BIOGRAPHY
As a child, Sylvia Plath was pressured into being a perfect daughter and student, and - most of the time - she met the standards expected of her. However, the death of her father caused young Plath to recede into her own mind, plunging into darkness and despair. She became a very troubled person, and this lasted through the duration of her life.
CHILDHOOD:
Sylvia Plath was born October 27, 1932 in Boston MA to German professor Otto Plath and Aurelia Schober. (http://www.biography.com/people/sylvia-plath-9442550) Throughout her childhood, she was "noted for her extreme intelligence and dazzling writing skills, earning straight A’s in all her classes." Although her future seemed bright, her life took a turn for the worst when her father died unexpectedly in 1940. At 8 years old and fatherless, she began to feel mixed feelings about his death. Plath was a "sensitive and tender child," and the death of her father lead to the belief that he left her purposely and that his death was preventable. This mix of anger, sadness, love, and grief helped create her passion for writing. Around this time, her first poem titled Poem was "published in the Boston Herald and received many positive reviews". Plath kept a journal at the age of eleven that collected her ideas and poems she had written. She attended Bradford Senior High School in Wellesley, MA, and graduated in 1950. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sylvia-plath)
COLLEGE EDUCATION:
Plath's interests in writing continued through her years in public school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and into her years in college. In 1950, she attended Smith College. During her third year there, she developed a relationship with a senior in Yale named Dick Norton. Shortly after they began dating, he “contracted tuberculosis and was treated at the Ray Brook Sanatorium”. During the summer after her third year of college, Plath was “awarded a coveted position” as guest editor at Mademoiselle Magazine, during which she spent a month in New York City. However, the experience was not what she had expected it would be, and it began a “seemingly downward spiral in her outlook on her life”. After her first suicide attempt, she submitted her thesis The Magic Mirror: A Study of the Double in Two of Dostoevsky’s Novels in January 1955. In that June, Plath graduated from Smith College with honors. She recieved a Fulbright scholarship to Newnham College in Cambridge where she “continued actively writing poetry and publishing her work” in the student newspaper 'Varsity'. At Newnham, she studied with a woman named Dorothea Krook, and the two got along well. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sylvia-Plath/author/)
CAREER AND ADULT LIFE:
On February 25th, 1956, Plath met her future husband, Ted Hughes, at a party in Cambridge, UK. The two poets fell in love at first sight and married four months later. In early 1957, Plath and her new husband moved to the United States. In September 1957, Plath taught freshman English at Smith College, although she “found it difficult to both teach and have enough time and energy to write”. In the middle of the year 1958, the couple moved to Boston. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sylvia-Plath/author/) Plath worked part-time as a secretary and receptionist in the psychiatric division of Massachusetts General Hospital, “transcribing patients’ histories, which often included dreams. She also resumed therapy with the woman psychiatrist who had helped her after her breakdown.” (http://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/sylvia-plath-life-and-career/) In the evenings, Plath took "creative writing seminars" given by the poet Robert Lowell. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sylvia-Plath/author/) The years they spent in America “convinced Ted that he needed to live in England”. After living for an autumn at “Yaddo, the writers’ colony,” Ted and Sylvia sailed for London in December 1959. Soon after Frieda’s birth, they began looking for a country house to escape “cramped, expensive London.” (http://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/sylvia-plath-life-and-career/) During the summer of 1961, they moved to Devon, England, where they lived in a centuries-old manor house. Before that time, however, they wrote efficiently and Plath was able to finish most of her novel, The Bell Jar. However, as her adult life continued, she sank deeper into depression, eventually leading to her death.
PERSONAL LIFE:
DEATH:
On February 11th of 1963, Plath was found in the kitchen of her home. Her head inside the oven, and her body lifeless.
PLATH'S WORKS:
Her works consist of over 200 poems. Some of her most popular ones are Ariel, Daddy, Winter Trees, Morning Song, and Crossing the Water. Plath's writing usually revolved around personal troubles, motherhood, family matters, and nature. She also published a few volumes filled with her poems and a novel called The Bell Jar, which was inspired by her own life experiences.
