Sylvia Plath 1932-1963 The blood jet is poetry / there is

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Sylvia Plath

• 1932-1963
• The blood jet is poetry / there is no stopping
  it.

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A brief biography childhood

• Born in Boston on October 27, 1932, to Aurelia
  Schober and Otto Plath
• Her father was German-Polish uni professor and
  bee-keeper
• A precocious child- knew insect names in Latin!
• Her mother introduced her to poetry which she
  loved
• Idolised her father and longed to please him
• In 1930s he developed diabetes, but refused
  treatment. Gangrene of leg led to amputation.
• In 1940, when Sylvia was 8, her father died and
  she published her first poem.

After discovering poetry, Sylvia said I had
fallen into a new way of being happy.
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Sylvia Plath as a young woman
I still do not know myself. Perhaps I never
will. I am afraid of getting older. I am afraid
of getting marriedI want, I think, to be
omniscientI think I would like to call myself
the girl who wanted to be God. . . . Never,
never, will I reach the perfection I long for
with all my soul. . . . (diary, age 17)

• At school she was a top student, excelling in
  English
• 1950 recieves a scholarship to Smith College
• 1953 won a competition to guest-edit Mademoiselle
  magazine in New York.
• Suffers mental emotional exhaustion
• Is rejected for a Harvard writing course
• First suicide attempt overdose. Receives
  electric shock treatment.
• She writes about these experiences in her
  semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar

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Sylvia goes to England

• 1954 Plath went to Harvard summer school,
  graduates summa cum laude in 1955
• Wins a Fulbright Scholarship to England
• 1956 She met Ted Hughes, a poet, at a Cambridge
  University party
• According to her journal, at this meeting he
  kissed her and she bit him on the cheek, drawing
  blood.
• It was an intense courtship and they were married
  within months.

He was very simply the only man Ive ever met
whom I could never boss. (Sylvia to friends)
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Motherhood Writing

• After a 2 year teaching stint in America the
  couple decided to commit to writing full-time and
  return to England
• In 1960 Plath had her first child, Frieda, and
  published her first book of poetry, The
  Colossus.
• In 1962, following a traumatic appendix operation
  and the birth of their son Nicholas, Plath's
  writing became more frantic.

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Sylvia Plath Ted Hughes

• 1962 the beginning of the end
• June 2nd suicide attempt driving car off the
  road
• July Discovers Teds affair with Assia Weevill.
  
• Sept They separate
• Oct She writes 26 poems in one month
• Dec She takes her 2 children and moves into a
  maisonette in London
• She prepares Ariel, a collection of 41 poems

• Sylvia Teds relationship was passionate and
  tumultuous
• She was attracted to his physical power, his way
  with animals esp owls, his reputation as a poet,
  and appreciated his encouragement of her poetry
• She feared losing him

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The end 1963

• The Bell Jar is published under a pseudonym and
  receives good reviews
• She is depressed, isolated and mentally unstable
• February 1963, in one of the coldest winters in
  English history, she succeeded in taking her life
• Her body was discovered the following morning.
• She was survived by her 2 children.
• 1965 Ariel was published.
• 1982 she is posthumously awarded the Pulitzer
  Prize for Literature.

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In our study of Sylvia Plathwe will consider
these questions

• What are the distinctive characteristics and
  strengths of her poetry?
• How much should the authors biography be
  considered when interpreting their work?
• Was she a great poet, or simply famous because of
  her tragic life?
• In what ways was her poetry affected by her
  relationship with Ted Hughes?
• To what extent does her work fit categories
  such as confessional poet, Feminist poet etc?

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Resources

• Biographical information
• http//www.sylviaplath.info/biography.html
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/poets/sylvia_pla
  th.shtml
• http//www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singleP
  oet.do?poetId7083