Yes, Emily, we do need to talk about it. (I'm inserting myself into the "we," too. Hope that's ok :). Got strong feelings and deep thoughts about this one.)
I winced my way through the episode after reading your post. It was painful. Not just because of the show's casual relationship with truth and geography and the like. But because, like you, I'm tired of seeing Plath so badly misrepresented in pop culture. Especially on a show that claims to correct enduring misrepresentations of a major woman poet. Especially, especially on an episode that explores how that poet's mythology overshadows her work and distorts how she's perceived by future readers. I can't think of ANY American poet (dear Emily included) whose popular mythology has done more damage to her critical and academic reputation than Plath. The irony cuts deep. (My thumb instead of an onion.)
I was curious about the backstory and found an interview with the showrunner in The Hollywood Reporter where she gives some context to the episode: When she travels to the future, "[Dickinson is] confronted with the fact that [...] she is deeply misunderstood and mischaracterized within this myth, that of course our show has been about breaking apart and dismantling, that Emily was this depressive spinster who wasted away out of unrequited love for a man.” The episode attempts to counter that myth by contrasting Dickinson with Plath, explains the showrunner. “I felt that there’s this misconstrual of Emily being someone just like Sylvia who was probably suicidal and died young, but none of that is true about Emily. Emily actually lived a long, contented life and created this phenomenal body of work and passed away as we all do when the time comes.”
Say what? Does she know ANYTHING about Plath?
What a spectacular missed opportunity. As you point out, there's a kinship between these two poets. There are so many wild, strange and actually tragic ties that bind them--their linguistic boldness; their wicked humor; their craftswomanship; the way they didn't get a say in what happened to the poems they left behind when they died; how their words were altered, bowdlerized and manhandled by those they trusted most; how their critical reputations were constructed posthumously by (white, male) critics with agendas of their own; how the narrators of their poems subverted the deeply sexist (white, male) poetic traditions that bound them, giving voice to silenced women, burning down the "Master's" house and rising from the ashes like queens; how they wrote some of the most enduring, powerful poetry in our canon, but we still see them as the meek ghost in white haunting her father's attic and the mad girl stuck in her father's boot--just a couple of dead girls. I once wrote a whole master's thesis on these connections, and I can assure you: If the show wanted to bust some myths and give these two some much-deserved poetic justice it could have.
But it didn't. It confirmed the stale, old Plath tropes instead. Why? Why use Plath as Dickinson's foil instead of her mirror? Why think the only way to dismantle Dickinson's myth is to reinforce Plath's? Why not take the advice of your own lead character, "Dickinson"'s Dickinson, who wonders in the episode: "Why are we talking about her private life? Shouldn't we be talking about her poems?" And if the show insists on biography over poetry (WHY?), why cast Plath as a silly teenage poet? Why not show Plath-the-mom, weary-eyed but single-minded, rising before dawn to write while the children slept and the milk boiled and scummed in the pantry, "iron-eyed and beaked and purposed as a bird, / dusting everything on the whatnot every day of life"? The one who wintered in a dark without window and survived to taste the spring. This is the Plath I know and love. Why not her? FFS, why is it never her??
One last thing: In my research I remember reading that Aurelia kept a volume of Dickinson's poems in the house when Plath was growing up. Aurelia called it her Bible. Popular readings tend to focus on how Plath's relationship with her father (or Ted) shaped her. What about Aurelia's influence? I'm not going to fall into the biography trap but I do wonder if Dickinson meant something to Plath. I'll never know for sure and that's ok. I don't have to. I can feel it when I read Plath's poetry. I sense the ties that bind them. Sometimes I just wish others could see them too.
Thanks for illuminating some of them in this post and for all your work on Plath. I can't wait to read your book!
I'm dancing in my dining room, bleary-eyed and up with the baby since 5-- what a gorgeous essay you have added to mine. Thank you so much. I would love to talk more with you about this.
❤️ Thanks, Emily! That's kind. I'm not sure whatever I wrote here last night was an essay so much as rant, lol, but thank you for reading and replying to it all the same. Especially after an early morning with your baby--I know how fun those can be :). And thanks for creating a space to chat/rant about Plath. I haven't studied her in years but her poems are still very much alive for me (and will be always). Plath4Life! Would love to talk more about the Dickinson-Plath connection and whatever else you're interested in. My email is lizrioshall@gmail.com if you need anything.
