A fact file of Sylvia Plath

1. Sylvia Plath Fact File
● Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts,on October 27, 1932
● Plath met and married British poet Ted Hughes, although two years later they
split.The depressivePlath committed suicidein 1963
● Plath published her firstpoem ‘Poem’ in the Boston Herald in 1941 at just9 years
old
● At 12, her IQ was recorded at around 160, a certified genius
● In 1944 at only 12, Plath had more work published work in her local newspaper
The Townsman. On average she was writinga poem a day atschool.
● In 1947, Plath began what would be a 5 year pen pal relationship with a German teenager, Hans -Joachim
Neupert. Though growing up duringWWII,she was eager to learn and not be restricted by her sheltered,
suburban childhood.
● Duringher teens, Plath was a passionatepacifist - againstthe Korean War as seen in her 1950’s open
letter to Neupert she calls theatomic bomb a sin
● Worked through Smith College even after being accepted to Wellesley for free
● Worked on a farm doing, manual labor.This influenced a later poem ‘Bitter Strawberries’
● Her mother encouraged her to keep a journal of her daily life,something which would influenceher later
writingand poetry
● In 1982, Plath became the firstperson to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize (The Pulitzer Prizeis an award
for achievements in newspaper and onlinejournalism,literature,and musical composition in the United
States.)
● Plath was a gifted and troubled poet, known for the confessional styleof her work.
● Her interest in writingemerged at an early age, and she started out by keeping a journal.After publishing
a number of works,Plath won a scholarship to Smith College in 1950.
● As a student, Sylvia Plath spenttime in New York City duringthe summer of 1953 working for
Mademoiselle magazine as a guest editor. Soon after, Plath tried to kill herself by takingsleepingpills.She
eventually recovered, havingreceived treatment duringa stay in a mental health facility.Plath returned
to Smith and finished her degree in 1955.
● A FulbrightFellowship (a programof highly competitive, merit-based grants for international educational
exchange for students, scholarsetc) brought Plath to Cambridge University.Whilestudyingat the
university's Newnham College, she met the poet Ted Hughes. The two married in 1956 and had a stormy
relationship.
● In 1957, Plath spent time in Massachusetts to study with poet Robert Lowell and met fellowpoet and
student Ann Sexton. She also taughtEnglish atSmith Collegearound that same time.
● Plath returned to England in 1959.
● Plath had her firstcollection of poetry, The Colossus, published in England in 1960.That sameyear, she
gave birth to her firstchild,a daughter named Freida.Two years later,Plath and Hughes welcomed a
second child,a son named Nicholas.Unfortunately,the couple's marriagewas fallingapart.
● After Hughes left her for another woman in 1962, Sylvia Plath fell into a deep depression.
● Strugglingwith her mental illness,shewrote The Bell Jar (1963),her only novel, which was based on her
lifeand deals with one young woman's mental breakdown.
● She also created the poems that would make up the collection Ariel (1965), which was released after her
death.
● Sylvia Plath committed suicideon February 11, 1963 by gassingherself in an oven.

2. ● Ted Hughes became her literary executor after her death. Whilethere has been some speculation about
how he handled her papers and her image, he did edit what is considered by many to her greatest work,
Ariel.