Sylvia Plath was born October 27, 1932 in Boston MA to German professor Otto Plath and Aurelia Schober. (http://www.biography.com/people/sylvia-plath-9442550) Throughout her childhood, she was "noted for her extreme intelligence and dazzling writing skills, earning straight A’s in all her classes." Although her future seemed bright, her life took a turn for the worst when her father died unexpectedly in 1940. At 8 years old and fatherless, she began to feel mixed feelings about his death. Plath was a "sensitive and tender child," and the death of her father lead to the belief that he left her purposely and that his death was preventable. This mix of anger, sadness, love, and grief helped create her passion for writing. Around this time, her first poem titled Poem was "published in the Boston Herald and received many positive reviews". Plath kept a journal at the age of eleven that collected her ideas and poems she had written. She attended Bradford Senior High School in Wellesley, MA, and graduated in 1950. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sylvia-plath)
COLLEGE EDUCATION:
Plath's interests in writing continued through her years in public school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and into her years in college. In 1950, she attended Smith College. During her third year there, she developed a relationship with a senior in Yale named Dick Norton. Shortly after they began dating, he “contracted tuberculosis and was treated at the Ray Brook Sanatorium”. During the summer after her third year of college, Plath was “awarded a coveted position” as guest editor at Mademoiselle Magazine, during which she spent a month in New York City. However, the experience was not what she had expected it would be, and it began a “seemingly downward spiral in her outlook on her life”. After her first suicide attempt, she submitted her thesis The Magic Mirror: A Study of the Double in Two of Dostoevsky’s Novels in January 1955. In that June, Plath graduated from Smith College with honors. She recieved a Fulbright scholarship to Newnham College in Cambridge where she “continued actively writing poetry and publishing her work” in the student newspaper 'Varsity'. At Newnham, she studied with a woman named Dorothea Krook, and the two got along well. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sylvia-Plath/author/)
CAREER AND ADULT LIFE:
On February 25th, 1956, Plath met her future husband, Ted Hughes, at a party in Cambridge, UK. The two poets fell in love at first sight and married four months later. In early 1957, Plath and her new husband moved to the United States. In September 1957, Plath taught freshman English at Smith College, although she “found it difficult to both teach and have enough time and energy to write”. In the middle of the year 1958, the couple moved to Boston. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sylvia-Plath/author/) Plath worked part-time as a secretary and receptionist in the psychiatric division of Massachusetts General Hospital, “transcribing patients’ histories, which often included dreams. She also resumed therapy with the woman psychiatrist who had helped her after her breakdown.” (http://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/sylvia-plath-life-and-career/) In the evenings, Plath took "creative writing seminars" given by the poet Robert Lowell. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sylvia-Plath/author/) The years they spent in America “convinced Ted that he needed to live in England”. After living for an autumn at “Yaddo, the writers’ colony,” Ted and Sylvia sailed for London in December 1959. Soon after Frieda’s birth, they began looking for a country house to escape “cramped, expensive London.” (http://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/sylvia-plath-life-and-career/) During the summer of 1961, they moved to Devon, England, where they lived in a centuries-old manor house. Before that time, however, they wrote efficiently and Plath was able to finish most of her novel, The Bell Jar. However, as her adult life continued, she sank deeper into depression, eventually leading to her death.
PERSONAL LIFE:
DEATH:
On February 11th of 1963, Plath was found in the kitchen of her home. Her head inside the oven, and her body lifeless.
PLATH'S WORKS:
Her works consist of over 200 poems. Some of her most popular ones are Ariel, Daddy, Winter Trees, Morning Song, and Crossing the Water. Plath's writing usually revolved around personal troubles, motherhood, family matters, and nature. She also published a few volumes filled with her poems and a novel called The Bell Jar, which was inspired by her own life experiences.