Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)

Author of The Bell Jar

131+ Works 48,272 Members 691 Reviews 352 Favorited

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About the Author

Sylvia Plath's best poetry was produced, tragically, as she pondered self-destruction---in her poems as well as her life---and she eventually committed suicide. She had an extraordinary impact on British as well as American poetry in the few years before her death, and affected many poets, show more particularly women, in the generation after. She is a confessional poet, influenced by the approach of Robert Lowell. Born in Boston, a graduate of Smith College, Plath attended Newnham College, Cambridge University, on a Fulbright Fellowship and married the British poet Ted Hughes. Of her first collection,The Colossus and Other Poems (1962), the Times Literary Supplement remarked, "Plath writes from phrase to phrase as well as with an eye on the larger architecture of the poem; each line, each sentence is put together with a good deal of care for the springy rhythm, the arresting image and---most of all, perhaps---the unusual word." Plath's second book of poetry, Ariel, written in 1962 in a last fever of passionate creative activity, was published posthumously in 1965 and explores dimensions of women's anger and sexuality in groundbreaking new ways. Plath's struggles with women's issues, in the days before the second wave of American feminism, became legendary in the 1970s, when a new generation of women readers and writers turned to her life as well as her work to understand the contradictory pressures of ambitious and talented women in the 1950s. The Bell Jar---first published under a pseudonym in 1963 and later issued under Plath's own name in England in 1966---is an autobiographical novel describing an ambitious young woman's efforts to become a "real New York writer" only to sink into mental illness and despair at her inability to operate within the narrow confines of traditional feminine expectations. Plath was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1982. In recent years, there have been a number of biographies and critical evaluations of Plath's work. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Silvia Plath, Sylvia Plath, Sylvia Plath, Slyvia Plath, Sylvias Plath, Sylvia] [Plath, Силвија Плат, Schriftstellerin Plath, USA Sylvia

Disambiguation Notice:

Also published under the name Sylvia Plath Hughes and Victoria Lucas. Please do not combine this author page with the author page for Plath, as there are other authors with that surname. thank you.

Works by Sylvia Plath

Popular Recent

The Bell Jar (1963) 28,274 copies

Ariel (1965) 4,153 copies

Sylvia Plath: The Collected Poems (1981) 3,979 copies

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (2000) 2,716 copies

Ariel: The Restored Edition (2004) 1,568 copies

Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose, and Diary Excerpts (1977) 1,469 copies

The Colossus and Other Poems (1960) 1,242 copies

The Journals of Sylvia Plath {abridged} (1982) 815 copies

Letters Home (1975) 786 copies

Crossing the Water (1971) 600 copies

Sylvia Plath: Poems Selected by Ted Hughes (1985) 401 copies

Plath: Poems (1994) 378 copies

Winter Trees (1972) 341 copies

Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom (2019) 262 copies

The Bed Book (1976) 240 copies

The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit (1996) 129 copies

The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume 1: 1940-1956 (2017) 122 copies

Sylvia Plath: Drawings (1800) 101 copies

The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume 2: 1956-1963 (2018) 96 copies

Collected Children's Stories (Faber Children's Classics) (2001) 74 copies

Sylvia Plath Poems Chosen by Carol Ann Duffy (2012) 61 copies

The Voice of the Poet: Sylvia Plath (1999) 54 copies

The Bell Jar/The Collected Poems (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (2020) 46 copies

Three Women (1976) 40 copies

Lady Lazarus e altre poesie (1986) 37 copies

Sylvia Plath Reads (1992) 36 copies

Soy Vertical Pero Preferira Ser Horizontal (Spanish Edition) (1999) 23 copies

I capolavori (2004) 16 copies

26 poesie (Italian language) (1998) 10 copies

Great Poets of the 20th Century: Sylvia Plath (2008) 9 copies

American Poetry Now: A Selection of the Best Poems by Modern American Writers (Critical Quarterly Poetry Supplement,… (1961) 7 copies

Stings: Original Drafts of the Dreams of the Poem Facsimile Reproduced from the Sylvia Plath Collection at Smith… (1983) 7 copies

