Sylvia Plath was born in Massachusetts, the USA as a daughter of American Aurelia and German Otto. Everything seemed normal at first, she was born as a wealthy child. However, the same couldn’t be said about her mental health. It was medically documented that she had manic depression which she suffered from throughout her life.
Her father Otto was a professor, passed away when Sylvia was just a little girl. Sylvia got to be full of hate after her dad’s death and her hatred has enlarged as Sylvia was growing up. The psychological disorders and depression would be given to her from childhood.
Sylvia was just an eight-year-old little girl when she published her first poem. Just then the disease shown-up itself. She always used to be intent on committing suicide.
She got a scholarship to Smith College in 1950 and she made good as a student. However, the scars of depression didn’t let Sylvia live her life in a sturdy way.
When Sylvia was in second grade she made her first suicide attempt. Right after she was treated in a mental institution. Her medically documented therapy started seriously.
Plath graduated with “summa cum laude” degree from Smith College in 1955. She shaped her future with her intelligence. Later she attended Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship and carried on her works there, her poems have been published on the college newspaper, Varsity.
Sylvia met with British Poet Ted Hudges. Poetry has provided them to come together.
Ted was kind of Sylvia’s vanishing point or maybe a port of refuge. It was obvious that this love would be a crazy experience.
Right after getting to know each other, they have decided to get married in 1956 and settled in Boston. Soon afterward Sylvia got pregnant then they moved back to Britain. They stayed in London for a while and moved to North Tawton.
Sylvia’s jealousy attacks would take the tranquility from the happy couple and create serious problems that will occur in their marriage. Sylvia couldn’t take anymore the heaviness of situations that she was in so she went back to London to start divorce proceedings.
They came together for one more time after separating. Sylvia and Ted had another baby. However, Ted has already got tired of Sylvia’s psychological disorders. He ignored and cheated on Sylvia many times. This relationship didn’t sweeten her up as she thought. She was feeling like she was restricted over her imagination and receded from her works. While Sylvia was reckoning that she encountered the love of her life, she has found herself babysitting at home without knowing where her husband was. All of these were too much for a mentally ill woman like Sylvia. It was called love that became a misery, it was love that took Sylvia through suicide.
Sylvia Plath is known as a famous representative of confessional poetry. Sylvia’s poems were as famous as her suicide attempts. Every single word she have said throughout her life was becoming a part of an art.
Sylvia is considered as among of the most famous writers of the 20th century, alongside Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Margurite Duras. Sylvia became a well-known poet with her memorable work “The Bell Jar”, pleased her readers greatly by her mournful and emotional wording. Touching souls, it was the most meaningful thing she has done during her lifetime. The only soul that she couldn’t be able to touch was hers…
Sylvia sensed that Ted and she shouldn’t be together anymore. She rented a home which was belonged to British poet William Butler Yeats and believed that renting his house would be a good sign for the future. However, it didn’t happen as she predicted. After she had moved to London she found herself on a rocky road that would take her to difficult conditions.
Sylvia felt so lonely there. She met with writer Jillian Becker who admired Sylvia’s talent after she has just divorced with Ted. They got to be very close soon. Even though they have never been in good spirits, Jillian was very satisfied with spending time with Sylvia.
It was one of the cold days of February 1963, Sylvia called Jillian and asked to visit him. She knocked Jillian’s door in Islington with her children, Frieda ve Nick in the afternoon.
Sylvia seemed to be on the verge of death. She said that she wanted to lie down as soon as she entered home. Jillian wasn’t even surprised by her look. She was miserable as much as she used to be for the last five months, but this time her look was absolutely worse.
In spite of Sylvia thought that moving to William Butler Yeats home would be a good sign for her life, she went through a rough pose in 1962-1963 winter. On 11 February 1963, She put a plate of cookies and glasses of milk on the table in their rooms then closed the door well to not disturb her children with gas while they were sleeping. She committed suicide by putting her head into the oven.
Note: To suicide isn’t a proper way of finding a solution. It is the way that people apply to get rid of the sufferings, violence, social pressure which they cannot tolerate anymore spiritually and physically. In the end, it always gives a feeling of sorrow to people who used to be with us.
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