book, “Decoding Sylvia Plath’s Lady Lazarus,” that there is much to unpack beneath Plath's words. Gordon-Bramer did not disappoint.Perhaps only someone intimately familiar with tarot as Gordon-Bramer is could have seen the linkage between Plath’s words and the intricate yet unseen details behind them. I believe even the author was surprised that those details revealed far more than an interest in tarot, which she explains in her first book, “Fixed Stars Govern a Life - Decoding Sylvia Plath.”Gordon-Bramer challenges the reader to see beyond the superficial historical facts of Plath’s life to revel in her rich imagination, the layers of hidden meanings, and a word tapestry of incredible depth. This deep dive into “Lady Lazarus,” one of Plath’s seminal works, makes for fascinating reading. The connections Gordon-Bramer makes through tarot, Qabalah, alchemy, mythology, world history and events, astrology and astronomy, the arts and humanities seem almost impossible to comprehend. How could a poem of less than 450 words carry so many meanings and apparent synchronicities?As I read the final words of Gordon-Bramer's book, I wondered what Plath would think of the current state of world affairs concerning women. I’m not sure she would be surprised that women are still fighting, still pushing, still demanding their rightful equal status in humankind. Seeing that nothing has changed would, I’m sure, make her sad. And perhaps angry. It appears that “Lady Lazarus” is a contemporary poem after all.Gordon-Bramer has opened my eyes to a new way of interpreting Sylvia Plath’s work. I hope she does the same for you.

As a tutor and forever student of poetry, I was really impressed withthe class-in-a-box included at the end of Decoding Sylvia Plath's "LadyLazarus." I've got discussion questions, vocabulary words, writing tipsand poetry techniques that set Plath up as a model for How It's Done.Beyond that, the thought and research Julia Gordon-Bramer has put intoDecoding Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" is staggering. All I can say is,"Duh!" How did no one see this before? Emma Lazarus's poem at the baseof the Statue of Liberty becomes Isis who becomes "Lady Lazarus"! Thisis like the DaVinci Code, except that Plath did it for real. JuliaGordon-Bramer shows that it really has all been hiding in plain sight.

It had pages that were not in the binding and it looked as if someone put them there like you would stick in a bookmark. The cover itself was nice. I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did however I’d like to see what else this author has worked on.