Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath: "From Great Pain Comes Great Art" 

Sylvia Plath is considered one of the most notable poets of our time. She produced a bountiful number of works that are considered fundamental to her generation’s literary repertoire before her untimely death. From The Bell Jar, Plath’s Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography to “Lady Lazarus,” Plath’s literary influence upon the art of poetry is profound. Often reflections into the tragic life of this poised poet, her poetry is usually filled with pain and images of death. She epitomized the mantra: “from great pain comes great art.”

Life 

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932, Plath began writing poetry from a very young age. She published her first poem at age eight and continued to win literary contests and sell poems throughout her education. She graduated summa cum laude from Smith College then continued to Newnham College in Cambridge, England. Despite the success she found in college, Plath was greatly affected by severe depression, a condition with which she struggled throughout her life. Her first attempted suicide took place in 1953 which resulted in her hospitalization. Themes of hospitalization and self-destruction are often evident in her literature. 

Plath married another notable poet, Ted Hughes, who undoubtedly served as an influence for Plath’s writing. Together, they taught English for two years at Smith College before returning to England. It began the most prolific literary period of her life, in which she produced The Colossus, a collection of her poems, The Bell Jar, and several of her most famous poems such as “Daddy.” Affected by depression, Plath committed suicide in 1963 when she was only 31-years-old by putting her head in an oven in her London apartment.

Influences

During an interview, Plath credited Dylan Thomas, W. B. Yeats, W. H. Auden, and  Shakespeare as influences for her writing. However, arguably the most influential qualities stem from her own experiences. Her poetry truly employs imagery that is directly from Plath’s own mind, reflecting on things perceived distinctly in her own, unstable way. 

Themes and Works

Plath’s contributions to not only the literary world, but humanity cannot be truly measured by prizes and awards. However, she did receive many honoring her eloquent literature. She won many literary contests throughout her youth, including the Mademoiselle magazine fiction contest in 1952. Probably her most notable accomplishment, however, was being the first posthumous recipient of a Pulitzer Prize in 1982. Aside from her awards, interest surrounds her life almost as much as her poetry. She became a cult figure for feminism, and even a movie was made about her life in 2003.

Many of her works surround themes similar to those occurring in her life, making much of her poetry autobiographical. For example, “Lady Lazarus,” a exploration of her attempted suicides and sadistic interest in death foreshadowed her own death which would a occur just a few months later. It also is a prime example of Plath’s use of religious motifs through both Judaism, the Holocaust, and the Biblical figure Lazarus. Occurring in both “Lady Lazarus” and many other of her poems including “Daddy” in the theme of victimization. “Daddy” in particular explores the relationship she had with her father, Otto Plath, before his death. There is evidence that many of the themes expressed in “Daddy” were contributing factors to Plath’s suicide. Another motif that is often coupled with the formerly mentioned themes is nature. This is evident in Plath's "Tulips," a lyric poem serving as a recount of a hospital stay.

All of the said concepts contribute to a general theme of life and its cycle- birth, life, fertility, family, and most notably, death and resurrection. Her obsession with death and suicide most likely caused her to contemplate life itself and it's values, and her contemplations are expressed through the only way she truly knew- poetry.    

Mad Girl's Love Song

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"

Further reading:
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/plath/twoviews.htm

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sylvia-plath

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1998/05/hugh-m28.html

Works Cited
"A 1962 Sylvia Plath Interview with Peter Orr." Modern American Poetry. N.p.,
     n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/
     plath/orrinterview.htm>.

"Sylvia Plath." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2015. Web. 17
     Mar. 2015. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/60354>.

Eder, Doris L. "Plath, Sylvia (1932–1963)." Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online, 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

Pictures Courtesy of:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2190158/FBI-files-Sylvia-Plaths-father-investigated-World-War-I-pro-German-sympathies.html

http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/07/09/sylvia-plath-spoken-word-tulips-bbc/

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/17/sylvia-plath-otto-father-files

https://www.pinterest.com/courtney1882/tulips/

http://www.sylviaplathforum.com/10.html