Daddy [poem] (1965) 6 copies

Voices & Visions (1997) 6 copies

OEUVRES SYLVIA PLATH (2011) 6 copies

Diários 19501962 (Portuguese Edition) (2021) 6 copies

Zie, de duisternis lekt uit de scheuren (2003) 6 copies

Dimanche chez les Minton et autres nouvelles (2013) 5 copies

Theme & Version: Plath & Ronsard (1994) 5 copies

Antología poética (Los ineludibles) (2018) 4 copies

Tutte le poesie. Testo inglese a fronte (2013) 4 copies

Mad Girl's Love Song 4 copies

Luulet (1990) 4 copies

La luna e il tasso e altre poesie (2011) 4 copies

3 storie per bambini 3 copies

Sylvia Plath (The Library of Great Poetry) (2003) 3 copies

Le muse inquietanti e altre poesie 3 copies

Max Nix (1996) 3 copies

Mirror {poem} (1966) 3 copies

Mrs Cherry's Kitchen (2007) 3 copies

Ariel ve Seçme Şiirler (2014) 3 copies

Sylvia Plath reading her poetry. [Sound recording] (1987) 3 copies

Beirazko kanpaia (2022) 3 copies

Dzienniki 1950-1962 - Sylvia Plath [KSIÄĹťKA] (2019) 3 copies

The Bell Jar and Other Works by Sylvia Plath: The Colossus, Ariel, Collected Poems and Juvenilia 2 copies

The Poetry of Sylvia Plath 2 copies

Gunlukler (2012) 2 copies

Kambana e qelqtë 2 copies

Dime mi nombre: Poesía completa (2022) 2 copies

A letto, bambini! e altre storie. Ediz. a colori (2023) 2 copies

Terno Tanto Faz Como Tanto Fez, O 2 copies

La ira del águila (1987) 2 copies

Fiesta Melons 2 copies

Liebesgedichte (2009) 2 copies

Noční tance (2002) 2 copies

Lyonnesse: Poems, (1971) 2 copies

Two Poems (1980) 2 copies

رسائل سيلفيا بلاث 1940 - 1963 1 copy

Johnny Panic e a Biblia de Sonhos - e outros textos em prosa (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2019) 1 copy

Poesia reunida 1 copy

Noveller 1 copy

Rare The Bell Jar & Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath New Sealed Leather Bound Hardback 1 copy

The Prose of Sylvia Plath 1 copy

Crystal gazer and other poems (1971) 1 copy

Non cercare mai di ingannarmi con un bacio. Testo inglese a fronte (2005) 1 copy

Kiraz Hanim'in Mutfagi (2015) 1 copy

ZÉ SUSTO E A BÍBLIA DOS SONHOS 1 copy

A day in June: An uncollected short story 1 copy

The green rock 1 copy

Child: [poem] 1 copy

Autore donna (2004) 1 copy

Destino di esuli. Testo inglese a fronte (2005) 1 copy

La principessa e gli spiriti maligni. Testo inglese a fronte (2005) 1 copy

O Livro das Camas e Outras Historias Para Criancas (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2016) 1 copy

[ Sylvia Plath: Drawings Plath, Sylvia ( Author ) ] { Hardcover } 2013 1 copy

Ariel și alte poeme 1 copy

The Colussus 1 copy

Espejo 1 copy

Ο γυάλινος κώδων: Μυθιστόρημα (2007) 1 copy

A redoma de vidro - Edicao ilustrada (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2019) 1 copy

The Collected Prose of Sylvia Plath 1 copy

Crossing the Water by Sylvia Plath (4-Oct-1976) Paperback 1 copy

Plath letters - Heptonstall 1 copy

Sylvia Plath: The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath (Library Binding); 2008 Edition 1 copy

LADY LAZARUS - POEZI TE ZGJEDHURA 1 copy

Uncollected poems 1 copy

Cartas de Sylvia Plath, Vol II (1952-1954) (2021) 1 copy

The magic mirror: A study of the double in two of Dostoevsky’s novels 1 copy

Godziny nad ranem (1995) 1 copy

New Poetry 1964. Critical Quarterly Supplement. Number 5 1 copy

"The last thing I wanted was infinite security..." (Interpreting Literature - 5th Edition) 1 copy

Suicide off Egg Rock (Interpreting Literature - 5th Edition) 1 copy

POEMS OF SYLVIA PLATH 1 copy

L'Ombre 1 copy

Two Views of a Cadaver Room (Interpreting Literature - 5th Edition) 1 copy

Black Rook in Rainy Weather (included in The Norton Introduction to Literature - 5th Edition) 1 copy

Initiation 1 copy

Morning Song {poem} 1 copy

Plath Sylvia 1 copy

Fear of Flying (1973) 1 copy

Letters of Sylvia Plath 1 copy

Point Shirley (included in The Norton Introduction to Literature - 5th Edition) 1 copy

