Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother was a master's student at Boston University when she met her father, who was a professor.
At the age of eleven she kept a journal with her where she would write. Her first national publication was in the Christian Science Monitor in 1950, just after graduating from high school.
In 1950 Plath enrolled in Smith college. She managed to graduate with high distinction in 1955, even after going through a deep depression 1953 and a suicide attempt.
She gave birth to her children Frieda and Nicholas, in 1960 and 1962. In 1962, Ted Hughes left Plath for a women named Assia Gutmann Wevill. That winter, in a deep depression, Plath wrote most of the poems that would comprise her most famous book, Ariel.