Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was an American author who is best known for her poetry an her novel The Bell Jar.

Fast Facts

Born: October 27, 1932
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
Died: February 11, 1963
Location: London, England
Literary Genre: Confessional Poetry
Spouse: Ted Hughes June 16, 1956

Career

Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts but raised in Wellesley after her father died when she was eight years of age. At a very young age Plath demonstrated a propensity for words, even having a poem of hers published in the Boston Herald at the age of nine. Throughout school Sylvia was a model student and published the story “And Summer Will Not Come Again” in Seventeen magazine and the poem “Bitter Strawberries” in the Christian Science Monitor during her senior year in [[High School. As a result Plath earned a scholarship to Smith College where she majored in English literature and composition. During the summer of her third year in college, Plath won a scholarship and a position as "guest editor" at Mademoiselle magazine. The experience had a lasting effect on Sylvia, becoming the inspiration for her novel The Bell Jar and led to a nervous breakdown. Later that summer Sylvia made her first medically documented suicide attempt by crawling under her house and taking an overdose of sleeping pills. After this attempt she was briefly committed to a mental institution and received Electroconvulsive Therapy. Plath seemingly recovered and graduated with honors in 1955. Plath later obtained a Fulbright Scholarship to Cambridge University where she met and married, the English poet Ted Hughes. The couple moved back to the United States in 1957 where they lived until Sylvia became pregnant with their first child. Back in England Plath successfully published her first collection of poetry, The Colossus in 1962. Antagonized by her husband’s adulteries and rocked mentally by the birth of her second child, Plath filed for divorce and moved with the children to London. In February 19633, shortly after the publication and success of her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, Plath committed suicide.

Notable Works

Categories

Writing | English | Literary Authors | Authors and Writers | Fiction Writers | Poets

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The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath Homepage
Sylvia Plath: A Celebration, This Is
Wikiquote: Sylvia Plath
Google Book Search: Sylvia Plath Online Texts
Find a Grave Memorial: Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963)
Video: Sylvia Plath Reads Daddy (Time: 3:56)

Free Sylvia Plath Works Online

Stanford University: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath
PoemHunter.com: All Poems of Sylvia Plath
Everything2.com: The Works of Sylvia Plath
BooMP3: "November Graveyard"

Sylvia Plath Study Guides and Literary Criticism

SparkNotes: The Bell Jar Study Guide
CliffsNotes: Sylvia Plath Online Resources
Web English Teacher: Sylvia Plath Lesson Guides
SapphireBlue.com: "The Willing Domesticity of Sylvia Plath: A Rebuttal of the 'Feminist' Label" (1997)
Joyce Carol Oates: On Sylvia Plath
Central Connecticut State University Digital Archive: "Imprisonment and Escape in Sylvia Plath’s..." (2004)

Sylvia Plath Biographies

Literary Encyclopedia: Sylvia Plath Biography
Books and Writers: Sylvia Plath Biography
Blackbird: Sylvia Plath Biography
Neurotic Poets: Sylvia Plath Biography

Sylvia Plath Quotations

ThinkExist.com: Sylvia Plath Quotes
BrainyQuote: Sylvia Plath
NovelGuide: The Bell Jar: Top Ten Quotes
The Quotations Page: Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath News and Articles

Google News: Sylvia Plath Search
Topix: Sylvia Plath News
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: "Sylvia Plath and the Depression Continuum" (2003)

Sylvia Plath Photos and Videos

Google Image Search: Sylvia Plath
Yahoo! Image Search: Sylvia Plath
YouTube & Google Video: Sylvia Plath Search
YouTube: Sylvia Plath Reads "Lady Lazarus" (Time: 3:29)
YouTube: Sylvia Plath Reads "Ariel" (Time: 1:13)

Sylvia Plath Fan Sites, Blogs and Forums

Fan Site: Sylvia Plath: Finding the Lost Jewel
Google Blog Search: Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath Info Blog
Sylvia Plath Community's Journal
Sylvia Plath Forum

Sylvia Plath Books and Merchandise

Amazon.com: Sylvia Plath Merchandise
Barnes & Noble: Sylvia Plath Books
Powell's Books: Sylvia Plath Books
eBay: Sylvia Plath Merchandise
CafePress.com: Sylvia Plath T-Shirts and Gifts
AllPosters.com: Sylvia Plath Posters and Prints

Sylvia Plath Personal Timeline

October 27, 1932: Born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
1936: Plath's family move to Winthrop during the Great Depression
1950: Entered Smith College
1953: Worked as guest editor with Mademoiselle magazine
July 29, 1953: Began electro-shock therapy
August 24, 1953: Plath's first suicide attempt
1955: Attends the University of Cambridge
1956: Meets Ted Hughes
June 16, 1956: Marries Ted Hughes
July 1957-October 1959: Plath teachs at Smith College
1960: Freida Rebecca born
1962: Nicholas Farrar born
February 11, 1963: Plath commits suicide by putting her head in an oven

Sylvia Plath Publications Timeline

1960: The Colossus and Other Poems
1963: The Bell Jar
1965: Ariel
1968: Three Women: A Monologue for Three Voices]
1971: Crossing the Water
1972: Winter Trees
1975: Letters Home
1976: The Bed Book
1977: Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
1981: The Collected Poems
1982: The Journals of Sylvia Plath
1985: Selected Poems
1989: The Magic Mirror
1996: The It-Doesn't-Matter-Suit
2000: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
2001: Collected Children's Stories
2001: Mrs. Cherry's Kitchen

Notable Sylvia Plath Films

IMDb: Sylvia

Related Pages on Mahalo

Edgar Allan Poe | Virginia Woolf | Bipolar Disorder | Depression | Gwyneth Paltrow | Ted Hughes | The Bell Jar | Sylvia