The Journals of Sylvia Plath

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While few critics dispute the power or the substance in Plath’s poetry, some have come to feel that its legacy is one of cynicism, ego-absorption, and a prurient fascination with suicide. Donoghue suggested that “the moral claims enforced by these poems now seem exorbitant,” adding, “The thrill we get from such poems is something we have no good cause to admire in ourselves.” McClanahan felt that Plath’s legacy “is one of pain, fear, and traumatic depression, born of the need to destroy the imagistic materialization of ‘ Daddy.’” Nevertheless, the critic concluded, “The horrifying tone of her poetry underscores a depth of feeling that can be attributed to few other poets, and her near-suicidal attempt to communicate a frightening existential vision overshadows the shaky technique of her final poems. Plath writes of the human dread of dying. Her primitive honesty and emotionalism are her strength.” Critics and scholars have continued to write about Plath, and her relationship with Hughes; a reviewer for the National Post reported that in 2000, there were 104 books in print about Plath.

Wagner, Erica. (2002). Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and the Story of Birthday Letters. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-32301-3.

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New York Times, October 9, 1979; November 9, 2000, Martin Arnold, "Sylvia Plath, Forever an Icon," p. E3. In 1950, Plath attended Smith College, a private women's liberal arts college in Massachusetts. She excelled academically. While at Smith, she lived in Lawrence House, and a plaque can be found outside her old room. She edited The Smith Review. After her third year of college, Plath was awarded a coveted position as a guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine, during which she spent a month in New York City. [5] The experience was not what she had hoped for, and many of the events that took place during that summer were later used as inspiration for her novel The Bell Jar. [14] Hargrove, Nancy Duvall, The Journey toward Ariel: Sylvia Plath's Poems of 1956-1959, Lund University Press, 1994. The entries from December 12, 1958, through June 20, 1959, are filled with penetrating questions, self-analyses, and remarkable insights, during a period in which Plath underwent therapy with the psychiatrist who treated her after her suicide attempt in 1953. These entries weave a tapestry in which readers can discern the pattern of recurring conflicts and problems: the issues of father-search, mother-guilt, hostility, and manipulation, as well as Plath’s concern with rebirth, a desire to remake herself as a strong woman and writer. Apparent is her urge to become independent, both from Hughes—to show him none of her poems—and from her mother—to avoid confiding in her.

Plath met poet Ted Hughes on February 25, 1956. In a 1961 BBC interview (now held by the British Library Sound Archive), [24] Plath describes how she met Hughes: Steinberg, Peter K. (2004). Sylvia Plath. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House. ISBN 0-7910-7843-4. Malcolm, Janet. (1995). The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. New York: Vintage. ISBN 0-679-75140-8. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 1, 1973; Volume 2, 1974; Volume 3, 1975; Volume 5, 1976; Volume 9, 1978; Volume 11, 1979; Volume 14, 1980; Volume 17, 1981; Volume 50, 1988; Volume 51, 1989.

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Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) was an American author and poet. Plath is primarily known for her poetry, but earned her greatest reputation for her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, published pseudonymously weeks before her death. Padnani, Amisha (March 8, 2018). "How an Obits Project on Overlooked Women Was Born". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018 . Retrieved March 24, 2018. The Colossus, Heinemann (London, England), 1960, published as The Colossus and Other Poems, Knopf (New York, NY), 1962. Unpublished Plath sonnet goes online tomorrow". Associated Press. October 31, 2006. Archived from the original on September 26, 2014 . Retrieved April 29, 2012. Morgan, Robin (1970). Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-45240-2.

Alexander, Paul (2003) [1991]. Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81299-1. Gill, Jo (2006). The Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84496-7. Thomas, David N. (2008). Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?. Bridgend: Seren. ISBN 978-1-85411-480-8. Before her death, Plath tried several times to take her own life. [37] On August 24, 1953, she overdosed on sleeping pills, [38] then, in June 1962, she drove her car off the side of the road into a river, which she later said was an attempt to take her own life. [39] The nurse was due to arrive at nine on the morning of February 11, 1963, to help Plath with the care of her children. Upon arrival, she could not get into the flat but eventually gained access with the help of a workman, Charles Langridge. They found Plath dead with her head in the oven, having sealed the rooms between her and her sleeping children with tape, towels and cloths. [42] She was 30 years old. [43]Plath, Sylvia, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-1962, edited by Karen V. Kukil, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 2000. Bates, Stephen (March 23, 2009). "Son of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes kills himself". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017.

Sylvia Plath's early poems exhibit what became her typical imagery, using personal and nature-based depictions featuring, for example, the moon, blood, hospitals, fetuses, and skulls. They were mostly imitation exercises of poets she admired such as Dylan Thomas, W. B. Yeats and Marianne Moore. [55] Late in 1959, when she and Hughes were at the Yaddo writers' colony in New York State, she wrote the seven-part "Poem for a Birthday", echoing Theodore Roethke's Lost Son sequence, though its theme is her own traumatic breakdown and suicide attempt at 20. After 1960 her work moved into a more surreal landscape darkened by a sense of imprisonment and looming death, overshadowed by her father. The Colossus is filled with themes of death, redemption and resurrection. After Hughes left, Plath produced, in less than two months, the 40 poems of rage, despair, love, and vengeance on which her reputation mostly rests. [55] I want to write because I have the urge to excel in one medium of translation and expression of life. I can’t be satisfied with the colossal job of merely living.” – Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath Both Lowell and Sexton encouraged Plath to write from her experience and she did so. She openly discussed her depression with Lowell and her suicide attempts with Sexton, who led her to write from a more female perspective. Plath began to consider herself as a more serious, focused poet and short story writer. [5] At this time Plath and Hughes first met the poet W.S. Merwin, who admired their work and was to remain a lifelong friend. [26] Plath resumed psychoanalytic treatment in December, working with Ruth Beuscher. [5] Chalcot Square, near Primrose Hill in London, Plath and Hughes' home from 1959Hughes, Frieda (2003). "My Mother". The Book of Mirrors. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Poet Plath's son takes own life". BBC. London. March 23, 2009. Archived from the original on March 26, 2009. Carmody, Denise Lardner; Carmody, John Tully (1996). Mysticism: Holiness East and West. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508819-0. Smiling, he was between me and the door. A motion. His hand closed around my arm. And suddenly his mouth was on mine, hard, vehement, his tongue darting between my lips, his arms like iron around me.