A Brief Biography on Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was one of the few twentieth century poets that had the ability to create verisimilitude in a way that her audience could understand exactly what she was feeling, thinking, and experiencing during the time she was writing her works. Due to the fact that her writing tended to be dark and depressing, focusing mainly on death, alienation, and self-destruction it can be assumed that Plath had a very negative attitude and perspective towards life, which eventually resulted in her committing suicide (Mclanahan). This leads to a necessity for studying her background and life, not only to get a full understanding of her literature, but to also comprehend her mentality as a great American poet.
Plath …show more content…
After she got her Bachelor’s degree at Cambridge, the newlyweds decided to move back to America, where she became a college professor at Smith College (Satterfield, 25). In 1958, Hughes job as a poet thrived and Plath’s job teaching lacked to satisfy her craving for leadership so they moved to Boston, Massachusetts to try and focus mainly on their writing (Materer). However, they came to find that their writing alone could not support all of their financial needs so Plath took a job as a secretary at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the same hospital she received electroshock therapy at when she tried to commit suicide for the first time (Materer). During this time, she attended Robert Lowell’s poetry seminars along with poet such as Anne Sexton and George Starbuck (Satterfield, 25).
In December of 1959, Plath and Hughes returned to England. It is here where she gave birth to her first daughter, Frieda Hughes, and in the fall of 1960 she published “The Colossus and Other Poems” (Satterfield, 25). She finished her novel the “Bell Jar,” in 1961 and a year later, in January of 1962, gave birth to her first son, Nicholas Fararr Hughes (Shaw, 1985). In October of 1962, Plath found out that Hughes had been having an affair with another woman which led them to a divorce (Materer, 1995). During this time, she wrote the poems featured in her collection “Ariel,” …show more content…
Some signs of a planned suicide in “Daddy” are shown. At the very end of the poem, she states “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through” (80), which can be interpreted that she is “through” with living life all together, or that she is “through” dealing with the resentment she had toward her father and she is trying to move past it. The manner of her death and the feminist revolution was what got her poetry recognized more. Feminists viewed her writing as a woman that had gone completely mad due to all of the control and mental abuse she had received from the men in her life (Contemporary Authors Online). Due to the popularity of her poetry collection “Ariel,” she became arguably one of the most well-known female poets in America in the twentieth century. (Contemporary Authors Online). Although Plath’s literature tends to be dark, it seems to satisfy unconscious drives in the reader, making her work extremely relatable and understandable, which is definitely necessary in gaining the reputation of a great American
Sylvia Plath was one of the few twentieth century poets that had the ability to create verisimilitude in a way that her audience could understand exactly what she was feeling, thinking, and experiencing during the time she was writing her works. Due to the fact that her writing tended to be dark and depressing, focusing mainly on death, alienation, and self-destruction it can be assumed that Plath had a very negative attitude and perspective towards life, which eventually resulted in her committing suicide (Mclanahan). This leads to a necessity for studying her background and life, not only to get a full understanding of her literature, but to also comprehend her mentality as a great American poet.
Plath …show more content…
After she got her Bachelor’s degree at Cambridge, the newlyweds decided to move back to America, where she became a college professor at Smith College (Satterfield, 25). In 1958, Hughes job as a poet thrived and Plath’s job teaching lacked to satisfy her craving for leadership so they moved to Boston, Massachusetts to try and focus mainly on their writing (Materer). However, they came to find that their writing alone could not support all of their financial needs so Plath took a job as a secretary at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the same hospital she received electroshock therapy at when she tried to commit suicide for the first time (Materer). During this time, she attended Robert Lowell’s poetry seminars along with poet such as Anne Sexton and George Starbuck (Satterfield, 25).
In December of 1959, Plath and Hughes returned to England. It is here where she gave birth to her first daughter, Frieda Hughes, and in the fall of 1960 she published “The Colossus and Other Poems” (Satterfield, 25). She finished her novel the “Bell Jar,” in 1961 and a year later, in January of 1962, gave birth to her first son, Nicholas Fararr Hughes (Shaw, 1985). In October of 1962, Plath found out that Hughes had been having an affair with another woman which led them to a divorce (Materer, 1995). During this time, she wrote the poems featured in her collection “Ariel,” …show more content…
Some signs of a planned suicide in “Daddy” are shown. At the very end of the poem, she states “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through” (80), which can be interpreted that she is “through” with living life all together, or that she is “through” dealing with the resentment she had toward her father and she is trying to move past it. The manner of her death and the feminist revolution was what got her poetry recognized more. Feminists viewed her writing as a woman that had gone completely mad due to all of the control and mental abuse she had received from the men in her life (Contemporary Authors Online). Due to the popularity of her poetry collection “Ariel,” she became arguably one of the most well-known female poets in America in the twentieth century. (Contemporary Authors Online). Although Plath’s literature tends to be dark, it seems to satisfy unconscious drives in the reader, making her work extremely relatable and understandable, which is definitely necessary in gaining the reputation of a great American