Sylvia Plath

October 27, 1932

-

February 11, 1963

Family Background…

Born in Boston, Mass Mother, Aurelia

married Otto, 21 years her senior

Aurelia-high school teacher

Otto-professor of Entomology at Boston University.

Brother Warren, born April 27, 1935

Functionally Dysfunctional

1940-Otto Plath dies of an embolism following the amputation of his leg. His toe had become gangrenous from undiagnosed diabetes.

Aurelia was said to be a controlling mother who sometimes smothered Sylvia.

Sylvia and Otto had a husband-wife routine that suggested an Electra relationship.

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.

Also in 1953, Sylvia received bipolar electro-convulsive shock treatments

August 24, 1953-she attempts suicide: “…she crawled into a dark, dirty space underneath her mother’s house, where she swallowed pills…”

More from Junior & Senior Year…

Sylvia returned to Smith in February of ‘54 (she took a semester off)

June 6, 1955: graduated with honors (summa cum laude) in English and won a Fulbright scholarship to Cambridge

By the time she left for Cambridge, Sylvia’s view on male/female relationships had greatly shifted, but she felt England would provide the tall, handsome husband she wanted.

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

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

The “love affair” begins…

Sylvia and Ted--met on February 25, 1956 and married on June 16

Daughter Frieda (April 1st, 1960) and son Nicholas (January 17th, 1962)

Sylvia and Ted separated in October 1962

The Movie… In 2003, Gwyneth Paltrow starred as Plath in the film Sylvia, co-starring Daniel Craig as Ted Hughes (that’s right… James Bond).

Plath’s literary and poetic achievements…

The Bell Jar-published in1963

Her collection of poems titled Colossus was published in October 1960

Collected Poems won Pulitzer for poetry posthumously

These poems are often called the “October Poems,” written just after her separation from Ted. A new version of Ariel was recently published with the poems organized as Plath wished them to be.

“Daddy”“Ariel”“Lady Lazarus”The Bee Poems

Ariel (1965)

Sylvia committed suicide on February 11, 1963. She was only 30 years old. Her children were sleeping in the next room.

The gravestone that was repeatedly defaced…

Ironically, Assia Wevill, took her own life (and her daughter’s) in the same fashion as Sylvia.

Reoccurring symbols/themes in Plath’s poetry…

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

How do we define Confessional Poetry?

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-ModernistsEmerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the works of Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and Allen Ginsberg (among others)

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 poetryPoems are created to be read and listened to aloud (resists footnotes, dictionary, visual aspects on a page)Different uses of register: formal, colloquial, etc.

Ms. R’s recommended supplemental reading list…Sylvia Plath: A Biography by Linda Wagner-Martin

Sylvia Plath: A Literary Life by Linda Wagner-Martin

Works ConsultedModern American Poetry. Ed. Cary Nelson. Oxford

University Press, 2000 http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/m_r/plath

Wagner-Martin, Linda. Sylvia Plath: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.

Mr. Quale’s Reminders

1. Complete one Practice IOC--I will put three downloadable options on MrQuale.com. You must complete at least one.

2. Finish your nonfiction movie review

3. Mark “Event” “Morning Song” and “Bee Box.”