Charger Features

Sylvia Plath: the life and death of a talented writer

Allison Coffey, Charger Staff

Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, MA. Her parents were Otto and Aurelia Plath, and she had one brother named Warren who was two years younger than her. The Plath family can be described as nomads, moving many times throughout Plath’s childhood, a practice Plath would continue as she grew older and formed her own family.

Plath was an excellent student, receiving A’s in all of her classes throughout high school. Her best subject was English, especially in the creative writing part. At the age of eight, the same year her father died from diabetes mellitus, she had her first poem published in The Boston Herald.

After graduating from high school, Plath attended Smith College, an all girls’ school located in Northampton, MA. She had received a scholarship from the author Olive Higgins Prouty, who would become a great inspiration to Plath.

Throughout her years as a “Smith Girl”, she was published in Christian Science Monitor (the article “Youth’s Appeal for World Peace” and the poem “Bitter Strawberries”) and in Seventeen (the short story entitled “And Summer Will Not Come Again”). She also wrote articles for her local newspaper, and won first prize in a contest held by Mademoiselle. Her short story “Sunday at the Mintons” gave her a guest editorship at the magazine with many other young women. They moved to New York in June of 1953 and lived together in a women’s only hotel.

After returning from this trip (and being rejected from Harvard), Plath had her first breakdown. On August 24, Plath left a note saying, “Have gone for a long walk. Will be home tomorrow.” She did not, however, go on a long walk, but instead hid in the cellar, taking with her only one blanket, a glass of water, and a bottle of sleeping pills. She was discovered two days later, and sent to McLean Hospital. By spring of 1954, though, she was done with her treatment and back at Smith. During this year, she met her first love and was able to study at Harvard’s Summer School. She graduated in 1955 summa cum laude and received another scholarship so she could study at Cambridge University.

She adjusted well and quickly to the customs of England and even joined the Amateur Dramatics Club, in which she had a small role playing an insane poet, which is somewhat ironic.

In 1953, Plath met the love of her life. Ted Hughes was a poet who she found wrote “impressive poems.” They met for the first time at a party for a recent book publication in which his poetry was included. It is believed that Hughes helped Plath discover the voice that her poetry had been missing.

They were married in June of 1956. Plath continued to study at Cambridge until 1957 when she was offered a teaching job at the English department at Smith College.

Hughes and Plath moved back to America in August, both of them taking teaching positions. By November, though, they both decided to quit and devote the rest of their time to their wrting.

By 1958, Plath became suspicious of Hughes. She thought that he was cheating on her and even saw him talking with a young girl when he was supposed to meet her after her last class. She did not start to really question him until a few years later. One year later, Hughes received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and they moved back to England.

In 1960, their first child, Frieda Rebecca, was born. That was also the year that Plath’s first book, The Colossus & Other Poems which received decent reviews was published. The next year, Plath began to write her first novel The Bell Jar, on which she worked hard on for seventy days. Her novel was completed in August. In Novemeber of the next year, she won a $2000 grant to work on her novel.

In January 1962, their second child, Nicholas Farrar, was born. This was also the time that Plath wrote her best poems, which were collected in the book Ariel that was published in 1965, two years after her death.

During the summer, Plath became even more suspicious of Hughes and of his infedlity. She learned the truth of his unfaithfulness in June, and in September they went on a vacation to help fix their relationship. Hughes only stayed for one day, though, and later that month they decided to seperate.

In January of 1963, The Bell Jar was finally published under the alias Victoria Lucas. She used this alias because, since the book is semi-autobiographical, she did not want her family and friends to recognize the characters. It received few reviews, most of them occuring after her death. She expected a better response to her novel and was discouraged.

Less than one month later, Plath took her own life. Much planning went into this suicide. She asked what time the man who lived below her would be gone, so the gas would not reach him and hurt him in any way. She also left a note, telling whoever came upon it to “Call Dr. Horder,” and even left his phone number.

Books have been written discussing her life, and even a movie has been made. In 2003, Gwyneth Paltrow starred in the movie Sylvia, which focused more on her life with her husband than with her writing career. To this day, her poetry inspires other poets around the world. It leaves one to wonder what else she could have done, if she continued to live.