Sylvia Plath Context

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 depressive Plath committed suicide in 1963

• Plath published her first poem ‘Poem’ in the Boston Herald in 1941 at just 9 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 writing a poem a day at school.

• In 1947, Plath began what would be a 5 year pen pal relationship with a German teenager, Hans-Joachim Neupert. Though growing up during WWII, she was eager to learn and not be restricted by her sheltered, suburban childhood.

• During her teens, Plath was a passionate pacifist - against the Korean War as seen in her 1950’s open letter to Neupert she calls the atomic 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 influence her later writing and poetry

• In 1982, Plath became the first person to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize (The Pulitzer Prize is an award for…