Sylvia Plath

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

For Students

Sylvia Plath summary

Sylvia Plath

Q: Why is Sylvia Plath important?

Sylvia Plath was an American writer whose best-known works, including the poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” and the novel The Bell Jar , starkly express a sense of alienation and self-destruction that has resonated with many readers since the mid-20th century.

Q: What was Sylvia Plath’s early life like?

Sylvia Plath published her first poem at age eight. She entered and won many literary contests. She first sold a poem, to The Christian Science Monitor , and first sold a short story , to Seventeen magazine, while still in high school . She was a cowinner of the Mademoiselle magazine fiction contest in 1952.

Q: Where did Sylvia Plath study?

Sylvia Plath entered Smith College on a scholarship in 1951. She achieved considerable artistic, academic, and social success, but she also suffered from severe depression , attempted suicide , and underwent a period of psychiatric hospitalization. She graduated from Smith with highest honours in 1955 and went on to Newnham College, Cambridge , on a Fulbright fellowship .

Q: When was Sylvia Plath married?

In 1956 Sylvia Plath married the English poet Ted Hughes ; they had two children. The couple separated in 1962 after Hughes had an affair. Hughes compiled many of Plath’s posthumous publications. Controversy surrounded his editing practices, especially when he revealed that he had destroyed the last journals Plath had written before her suicide.

Q: What awards did Sylvia Plath win?

The Collected Poems , which included many previously unpublished poems, appeared in 1981 and received the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, which made Sylvia Plath the first to receive the honour posthumously.

American author

Also known as: Victoria Lucas

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 15, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Pseudonym:: Victoria Lucas

Born:: October 27, 1932, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Died:: February 11, 1963, London, England (aged 30)

Awards And Honors:: Pulitzer Prize (1982)

Notable Works:: “Ariel”; “Crossing the Water”; “Daddy”; “Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams”; “Lady Lazarus”; “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom”; “The Bell Jar”; “The Collected Poems”; “The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath”; “Three Women”; “Winter Trees”

Why is Sylvia Plath important?

What was Sylvia Plath’s early life like?

Where did Sylvia Plath study?

When was Sylvia Plath married?

What awards did Sylvia Plath win?

News •

Dickens, Orwell and Plath dumped from HSC English lists • Dec. 12, 2024, 12:59 AM ET (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sylvia Plath (born October 27, 1932, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died February 11, 1963, London, England) was an American poet whose best-known works, such as the poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” and the novel The Bell Jar, starkly express a sense of alienation and self-destruction closely tied to her personal experiences and, by extension, the situation of women in mid-20th-century America. Plath published her first poem at age eight. She entered and won many literary contests, and, while still in high school, she sold her first poem to The Christian Science Monitor and her first short story to Seventeen magazine. She entered ...(100 of 706 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.