Her Story

Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her interest in writing emerged 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.

While she was a student, Sylvia Plath spent time in New York City during the summer of 1953 working for Mademoiselle magazine as a guest editor. Soon after, Plath tried to kill herself by taking sleeping pills. She eventually recovered, having received treatment during a stay in a mental health facility. Plath returned to Smith and finished her degree in 1955.

She married Ted Hughes in 1956 and had a stormy relationship. In 1957, Plath spent time in Massachusetts to study with poet Robert Lowell and met fellow poet and student Ann Sexton. Plath returned to England in 1959.

Sylvia Plath with her children, Freida and Nicholas

A poet on the rise, Sylvia Plath had her first collection of poetry, The Colossus, published in England in 1960. That same year, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Freida. Two years later, Plath and Hughes welcomed a second child, a son named Nicholas. Unfortunately, the couple's marriage was failing apart.

 After Hughes left her for another woman in 1962, Sylvia Plath fell into a deep depression. Struggling with her mental illness, she wrote The Bell Jar (1963), her only novel, which was based on her life and deals with one young woman's mental breakdown. Plath published the novel under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. She also created the poems that would make up the collection Ariel (1965), which was released after her death. Sylvia Plath committed suicide on February 11, 1963.

In 1982, Plath became the first person to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Collected Poems.

To see videos about her marriage, depression and suicide attempts go to  http://www.biography.com/people/sylvia-plath-9442550/videos
For more information: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sylvia-plath





Source: http://www.biography.com/people/sylvia-plath-9442550