Sylvia Plath American poet and writer Date of Birth: 27.10.1932 Country: USA

Biography of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath, an American poet and writer, is consistently ranked among the top ten strongest American poets. She was born in 1932 in Boston's Jamaica Plain. Her mother, Aurelia Schober Plath, was an Austrian immigrant, and her father, Otto Plath, was of German descent. Sylvia idolized her father, despite his strictness and even authoritarianism. He worked as a biology professor at Boston University, while her mother, who was 21 years younger than her husband, worked as a librarian. In 1936, Sylvia's younger brother Warren was born, who was a sickly child and required a lot of her mother's attention, leaving little for Sylvia. When her father died in 1940, the 8-year-old girl experienced immense pain. This tragedy remained with her for the rest of her life - Sylvia grew up feeling truly unhappy. She began to doubt in God, became introverted, and kept a lot to herself. If it is true that a true poet must be a truly unhappy person, then this fully applies to Sylvia Plath. Her first poem was published in a school newspaper when she was just 8 years old, and a little later her poems were published in the children's column of the "Boston Herald" newspaper. The family was living in Boston at that time, and her mother had a difficult time, working two jobs at the university to support herself and her children. Sylvia, on the other hand, became an excellent student - she excelled in her studies. In addition, she constantly wrote - she wrote poems and prose for children and submitted them to various publications. It is not a secret that most publishers rejected the young poetess - at one point she received over 60 rejection letters. However, occasionally some of her work was published, and during her school years, she was published about ten times. Although it cannot be called a source of income. In 1950, Sylvia began studying at Smith College, where she worked extensively on the technical aspects of her poetry. She also studied poetry extensively, studying a large number of both classical and contemporary poets. It was during this period that she began to publish her poems in national publications. By her sophomore year, the professors recognized her as a talented student, but at the same time, Sylvia's mental state was not particularly stable. When she won a contest held by "Mademoiselle" magazine and went to New York for a month-long internship, she returned from there visibly depressed. In August 1953, Sylvia made her first suicide attempt. She left a note to her family that she would return tomorrow and went down to the basement of her house. There she took an overdose of pills until she lost consciousness. However, her mother did not believe the note and soon extensive searches for Sylvia began, eventually leading to her being found and revived. She underwent treatment in a psychiatric hospital and then returned to her normal life, graduating from college with honors and showing no signs of mental disturbance. Soon after, Sylvia met the poet Ted Hughes, who captivated her, and they soon married. It should be noted that Sylvia helped her husband a lot - she worked extensively on his poems, perfecting them, and sent them out to publishers herself. The couple soon moved to England, where they remained together, but their marriage was falling apart - two passionate poetic personalities could not coexist. By the time their first child, a daughter named Frieda, was born in 1959, Sylvia was working a lot. Their son Nicholas was born in 1962, by which time Sylvia was again emotionally exhausted. Her last collection of poems was published in the same year, and in November of that year, she filed for divorce. By that time, it was known that her husband was cheating on her. On January 14, 1963, Sylvia Plath's novel "The Bell Jar" was published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. In the same month, she experienced an extraordinary creative surge, creating over 20 poems. On February 11, 1963, Sylvia Plath was found dead in the kitchen of her home, with her head in the oven and the gas turned on. The cause of death was suicide due to prolonged depression. She was buried in Heptonstall church, West Yorkshire. Today, Sylvia Plath is considered one of America's most brilliant poets, and at the same time, her name has become synonymous with depression and suicide.