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Sylvia Plath

Born

in Boston, Massachusetts, The United States

October 27, 1932

Died

February 11, 1963

Genre

Poetry, Biographies & Memoirs, Literature & Fiction

Influences

Emily Dickinson, Dylan Thomas, William Blake, Anne Sexton, W.B. Yeats, ...more

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Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer, widely regarded as one of the most influential and emotionally powerful authors of the 20th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she demonstrated literary talent from an early age, publishing her first poem at the age of eight. Her early life was shaped by the death of her father, Otto Plath, when she was eight years old, a trauma that would profoundly influence her later work.
Plath attended Smith College, where she excelled academically but also struggled privately with depression. In 1953, she survived a suicide attempt, an experience she later fictionalized in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. After recovering, she earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer, widely regarded as one of the most influential and emotionally powerful authors of the 20th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she demonstrated literary talent from an early age, publishing her first poem at the age of eight. Her early life was shaped by the death of her father, Otto Plath, when she was eight years old, a trauma that would profoundly influence her later work.
Plath attended Smith College, where she excelled academically but also struggled privately with depression. In 1953, she survived a suicide attempt, an experience she later fictionalized in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. After recovering, she earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Newnham College, Cambridge, in England. While there, she met and married English poet Ted Hughes in 1956. Their relationship was passionate but tumultuous, with tensions exacerbated by personal differences and Hughes's infidelities.
Throughout her life, Plath sought to balance her ambitions as a writer with the demands of marriage and motherhood. She had two children with Hughes, Frieda and Nicholas, and continued to write prolifically. In 1960, her first poetry collection, The Colossus and Other Poems, was published in the United Kingdom. Although it received modest critical attention at the time, it laid the foundation for her distinctive voice—intensely personal, often exploring themes of death, rebirth, and female identity.
Plath's marriage unraveled in 1962, leading to a period of intense emotional turmoil but also extraordinary creative output. Living with her two children in London, she wrote many of the poems that would posthumously form Ariel, the collection that would cement her literary legacy. These works, filled with striking imagery and raw emotional force, displayed her ability to turn personal suffering into powerful art. Poems like "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" remain among her most famous, celebrated for their fierce honesty and technical brilliance.
In early 1963, following a deepening depression, Plath died by suicide at the age of 30. Her death shocked the literary world and sparked a lasting fascination with her life and work. The posthumous publication of Ariel in 1965, edited by Hughes, introduced Plath's later poetry to a wide audience and established her as a major figure in modern literature. Her novel The Bell Jar was also published under her own name shortly after her death, having initially appeared under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas."
Plath’s work is often classified within the genre of confessional poetry, a style that emphasizes personal and psychological experiences. Her fearless exploration of themes like mental illness, female oppression, and death has resonated with generations of readers and scholars. Over time, Plath has become a feminist icon, though her legacy is complex and occasionally controversial, especially in light of debates over Hughes's role in managing her literary estate and personal history.
Today, Sylvia Plath is remembered not only for her tragic personal story but also for her immense contributions to American and English literature. Her work continues to inspire writers, artists, and readers worldwide. Collections such as Ariel, Crossing the Water, and Winter Trees, as well as her journals and letters, offer deep insight into her creative mind. Sylvia Plath’s voice, marked by its intensity and emotional clarity, remains one of the most haunting and enduring in modern literature. ...more

Combine Editions
Sylvia Plath’s books

Average rating: 4.07 · 1,497,086 ratings · 105,560 reviews · 293 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Frances McCullough (Foreword), Lois Ames (Notes) 4.05 avg rating — 1,242,260 ratings — published 1963	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ariel 4.18 avg rating — 90,261 ratings — published 1965 — 138 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Collected Poems 4.25 avg rating — 51,248 ratings — published 1981 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, Karen V. Kukil (Editor) 4.28 avg rating — 26,607 ratings — published 2000 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom 3.97 avg rating — 16,657 ratings — published 2019 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Colossus and Other Poems 4.16 avg rating — 14,131 ratings — 112 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ariel: The Restored Edition by Sylvia Plath, Frieda Hughes (Foreword) 4.24 avg rating — 8,787 ratings — published 2004 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose and Diary Excerpts 3.91 avg rating — 6,976 ratings — published 1977 — 97 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes (Foreword) 4.25 avg rating — 4,111 ratings — published 1982	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Poems 4.08 avg rating — 3,899 ratings — published 1981 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Sylvia Plath…

Series by Sylvia Plath

Letters of Sylvia Plath (2 books)
by

Sylvia Plath,

Peter K. Steinberg (Editor),

Karen V. Kukil (Editor)

4.43 avg rating — 792 ratings

On a one-way mission into deep space to save humanity, a bomb goes off, killing three, knocking the ship off course, and plunging the survivors...

Polls

April 2016 Revisit the Shelf-Reread Poll

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, 288 pages, 1963

30 votes, 16.7%

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 324 pages, 1960

24 votes, 13.3%

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, 539 pages, 1980

19 votes, 10.6%

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, 273 pages, 1818

14 votes, 7.8%

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, 320 pages, 1984

13 votes, 7.2%

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, 251 pages, 1817

13 votes, 7.2%

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, 592 pages, 1957

12 votes, 6.7%

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, 311 pages, 1883

11 votes, 6.1%

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, 311 pages, 1985

10 votes, 5.6%

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 227 pages, 1953

7 votes, 3.9%

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, 277 pages, 1951

6 votes, 3.3%

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, 320 pages, 1719

6 votes, 3.3%

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, 256 pages, 1902

5 votes, 2.8%

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, 867 pages, 1847

4 votes, 2.2%

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, 306 pages, 1726

3 votes, 1.7%

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 502 pages, 1851

3 votes, 1.7%

180 total votes

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