Hey, thank you for writing this down. I had to scrounge for a review aligned to my opinion on that episode and here I am. Thankfully. I just finished watching Dickinson and that one episode on Plath has disturbed me. I adore and respect Plath as an amazing poet and artist, and abhor how she is very often reduced to being suicidal. She is an inspiration to me as I am a private poet.
I agree with every single word you wrote here. Subscribing for more!
Hey! My pleasure, I'm glad you found the essay. The essay really disappointed me because the show was generally so good. I couldn't believe the failure of imagination in their depiction of Plath.
I just started the Dickinson series, and just saw this episode last night....I've been so upset by it I decided to search if anyone else had similar feelings. It was awful and kept me excessively cringing. Ahhhhh. Anyway, thanks for this writing. I really needed it <3 Ada
Just wanted to speak from the future (relative to this post) ... I just finishing re-binging Dickinson. When it came out I think I gave up on it midway through the third season so I hadn't seen this episode before. After completing the series, the Plath encounter was one of the depictions I wanted to learn more about so this morning I searched "sylvia plath emily dickinson smith college." This post was the first result I deemed applicable. I appreciate your analysis and those in your comments. Since this just happened to be on Substack, I thought I'd say thanks from an unexpected demographic representative. Perhaps. :)
I'm only superficially aware of both Dickinson and Plath, my only exposure to them being an Am Lit survey course in 1974. I'm much more familiar with Emerson and Thoreau, especially after spending a couple of days in Concord three years ago and doing a deep dive into the local history including the closeness of the pair with the Alcott's and Hawthorne. So I cringed in the episode Emily Dickinson meets John Mulvaney as a flaky and inconsiderate Thoreau.
But I have to say, I was so affected by the three concluding episodes that whatever criticisms I had seems trivial given the overall quality of the 3-year story arc. And I do appreciate your criticisms regarding the depiction of Plath. I look forward to reading more of your Substack.
Yes, Emily, we do need to talk about it. (I'm inserting myself into the "we," too. Hope that's ok :). Got strong feelings and deep thoughts about this one.)
I winced my way through the episode after reading your post. It was painful. Not just because of the show's casual relationship with truth and geography and the like. But because, like you, I'm tired of seeing Plath so badly misrepresented in pop culture. Especially on a show that claims to correct enduring misrepresentations of a major woman poet. Especially, especially on an episode that explores how that poet's mythology overshadows her work and distorts how she's perceived by future readers. I can't think of ANY American poet (dear Emily included) whose popular mythology has done more damage to her critical and academic reputation than Plath. The irony cuts deep. (My thumb instead of an onion.)
I was curious about the backstory and found an interview with the showrunner in The Hollywood Reporter where she gives some context to the episode: When she travels to the future, "[Dickinson is] confronted with the fact that [...] she is deeply misunderstood and mischaracterized within this myth, that of course our show has been about breaking apart and dismantling, that Emily was this depressive spinster who wasted away out of unrequited love for a man.” The episode attempts to counter that myth by contrasting Dickinson with Plath, explains the showrunner. “I felt that there’s this misconstrual of Emily being someone just like Sylvia who was probably suicidal and died young, but none of that is true about Emily. Emily actually lived a long, contented life and created this phenomenal body of work and passed away as we all do when the time comes.”
Say what? Does she know ANYTHING about Plath?
What a spectacular missed opportunity. As you point out, there's a kinship between these two poets. There are so many wild, strange and actually tragic ties that bind them--their linguistic boldness; their wicked humor; their craftswomanship; the way they didn't get a say in what happened to the poems they left behind when they died; how their words were altered, bowdlerized and manhandled by those they trusted most; how their critical reputations were constructed posthumously by (white, male) critics with agendas of their own; how the narrators of their poems subverted the deeply sexist (white, male) poetic traditions that bound them, giving voice to silenced women, burning down the "Master's" house and rising from the ashes like queens; how they wrote some of the most enduring, powerful poetry in our canon, but we still see them as the meek ghost in white haunting her father's attic and the mad girl stuck in her father's boot--just a couple of dead girls. I once wrote a whole master's thesis on these connections, and I can assure you: If the show wanted to bust some myths and give these two some much-deserved poetic justice it could have.
