Sylvia Plath was an American poet known for poems such as “Daddy” and her 1963 novel, “The Bell Jar.” The difficult and often self-destructive women in her stories had similar situations as Plath herself. They also reflected the state of women’s rights in the 1930-1960s.
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston. She had her first poem published at the age of eight. She sold her first poem to The Christian Science Monitor, while still in high school. She attended Smith College on scholarship in 1951 and was the co-winner of the Mademoiselle magazine’s fiction contest in 1952.
She graduated from Smith with high honors and went to Newnham College in Cambridge on a scholarship once again. However, while she experienced success in her social, artistic and academic life, she was also struggling with severe depression, attempted suicide and had a stay at a psychiatric hospital.
In 1956, she married fellow poet, Ted Hughes. The couple had two children together. In 1957-58, Plath became an instructor at Smith College. In 1960, after she returned to England with Hughes, she published her first collection of poems, “The Colossus,” which received overall good reviews. Plath separated from Hughes in 1962 after he had an affair.
In 1963, her novel “The Bell Jar” was published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The story in the novel closely resembled the story of Plath’s own breakdown and hospitalization in 1953.
The couple had two children, but separated in 1962 after Hughes had an affair.
During her last three years, Plath wrote with great speed and her poetry and stories were full of confessions and realizations. Her poems went over topics such as her relationship with her father, her self-image and her struggling relationship with Hughes. After this time of prolific writing, she took her own life.