Sylvia Plath reads her works 1 copy

Pursuit 1 copy

Guinness Poetry Award 1960-1961: Winning Poems 1 copy

Sylvia Plath's Crossing the Water: Some Reflections. (Critical Quarterly, Volume 13, No 2, Summer 1971). 1 copy

Wreath for a Bridal (1970) 1 copy

Threebies: Sylvia Plath (Faber "Threebies") (2003) 1 copy

Two uncollected poems (1980) 1 copy

Plath, Sylvia Archive 1 copy

The Fifteen Dollar Eagle (in Penguin Modern Stories 2 - UPDIKE) 1 copy

Le rêve de Max (2012) 1 copy

METHOD AND MADNESS (1976) 1 copy

Above the oxbow 1 copy

Sylvia Plath versei (2002) 1 copy

Million dollar month (1971) 1 copy

Dialogue over a ouija board: A verse dialogue 1 copy

The World of Sylvia Plath 1 copy

Cartas de Sylvia Plath (Otros Mares) (Spanish Edition) (2020) 1 copy

The colossus. Poems 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,270 copies

Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 929 copies

Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (2004) — Contributor — 764 copies

The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry (1990) — Contributor — 762 copies

Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement (1970) — Contributor — 574 copies

The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 554 copies

American Gothic Tales (1996) — Contributor — 465 copies

World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time (1998) — Contributor — 450 copies

A Pocket Book of Modern Verse (1954) — Contributor, some editions — 447 copies

The Norton Book of Women's Lives (1993) — Contributor — 411 copies

Literature: The Human Experience (2006) — Contributor — 341 copies

The Portable Sixties Reader (2002) — Contributor — 329 copies

The Penguin Book of Women Poets (1978) — Contributor — 299 copies

The Faber Book of Modern Verse (1936) — Contributor, some editions — 289 copies

The New Poetry (1962) — Contributor — 269 copies

The Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse (1950) — Contributor, some editions — 266 copies

From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (2002) — Contributor — 174 copies

British Poetry Since 1945 (1970) — Contributor, some editions — 167 copies

American Religious Poems: An Anthology (2006) — Contributor — 164 copies

Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work from Tennyson to Plath (2007) — Contributor — 152 copies

The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (2013) — Contributor — 149 copies

The Faber Book of Beasts (1997) — Contributor — 141 copies

An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine (2000) — Contributor — 133 copies

No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (1973) — Contributor — 124 copies

The Penguin Book of Women's Humour (1996) — Contributor — 119 copies

Poems from the Women's Movement (2009) — Contributor — 109 copies

Emergency Kit (1996) — Contributor, some editions — 109 copies

The Everyman Anthology of Poetry for Children (1994) — Contributor — 73 copies

Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths (1684) — Contributor — 69 copies

The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 68 copies

The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink (2012) — Contributor — 63 copies

The Vintage Book of American Women Writers (2011) — Contributor — 56 copies

Cape Cod Stories: Tales from Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard (1996) — Contributor — 52 copies

Lament for the Makers: A Memorial Anthology (1996) — Contributor — 52 copies

The Faber Book of Gardens (2007) — Contributor — 45 copies

Poems Dead and Undead (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) (2014) 42 copies

Science Fiction (1973) — Author — 40 copies

The Oxford Book of English Love Stories (1996) — Contributor — 36 copies

60 Years of American Poetry (1996) — Contributor — 28 copies

About Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, Poetry, and Essays (1973) — Contributor — 26 copies

Women on Nature (2021) — Contributor — 23 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1973 (1973) — Contributor — 23 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1969 (1969) — Contributor — 21 copies

AQA Anthology (2002) — Author, some editions — 19 copies

Loss: An Anthology (1997) — Contributor — 18 copies

Modern Poets: Four (1968) — Author — 17 copies

Possibilities of Poetry: An Anthology of American Contemporaries (1970) — Contributor — 17 copies

Fairy Poems (2023) — Contributor — 16 copies

Modern Women Poets (2005) — Contributor — 13 copies

Of Leaf and Flower: Stories and Poems for Gardeners (2001) — Contributor — 11 copies

Poetry anthology (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 6 copies

The Bell Jar [1979 film] (1979) — Author — 5 copies

Modern Short Stories in English (Literature for Life) (1993) — Contributor — 4 copies