But it didn't. It confirmed the stale, old Plath tropes instead. Why? Why use Plath as Dickinson's foil instead of her mirror? Why think the only way to dismantle Dickinson's myth is to reinforce Plath's? Why not take the advice of your own lead character, "Dickinson"'s Dickinson, who wonders in the episode: "Why are we talking about her private life? Shouldn't we be talking about her poems?" And if the show insists on biography over poetry (WHY?), why cast Plath as a silly teenage poet? Why not show Plath-the-mom, weary-eyed but single-minded, rising before dawn to write while the children slept and the milk boiled and scummed in the pantry, "iron-eyed and beaked and purposed as a bird, / dusting everything on the whatnot every day of life"? The one who wintered in a dark without window and survived to taste the spring. This is the Plath I know and love. Why not her? FFS, why is it never her??
One last thing: In my research I remember reading that Aurelia kept a volume of Dickinson's poems in the house when Plath was growing up. Aurelia called it her Bible. Popular readings tend to focus on how Plath's relationship with her father (or Ted) shaped her. What about Aurelia's influence? I'm not going to fall into the biography trap but I do wonder if Dickinson meant something to Plath. I'll never know for sure and that's ok. I don't have to. I can feel it when I read Plath's poetry. I sense the ties that bind them. Sometimes I just wish others could see them too.
Thanks for illuminating some of them in this post and for all your work on Plath. I can't wait to read your book!
I'm dancing in my dining room, bleary-eyed and up with the baby since 5-- what a gorgeous essay you have added to mine. Thank you so much. I would love to talk more with you about this.
❤️ Thanks, Emily! That's kind. I'm not sure whatever I wrote here last night was an essay so much as rant, lol, but thank you for reading and replying to it all the same. Especially after an early morning with your baby--I know how fun those can be :). And thanks for creating a space to chat/rant about Plath. I haven't studied her in years but her poems are still very much alive for me (and will be always). Plath4Life! Would love to talk more about the Dickinson-Plath connection and whatever else you're interested in. My email is lizrioshall@gmail.com if you need anything.
Hey, thank you for writing this down. I had to scrounge for a review aligned to my opinion on that episode and here I am. Thankfully. I just finished watching Dickinson and that one episode on Plath has disturbed me. I adore and respect Plath as an amazing poet and artist, and abhor how she is very often reduced to being suicidal. She is an inspiration to me as I am a private poet.
I agree with every single word you wrote here. Subscribing for more!
Hey! My pleasure, I'm glad you found the essay. The essay really disappointed me because the show was generally so good. I couldn't believe the failure of imagination in their depiction of Plath.
I just started the Dickinson series, and just saw this episode last night....I've been so upset by it I decided to search if anyone else had similar feelings. It was awful and kept me excessively cringing. Ahhhhh. Anyway, thanks for this writing. I really needed it <3 Ada
It’s such a good show, otherwise!! But man, they really sucked on this episode.
Just wanted to speak from the future (relative to this post) ... I just finishing re-binging Dickinson. When it came out I think I gave up on it midway through the third season so I hadn't seen this episode before. After completing the series, the Plath encounter was one of the depictions I wanted to learn more about so this morning I searched "sylvia plath emily dickinson smith college." This post was the first result I deemed applicable. I appreciate your analysis and those in your comments. Since this just happened to be on Substack, I thought I'd say thanks from an unexpected demographic representative. Perhaps. :)
I'm only superficially aware of both Dickinson and Plath, my only exposure to them being an Am Lit survey course in 1974. I'm much more familiar with Emerson and Thoreau, especially after spending a couple of days in Concord three years ago and doing a deep dive into the local history including the closeness of the pair with the Alcott's and Hawthorne. So I cringed in the episode Emily Dickinson meets John Mulvaney as a flaky and inconsiderate Thoreau.
But I have to say, I was so affected by the three concluding episodes that whatever criticisms I had seems trivial given the overall quality of the 3-year story arc. And I do appreciate your criticisms regarding the depiction of Plath. I look forward to reading more of your Substack.