Sylvia Plath

1. Sylvia Plath 1932-1963 “The blood jet is poetry / there is no stopping it.”

2. A brief biography: childhood After discovering poetry, Sylvia said she “had fallen into a new way of being happy.” • 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.

3. “I still do not know myself. Perhaps I never will. I am afraid of getting older. I am afraid of getting married…I want, I think, to be omniscient…I 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) Sylvia Plath as a young woman • At school she was a top student, excelling in English • 1950 received a scholarship to Smith College • 1953 won a competition to guest-edit Mademoiselle magazine in New York. • Suffered mental & emotional exhaustion • Is rejected for a Harvard writing course

4. Sylvia’s Young Life • Attended Smith College (’50-’55) • Fall of 1952: shows physical signs of depression • Worked as a guest editor at Mademoiselle during her junior year in 1953. • August 24, 1953-she attempts suicide: “…she crawled into a dark, dirty space underneath her mother’s house, where she swallowed pills…” • She writes about these experiences in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar • Also in 1953, Sylvia received bipolar electro-convulsive shock treatments

5. Sylvia goes to England • 1954 Plath went to Harvard summer school, graduates summa cum laude in 1955 • Wins a Fulbright Scholarship to England

6. As a young woman, Sylvia was an alluring figure. It’s no surprise that during her studies at Cambridge, she drew the attention of…

7. …Ted Hughes:“With his manly brow, angular jaw and unruly hair, Hughes cut a handsome figure…”

8. Cambridge • 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.

9. 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.

10. Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes • Sylvia & Ted’s 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 1962 – the beginning of the end • June: 2nd suicide attempt – driving car off the road • July: Discovers Ted’s 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

11. 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

12. Plath Dies • Sylvia committed suicide on February 11th 1963 • She stuck her head in the oven, but didn’t forget to leave cookies and milk on the kitchen table for her children • It was questioned whether or not her suicide was intentional or just a cry for attention because a nanny and a friend of the family were fixed to arrive at the Plath residence early that morning

13. Legacy • 1965: Ariel was published. • 1982 she is posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

14. Reoccurring symbols/themes • Bees: Otto wrote his dissertation on bees titled “Bumblebees and their Ways” • Sea: Sylvia spent time with her grandfather exploring the sea; the sea as salvation. • The struggle to manage womanhood, motherhood, marriage, and writing. • Man’s cruelty, loss and betrayal, dealing with depression. • Elements of nature; seasonal changes reflecting mood and emotion; sunrise as a progression of time and change. • Shadows: symbolic of the mind, darkness, inner-turmoil

15. How do we define Confessional Poetry? • The label was first used by the critic M.L. Rosenthal, who referred to to Robert Lowell as a poet who reveals to his readers aspects of his private life that would conventionally be kept hidden, unless one were confessing to a priest (or in therapy with a psychiatrist) • Reaction against impersonality of the High-Modernists • Emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the works of Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and Allen Ginsberg (among others)

16. How do we define Confessional Poetry? • Autobiographical manner of addressing personal experiences: depression, relationships, confusion, death, trauma, psychological breakdowns, etc. • The “I” transforms into a completely personal, speaking “I” • Careful attention and use of prosody--the patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry • Poems are created to be read and listened to aloud (resists footnotes, dictionary, visual aspects on a page) • Different uses of register: formal, colloquial, etc.