“I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.” (Goodreads, 2013) This is a quote from Sylvia Plath, a poet who faced many obstacles in her life including attempting suicide; getting divorced due to lies and infidelity; and leaving her children behind. Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston Massachusetts Plath’s father Otto Plath author of a book on bees. (The Famous People Website, 2013; About.com, 2013). Her father taught at Boston University, where he met Aurelia Schober Plath’s mother who studied to get her master’s degree in teaching. (Academy of American Poet, 2013; Sylvia Plath info, 1999).The two married in January 1932 before …show more content…
Sylvia Plath took interest in art and writing at a young age; she also started keeping a journal and published some of her work. In 1950, Plath was rewarded a scholarship from Smith College. (Academy of American poet, 2013; The Biography Channel, 2013). Plath attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills in her third year of college (Smith College). She was later on diagnosed with depression and treated in a mental health facility. In 1956 she graduated from Smith College. (The Oxford Companion - 1994; The Biography Channel - 2013). In the same year, Plath also, studied at University Newnham College in England, where she met her husband poet Ted Hughes. April 1, 1960, Plath first collection of poetry “The colossus” was published in England. Soon after, Plath and Hughes had their first child Frieda Rebecca; two years later their second child was born named Nicholas. (A+E Television Networks, 2013; Sylvia Plath.info, 1999). In 1962, Hughes had an affair which resulted in a separation. (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2003; the Poetry Foundation, 2013) and in 1963, Plath published a semi- autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, and February 11, 1963, Sylvia Plath sealed the rooms between her and her children and committed suicide. Plath placed her head in a gas oven, she was found dead in her own kitchen. (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine – 2003 and Academy of American Poets - 2013). After Plath’s death Ted Hughes became her
As England’s Poet Laureate, and recipient of both the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and T.S. Eliot’s prize for poetry, Ted Hughes was an acclaimed poet. The shadow of Hughes late wife, Sylvia Plath, kept Hughes stagnant in his career, in which he was known as “Her Husband” (Middlebrook). Hughes most recent collection of poems, Birthday Letters, took him over twenty-five years to write, and contains poems which recount the marriage of the couple. Hughes wrote the poems as a loving gesture towards Sylvia, but the poems were misinterpreted as “an attempt to adjust the public record in the wake of her confession and the mass of commentary which has grown up around them” (Spurr 3). Hughes incorporated into his poetry the ideals of
Sylvia Plath and poet Ted Hughes married in 1956. They later divorced in 1962 when Hughes left Plath for another woman ("Sylvia Plath Biography”).
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Her love for poetry started young as her father, Otto Plath, suddenly passed away after Sylvia’s 8th birthday, dying from undiagnosed diabetes. This would greatly influence her later works. After his passing, her mother, Aurelia, took Sylvia and her brother, Warren, to Wellesley Massachusetts to live with the grandparents. She had good memories when her father was around, this inspired her to write her first poem, that was published in The Boston Traveller. She wrote all throughout her childhood and eventually started writing short stories to be published in magazines. For example, she wrote a total of 45 pieces of work to the magazine and they eventually published
In the article titled, “Sylvia Plath” the author, Sarah Ann McGill states that, “ Plath's intelligence and hard work earned her a scholarship to Smith College, an all women's institution, in 1950. She continued to soar above her classmates.”(McGill). Plath was a great writer during her time and it even was able to get her scholarships to go to the school she wanted to go to. After school Sylvia ended up getting married and even had a couple of kids, but the birth of her children also were able to inspire her
Before becoming an award winning writer Rachel Carson was the only child of three that attended college. Rachel went to the Pennsylvania College for Women which is now a days known as Chatham University. Originally she was majoring in English, but switched over to Biology. Even though she switched her major to biology, she still continued to contribute to the student newspaper. Her senior year Rachel was admitted to graduate at Johns Hopkins University, but financial problems forced her to finish schooling in Pennsylvania.
