Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Sylvia Plath
open-in-new
<p>Sylvia Plath was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of <a href="/facts/Confessional_poetry/89LsyLYP">confessional poetry</a> and is best known for <i><a href="/facts/The_Colossus_and_Other_Poems/mKUMQwET">The Colossus and Other Poems</a></i> (1960), <i><a href="/facts/Ariel_(poetry_collection)/cvREx4Is">Ariel</a></i> (1965), and <i><a href="/facts/The_Bell_Jar/pKYtl4hm">The Bell Jar</a></i>, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her <a href="/facts/Suicide/j92cWcay">suicide</a> in 1963. <i>The Collected Poems</i> was published in 1981, which included previously unpublished works. For this collection Plath was awarded a <a href="/facts/Pulitzer_Prize/wD4PN6Xs">Pulitzer Prize</a> in Poetry in 1982, making her the fourth to receive this honor posthumously. </p><p>Born in <a href="/facts/Boston/exjfn6xf">Boston</a>, Massachusetts, Plath graduated from <a href="/facts/Smith_College/BqGRElj9">Smith College</a> in Massachusetts and the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">University of Cambridge</a>, England, where she was a student at <a href="/facts/Newnham_College,_Cambridge/Vb4S6rWe">Newnham College</a>. Plath later studied with <a href="/facts/Robert_Lowell/CeYg2bbS">Robert Lowell</a> at <a href="/facts/Boston_University/Vcyr2qAh">Boston University</a>, alongside poets <a href="/facts/Anne_Sexton/arkMtrgS">Anne Sexton</a> and <a href="/facts/George_Starbuck/MuMHTBSs">George Starbuck</a>. She married fellow poet <a href="/facts/Ted_Hughes/knk3H7SJ">Ted Hughes</a> in 1956, and they lived together in the United States and then in England. Their relationship was tumultuous and, in her letters, Plath alleges abuse at his hands. They had two children before separating in 1962. </p><p>Plath was <a href="/facts/Major_depressive_disorder/l2lQeWqr">clinically depressed</a> for most of her adult life and was treated multiple times with early versions of <a href="/facts/Electroconvulsive_therapy/n498J3Km">electroconvulsive therapy</a> (ECT). She died by suicide in 1963. </p>