November 22, 1981

The Reagan Administration has told allied governments in recent days that it expects Soviet-American relations to enter a new phase, marked less by polemics and more by concrete discussions of arms control and other issues. Conversations with Administration officials and senior diplomats indicate that Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. and others have made an effort to convey the view that the two superpowers, despite their sharp differences, have been holding a serious dialogue that is expected to intensify soon. But at the same time, the Administration has told diplomats and journalists not to expect rapid progress in the Soviet-American talks on medium-range nuclear forces that are to begin Nov. 30 in Geneva. Those negotiations have received extensive publicity in the last week as a result of President Reagan's offer to forgo deployment of new American missiles in Europe if the Russians dismantle those they have already deployed. The two sides seem far apart even on the basic question of which weapons systems should be included in the initial negotiations.

HARTFORD THE most durable issue at the State Capitol this year has been the unincorporated business tax. Just when it appeared that the General Assembly was on the verge of repealing the tax that it had enacted at the regular legislative session last spring, Governor O'Neill called for changes in the levy to bring in more money to help close a deficit in the current fiscal year ending June 30. The Governor's proposal put the tax on unincorporated business at center stage once again as the legislators convened last Thursday for their special session to grapple with the state's fiscal problems. The history of the tax provides an example of the financial and political problems that arise as Connecticut and its elected officials struggle to find new sources of revenue to continue state programs during a time of high inflation and reduced fiscal aid from the Federal Government.

COLD SPRING HARBOR FROM the four-lane section of Route 25A here, opposite the children gawking into the tanks of the state fish hatchery, there is little to reveal the presence of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory except a very small sign and a curiously large number of parked cars. Inside, on the main driveway, the Colonial-style wood and stone buildings still give little hint that this is a world-famous center of research on the frontier of modern molecular biology. In a virtual village of their own, 80 scientists are single-mindedly pursuing the keys to DNA and the mechanisms of cancer and other cells, among other work. Their research - which recently produced what may be a breakthrough in understanding cancer - is believed to have such tremendous industrial potential that commercial interests could change their way of operating. How and where such research could be utilized by business is not clear to some of the scientists at the laboratory, but for some companies even the possibility of looking at the preliminary results of the research could be enough of an incentive to start thinking along commercial lines.

THE COLLECTED POEMS By Sylvia Plath. Edited by Ted Hughes. 351 pp. New York: Harper & Row. Cloth, $17.50. Paper, $7.95. The facts of the case are easily reported. Sylvia Plath was born on Oct. 27, 1932, daughter of Otto and Aurelia Plath. Her father taught German at Boston University and in 1934 published a study of bees. He died on Nov. 2, 1940. Sylvia had a scholarship to Smith College, where she won the prizes, including a Fulbright to Cambridge University. In 1956 she married the poet Ted Hughes; their first child, Frieda, was born on April 1, 1960, their second, Nicholas, on Jan. 17, 1962. In October 1962 the marriage fell apart, and they separated. A girl who lived mostly and terribly on her nerves, Sylvia made several attempts to kill herself, the first apparently in 1953. She died by her own hand on Feb. 11, 1963. Plath's first important book, ''The Colossus,'' was published in 1960, and her novel, ''The Bell Jar,'' appeared a few weeks before she died. But most of her work was published after her death: ''Ariel'' (1965), ''Three Women'' (1968), ''Crossing the Water'' (1971), ''Winter Trees'' (the same year) and a book of stories, ''Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams'' (1977). To a few readers Plath was already a legend before her death, but the publication of ''Ariel'' made the legend common if not universal property.

ALTHOUGH Government and industry analysts say it is doubtful that any gas or oil would be found within 50 miles of the shores of Long Island, James G. Watt, the Secretary of the Interior, has raised the possibility that drilling rigs could appear offshore anywhere from Rockaway Beach to Montauk Point. Exploratory drilling for gas and oil as close as three miles would be permitted in an offshore lease sale that he recently proposed as part of the Reagan Administration's policy to spur the nation's search for new energy sources. ''He's legally saying that anyone who's interested in bidding can seek a lease for drilling for oil three miles out,'' said George Wilde, president of the Friends of Long Island, which, like other environmental groups, has reacted angrily to the proposed sale. Lee E. Koppelman, executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Board, said: ''Should the law ever permit an oil rig within three to five miles of the shore, and there was an oil spill, there is no doubt that it would do damage to Long Island.'' He described Mr. Watt's oil-leasing policy as ''gratuitous'' and ''a slap in the face to local government and economic interests.'' ''Watt is displaying an arrogance and insensitivity that's creating an adversary situation, which could be avoided with a little common sense,'' Mr. Koppelman said.