As she got older, Stella began to develop a love for writing. She would often times write short stories and poems about anything and everything. This love of writing even followed her into her academics. Her English teachers often spoke of Stella's passion for writing and in ninth grade Stella decided that her future would
On February 26, 1956, Ted Hughes and other poets hosted a poetry party for the St. Botolph’s Review (Popova). Sylvia arrived at the party and was immediately drawn to the “‘big, dark, hunky boy,’” later known as Ted Hughes (Popova). Sylvia’s first words to Ted were quotes from poems that he had written and published. Despite the amount of drinks she had consumed, she remembered her first encounter with Ted (Popova). She recorded the first day they met and it is “now one of the most famous [encounters] in all literary history” (Popova). Four months after they met, they got married and had two kids named Frieda and Nicholas (“Sylvia Plath Biography”). The beginning years of their marriage were very successful and they both continued to write poetry (“Ted Hughes
Sylvia Plath faced many hardships throughout her eighteenth century life. Many of her problems were rooted in her relationship with her father and her view of society at the time. The events of her life led Plath to depression, self-abuse, and eventually suicide. Because of her dark feelings, the majority of Plath’s works are centered around depression, suffering, and death.
Sylvia Plath was a novelist, and an American poet. She was born on October 27th, 1932 in Jamaica plain, Massachusetts.
Sylvia is best known for The Colossus, Ariel, and possibly her most controversial writing The Bell Jar (Learner1&2). Sylvia was the first poet to be posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her Collected Poems (Archive1). I want to believe that if Plath received this award when she was alive, it would have dampened her depression and make her rethink suicide. Sylvia Plath had a major part in the battle for feminism because she had such a difficult time conforming to the wife and mother roles in her life (Learner1). I think that Sylvia did not want to be a part of the feminist movement, but instead she was just handling her problems the only way she knew, through writing about them. Numerous people speculate what sent Sylvia over the edge. Some possibilities are the feminist movement using her as an icon, Hughes’ infidelity, or her father dying when she was at such a young age (Archive1). I think that Plath’s suicide had something to do with her being the jump starter for a movement and also not being able to please or satisfy her husband, which in her era was one of the most important roles in women’s
While doing this research on Sylvia Plath , my range of authors I actually like has expanded. Learning that many authors suffer from mental illness leading to there work. While Sylvia's work was quite interesting and soul touching. She was suffering and nobody saw that, and if it was seen no action to help her was taken. However she has definitely grown my liking for poetry. Making me view poetry as an art. Her way of words were so smooth and touching. It was impossible for me to read a full poem of Sylvia's without relating in some kind of way. She made poems that are still interesting to this day. She is one of those authors that can never be forgot , her work is very legendary. Considering that putting your emotions, anger and pain into
Sylvia Plath was born October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Otto Plath who was a
Plath and Hughes met in 1955 and Plath described him as “the only man in the world who is my match” (qtd. in Bloom). In “Plath, Sylvia”, Hobby says that Plath and Hughes got married in 1956 and moved to Northampton, then Boston, then returned to London. The source also says that Plath had her first child when they returned to London in 1960 (Hobby). Plath wrote about her awe and love for Hughes in “Ode for Ted”, and says "From under the crunch of my man's boot / green oat-sprouts jut; / he names a lapwing, starts rabbits in a rout" ("Ode for Ted" lines 1-3). However, in 1962, shortly after having her second child, Plath “learned of an attraction between her husband and [another woman]” (Bloom).
Did you ever think that a student who excelled in school and appeared fine on the surface would have severe depression and not only end up dying from that cause, but also one of her main inspirations behind her successful poems? Sylvia Plath was one of the most admired poets of the twentieth century. As a young girl she did great in school, although she did repeat fifth grade to be the same age as her fellow classmates, Plath had gotten straight A’s and excelled in English, specifically creative writing. She was first introduced into poetry at the young age of eight where she wrote poem and it appeared in “The Boston Herald. As Plath grew up she tried to find ways to improve her poetry, she mainly relied on the Thesaurus, she also focussed
American poet Sylvia Plath (October 27 1932 – February 11 1963) was one of the most influential poets of the 20th century. Her semi-autobiographical writing style pioneered the postmodernist form of poetry known commonly as ‘Confessional Poetry’, which emerged from the United State in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The confessional poetry of the mid-twentieth century centred mainly on subject matter that was previously considered taboo in American poetry, such as mental illness and sexuality. Plath battled clinical depression for most of her adult life,