Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge, before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England, having two children together, Frieda and Nicholas. Plath suffered from depression for much of her adult life,[1] and in 1963 she committed suicide.[2] Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy.
Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two published collections, The Colossus and Other Poemsand Ariel. In 1982, she won a Pulitzer Prize posthumously, for The Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death.[3]
Early life - Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital, in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.[4] Her mother, Aurelia Schober Plath (1906–1994), was a first-generation American of Austrian descent, and her father, Otto Plath (1885–1940), was from Grabow, Germany.[5] Plath's father was an entomologist and was professor of biology and German at Boston University; he also authored a book about bumblebees.[6] Plath's mother was approximately twenty-one years younger than her husband.[6] They met while she was earning her master's degree in teaching and took one of his courses. Otto had become alienated from his family after choosing not to become a Lutheran minister, as his grandparents had intended him to be.[7]
On April 27, 1935, Plath's brother Warren was born[4] and in 1936 the family moved from 24 Prince Street in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, to 92 Johnson Avenue, Winthrop, Massachusetts.[8] Plath's mother, Aurelia, had grown up in Winthrop, and her maternal grandparents, the Schobers, had
Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two published collections, The Colossus and Other Poemsand Ariel. In 1982, she won a Pulitzer Prize posthumously, for The Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death.[3]
Early life - Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital, in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.[4] Her mother, Aurelia Schober Plath (1906–1994), was a first-generation American of Austrian descent, and her father, Otto Plath (1885–1940), was from Grabow, Germany.[5] Plath's father was an entomologist and was professor of biology and German at Boston University; he also authored a book about bumblebees.[6] Plath's mother was approximately twenty-one years younger than her husband.[6] They met while she was earning her master's degree in teaching and took one of his courses. Otto had become alienated from his family after choosing not to become a Lutheran minister, as his grandparents had intended him to be.[7]
On April 27, 1935, Plath's brother Warren was born[4] and in 1936 the family moved from 24 Prince Street in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, to 92 Johnson Avenue, Winthrop, Massachusetts.[8] Plath's mother, Aurelia, had grown up in Winthrop, and her maternal grandparents, the Schobers, had