SYLVIA PLATH

Early Life

• Born in Boston, Mass. on October 27, 1932
• Her mother was Aurelia Plath, Father was Otto Plath
• She had one brother, Warren Plath
• First poem published at eight
• She wanted perfection, was popular, was a straight A student
• Went to Smith University in 1950 on scholarship

Life at Smith

• Wrote over 400 poems at Smith
• Summer of Junior year, became guest editor of Mademoiselle Magazine
• That summer, attends Harvard summer school
• Graduated Smith with major honors English, 1955
• Earned a Fulbright Scholarship to Cambridge University

Personal Issues: Deppression

• Extreme depression over death of her father (died in 1940), and other personal issues
• That same summer, she attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills, nearly succeeded
• Recovered through psychotherapy and electroshock therapy

Middle Life

• Married Ted Hughes, an English poet, on June 16, 1956
• Published first book, "The Colossus" in 1960 at age 28
• When compared to other poems in 1961 and later, "The Colossus" didn't seem as outstanding
• Plath and Hughes settled in Devon, England for short time

"Daddy"

Children (with Ted Hughes)

• Had first child April 1, 1960
• Was a girl named Frieda Rebecca
• 1961 had a miscarriage in February
• January 17, 1962 had son Nicholas Farrar

Life After Hughes

• 1962, Plath and Hughes divorced
• Plath moved with children to London apartment
• Plath sometimes wrote poems at 4 am, before children woke
• Plath became desperate to write as life became more challenging

The Bell Jar

• "The Bell Jar" is assumed to be an autobiographical novel
• written under pseudonym name, Victoria Lucas
• Published 1963

Death

• Died February 11, 1963
• She killed herself from carbon monoxide poisoning
• Shut doors, windows, etc. from children
• Left note to neighbor downstairs
• Neightbor was also unconcious from carbon monoxide, but not dead

POETIC DEVICES

• Repetition
• Metaphors
• Allusion
• Cacophony
• Figurative Language
• Irony
• Onomatopoeia
• Similes

Sylvia Plath Poems

• Lady Lazaurus
• Child
• Daddy
• You're
• The Applicant

BALLOONS

MY POEM VS. PLATH'S POETRY

• Sylvia Plath tends to be very dark and pessimistic
• Tried to reflect those themes in my writing
• Repetition, irony, and figurative language are all traits my poem and her poems have in common.

"DON'T TELL ME"

Works Cited

Thanks!