Sylvia Plath, Was an American

Sylvia Plath, was an American poet, novelist, short story writer, and essayist who was born in Boston Massachusetts on October 27, 1932. She was only thirty years old when she died on February 11, 1963. Both of her parents were German immigrants. Otto Plath, her father, was a college professor and a well-known authority on the subject of bees. Her mother, Aurelia Plath was a stay at home mother in the early years of Sylvia's life, but was later forced to work two jobs to help take care of her family after the death of her husband. Both parents were very family-oriented individuals who provided a middle-class life in Boston for their children.

Sylvia Plath proved to be an exceptional writer at a very young age. She was only eight years old when she published her first poem. This poem was published the same year that her father had died of an embolism due to complications from surgery because of undiagnosed diabetes. It is strongly believed that Sylvia never fully recovered from the death of her father in 1940 and that this event marked the beginning of many years of clinical depression. However, although she suffered from clinical depression for most of her life, Sylvia Plath is known as one of the greatest poets of her generation.

Sylvia Plath attended Wellesley High School in Massachusetts where she continued to write many poems, short stories and essays. She published many articles in her high school newspaper. She was a model student in school. She made straight As and never caused any problem. She was well-liked by all of the students and became one of the most popular girls in school. Although she appeared to be happy on the surface, Sylvia was suffering a great deal from depression on the inside. It was this depression that drove her desire to write poetry and short stories. Writing was what made her feel good about herself.

After high school in 1950, Sylvia Plath published her first short story titled, "And Summer Will Never Come Again." This short story was published in the popular teenager magazine called "Seventeen." Later in 1950, Sylvia Plath decided to attend college at Smith College. She had actually won a scholarship to this school through her excellent writing skills. She continued to write poetry and other things while at Smith College. She wrote more than four hundred poems while she was a student at Smith College. During the summer following her junior year at Smith, having returned from a stay in New York City where she had been a student "guest editor" at Mademoiselle Magazine, Sylvia nearly succeeded in killing herself by swallowing sleeping pills. This was her first attempt at suicide and she nearly succeeded. She was institutionalized for this action where she received extensive treatments of electroshock and psychotherapy. It appeared as if this institutionalization worked to cure her depression because she appeared to have made a full recovery. After leaving the mental institution, she returned to Smith College where she graduated summa cum laude in 1955. Although once again she appeared to be a happy young lady with a bright future as a writer, she was still suffering a great deal inside from the clinical depression.

In 1955, after graduating from Smith College, Sylvia continued to write. As a result of her exemplatory writing skills, she won the prestigious "Glascock Prize" competition for her poem titled, "Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea." This award was a great honor from Sylvia. She also went on to earn a "Fullbright Scholarship" to attend the University of Cambridge in England. At the University of Cambridge, she continued to write poetry and became a very active writer on the Cambridge school newspaper.

While completing her studies at the University of Cambridge, she met Ted Hughes. This man was the love of her life and they got married on June 16, 1956 with Sylvia's mom in attendance. Ted and Sylvia decided to move back to the United States after getting married. They both lived and worked in the United States from July 1957 through October 1959. Sylvia taught at Smith College and attended many writing seminars where she met and became friends with Robert Lowell. Robert Lowell had a profound effect on her writing skills. He taught her technique that improved her writing. Also at these seminars, Sylvia and Ted met Anne Sexton and W.S. Merwin who admired both the work of Sylvia and Ted. When Sylvia became pregnant with the couple's first child, they decided to move back to the United Kingdom, where they lived in Devon. On April 1, 1960, Freida Hughes was born. After the birth of her first daughter, Sylvia's first collection of poems titled, "The Colossus" was published in the United Kingdom.

Later in 1961, Sylvia suffered a devastating miscarriage. This event pulled her deeper into depression and it was very evident in her writing and in everything she did. The depression took over her life. She wrote many poems about the miscarriage and about how sad she was in life. The depression got to be so bad, that it began to interfere with her marriage and less than 2 years after the birth of their first daughter, Ted and Sylvia decided to separate. Ted started having an affair with a fellow writer's wife, Assia Wevill." Sylvia took her two children, Frieda and Nicholas and went to live in a flat in London. They soon became very sick with the flu and other illnesses and money became scarce. The children did not see their father much and Sylvia was so depressed that she did not want to spend much time with the children. Everything in Sylvia's life fell apart; however, she continued to write. No one really knows if Sylvia had asked for a complete divorce or not. According to Ted, Sylvia did not want to get a divorce.

The winter of 1962-1963 was a very harsh and bitter cold winter in London. It was thought to be one of the worst winters to date in London's climatic history. The children and Sylvia had the flu and no money to help them get better. Sylvia's depression had gotten to the point that she could not find any reason to continue living. On February 11, 1963, Sylvia went into her children's room and opened the windows, then went back into the kitchen and laid rolled dishtowel against the door cracks and turned on the gas over. She succeeded to commit suicide by gassing herself in the kitchen. Shortly after the incident, the new nanny had found Sylvia lying lifeless on the kitchen floor and her children were found healthy but very cold from the open window. Sylvia Plath is buried in the churchyard at Heptonstall, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

During her short life, Sylvia Plath wrote several pieces that were published years later after she died. She had kept extensive diaries since the age of 11 and her adult diaries that began when she was a freshman at Smith College was published in 1980. However, Ted Hughes had eliminated, destroyed, and withheld some of the journal entries. After Ted's death, Anchor Books published another version of Sylvia's journals titled, "The Unabridged Journal of Sylvia Plath." Over two-thirds of this book was newly, unreleased journal entries.