Chances are if you surveyed a hundred random people and asked them to name some American female poets, a good chunk of them would probably mention Sylvia Plath. And for good reason: Plath’s writing has left an indelible impression on literature, society, and pop culture over the last century.
Astonishingly, Plath only published two books in her lifetime: The Colossus and Other Poems, her 1960 debut poetry collection, and The Bell Jar, her singular novel. Since her death, however, much more of Plath’s work has seen the light of day, earning her a well-deserved reappraisal as one of the twentieth-century’s most important writers.
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But who was the woman behind the words? And why is her work so important? Let’s take a look at the life and lines of Sylvia Plath.
Trigger warning: this article contains mentions of physical abuse, depression, suicide, and death.
Formative Years
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents Otto and Aurelia were both respected academics who encouraged young Plath’s interest in books and literature. Her father in particular was a strong influence on her later writing, with aspects of his German identity and his interest in entomology becoming common themes in her poems.
Tragedy became part of Plath’s life from a young age, as her beloved father died suddenly less than two weeks after her eighth birthday. This experience would have a profound impact on Plath’s worldview, particularly in her ambivalence toward religion and spirituality.
After an adolescence marked by academic success and her earliest writing publications, Plath enrolled at Smith College, during which time she received a prestigious internship at Mademoiselle Magazine in New York City. (This experience would later inform much of the plot of her novel The Bell Jar.) It was during this time that Plath also made her first medically documented suicide attempt, as well as her first psychiatric hospitalizations.
Marriage and Family
After graduating with honors from Smith College in 1955, Plath was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Newnham College at Cambridge University. She continued writing poetry, publishing her work extensively, and winning various awards for her writing.
Around this time, she met the English poet Ted Hughes, whose work she’d admired. The two were soon wed in London, marking the beginning of a fraught and tumultuous marriage.
In 1957, the couple moved to the United States. After a brief stint teaching at Smith College, Plath decided to instead get a job as a hospital receptionist to allow her more energy for writing.
She met fellow poets Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell, who encouraged her craft and influenced her to write more personally about her mental health and her feminine identity. (All three poets, in fact, are commonly associated with the “confessional poetry” movement, whose echoes are still incredibly present today, particularly in indie music.)
Final Years and Death
In 1959, Plath and Hughes would return to London, where they would live until Plath’s death in 1963. There, their marriage continued to crumble, largely due to Hughes’s physical abuse and infidelities. Plath established a separate residence with their two children and continued to write. During the final months of her life, she would write the majority of the poems in Ariel, her posthumously published second poetry collection.
On the morning of February 11, 1963, Plath was found dead by apparent suicide in her home in London. She was only thirty years old.
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Famous Works
Sylvia Plath’s singular novel, The Bell Jar, was published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, to lukewarm reviews. Many critics chose to focus on the parallels between the novel’s protagonist, Esther Greenwood, and Plath’s own lived experiences.
Nonetheless, the novel has since been reappraised as a foundational work in twentieth-century and feminist literature. While it’s haunting and heartbreaking, it’s also darkly funny and ultimately hopeful, and is a great choice for readers interested in mental health, coming-of-age stories, and women’s experiences.
Plath’s most famous poetry collection, Ariel, was published two years after her death, in 1965. Containing Plath’s most famous poems, including “Daddy,” Ariel is considered an impactful and highly influential work of poetry.
For those interested in reading more, the poem “The Arrival of the Bee Box” is a fantastic introduction to Plath’s themes and imagery, including questions about the existence of a higher power and the use of insect metaphors.
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Plath’s Legacy Today
Since her tragic death, Plath has been widely accepted as one of America’s most important poets. She’s been featured on a U.S. postage stamp, she’s been the subject of biopics, and her London home bears a famed English Heritage plaque, denoting her former residence. In addition, her writing has been directly cited as an influence on musicians like Lana del Rey and Björk, as well as writers including Anne Carson, Sharon Olds, and other contemporary poets. In short: Plath’s legacy is everywhere.
While Plath’s name is widely associated with mental illness and the image of the “tortured poet,” she was also so much more than that. She was a mother, a writer, and an inspiration to many young women. In spite of the difficulties she faced, Plath created some of the most beautiful poems in the English language. Whether you know her as the rumored subject of Taylor Swift’s latest album, or an accomplished writer in her own right, it’s inarguable that her impact on our culture runs deep.
