
Robert Conquest
British historian and poet
Sylvia Plath was an acclaimed American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is known for her pioneering work in confessional poetry and her acclaimed works like The Colossus, Ariel, and The Bell Jar. Plath had a tumultuous personal life, struggling with clinical depression and tragically taking her own life in 1963 at the age of 30.
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Sylvia Plathwas an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for The Colossus and Other Poems (1960), Ariel (1965), and The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her suicide in 1963. The Collected Poems was published in 1981, which included previously unpublished works. For this collection Plath was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982, making her the fourth to receive this honor posthumously.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Plath graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts and the University of Cambridge, England, where she was a student at Newnham College. Plath later studied with Robert Lowell at Boston University, alongside poets Anne Sexton and George Starbuck. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956, and they lived together in the United States and then in England. Their relationship was tumultuous and, in her letters, Plath alleges abuse at his hands. They had two children before separating in 1962.
Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life and was treated multiple times with early versions of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). She died by suicide in 1963.
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Sylvia Plath was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982 for her Collected Poems, which was published posthumously.
Sylvia Plath’s relationship with her husband, fellow poet Ted Hughes, was tumultuous, and in her letters, Plath alleged abuse at his hands. They separated in 1962.
Sylvia Plath is best known for her poetry collections The Colossus and Other Poems, Ariel, as well as her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar.
Sylvia Plath died by suicide in 1963 at the age of 30, after struggling with clinical depression for most of her adult life.
Sylvia Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry, which focused on personal experiences and emotional honesty.
Sylvia Plath graduated from Smith College and the University of Cambridge, England, and later studied with Robert Lowell at Boston University, alongside poets Anne Sexton and George Starbuck.
Apparently, the most difficult feat for a Cambridge male is to accept a woman not merely as feeling, not merely as thinking, but as managing a complex, vital interweaving of both.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
But life is long. And it is the long run that balances the short flare of interest and passion.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
The blood jet is poetry and there is no stopping it.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I’ve a call.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
I talk to God but the sky is empty.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
Is there no way out of the mind?
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
I am too pure for you or anyone.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I’m neurotic as hell. I’ll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
How frail the human heart must be – a mirrored pool of thought.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
Kiss me and you will see how important I am.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
Widow. The word consumes itself.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)
Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.
American poet and writer (1932-1963)