Cricket Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 4, December 1976 (1976) — Contributor — 4 copies

American Short Stories (Oxford Literature Resources) (1992) — Contributor — 2 copies

Winter's Tales 15 (1969) — Contributor — 2 copies

Fyra amerikanska klassiker från Novellix (2017) — Contributor — 1 copy

In'hui, No.9 — Contributor — 1 copy

Månen : fra den indre verden til det ydre rum (2018) — Author, some editions — 1 copy

Ein Haus mit vielen Zimmern: Autorinnen erzählen vom Schreiben (edition fünf 27) (German Edition) (2015) — Contributor — 1 copy

Manpareka Kehi Kavita (2001) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

1960s (150) 20th century (729) American (531) American literature (754) American poetry (214) anthology (988) autobiography (326) biography (370) classic (478) classics (532) depression (844) diary (315) essays (124) favorites (168) feminism (481) fiction (2,972) journal (215) letters (151) literature (914) memoir (360) mental health (223) mental illness (640) New York (117) non-fiction (669) novel (420) own (280) owned (112) paperback (111) poems (125) poetry (5,856) psychology (226) read (592) short stories (323) suicide (576) Sylvia Plath (1,106) to-read (2,257) unread (197) USA (152) women (422) writing (114)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Hughes, Sylvia Plath (married name)
Other names: Lucas, Victoria
Hughes, Sylvia Plath
Birthdate: 1932-10-27
Date of death: 1963-02-11
Burial location: Heptonstall Parish Churchyard, West Yorkshire, England, UK,
Gender: female
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Place of death: London, England, UK
Cause of death: suicide
Places of residence: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA
Winthrop, Massachusetts, USA
Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
London, England, UK
Devon, England, UK (show all 8)
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Northampton, Massachusetts, USA
Education: Smith College (AB|English|1955)
Newnham College, Cambridge (MA)
Occupations: poet
teacher
novelist
short-story writer
Relationships: Hughes, Ted (husband)
Hughes, Frieda (daughter)
Lowell, Robert (teacher)
Alvarez, Al (friend)
Sexton, Anne (friend)
Awards and honors: Glascock Poetry Prize (1955)
Fulbright Fellowship (Cambridge, 1955)
Pulitzer Prize (1982)
Short biography: Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel, as well as The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. In 1981 The Collected Poems were published, including many previously unpublished works. For this collection Plath was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982, making her the first to receive this honour posthumously.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Plath studied at Smith College in Massachusetts and at Newnham College in Cambridge, England. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956, and they lived together in the United States and then in England. They had two children before separating in 1962.

Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life, and was treated multiple times with electroconvulsive therapy. She died by suicide in 1963.
Disambiguation notice: Also published under the name Sylvia Plath Hughes and Victoria Lucas.

Please do not combine this author page with the author page for Plath, as there are other authors with that surname. thank you.

Members

Discussions

the bell jar in Club Read 2023 (July 2023)

Interested to swap replacement titles in Canada in Folio Society Devotees (October 2022)

Fine press Plath in Fine Press Forum (March 2022)

Reviews

Ariel: Poems by Sylvia Plath

It’s so dark - the kind where if it was written by your friend you would know unequivocally that they are NOT ok. Really heavy.
The moon and the yew tree was my fave.

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spiritedstardust | 51 other reviews | Jun 1, 2024 |

Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom by Sylvia Plath

I loved this story but I can confidently say that I'm not really sure what it was actually about. It was well written and spooky and I love trains and it left me with a lot to think about... Lovely.

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ZetaRiemann | 6 other reviews | May 30, 2024 |

The Bell Jar (Modern Classics) by Sylvia Plath

I absolutely love the style of this novel. The inherent poet within Plath shines brightly even in her prose, and it was that poetic flavor which most endeared me to the book. The use of a conversational somewhat divergent style recalled all that I liked about the Catcher and the Rye without much of the irritation it simultaneously brought. My only qualm was that there was not enough emotional impact considering the topics addressed.

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AngelReadsThings | 504 other reviews | May 23, 2024 |

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath

best enjoyed over a lifetime: will return to frequently. plath's mastery of the poetic and prose form are really highlighted here, where vignettes of life are as vivid as if you were placed directly next to her. her philosophical examination of her own character is excruciatingly raw - in many ways, she embodies the 'everywoman' so many try to reach. note i read the 'unabridged' version (though sections were removed by the editor) - i would hazard a guess this comes through far less in the edition edited by hughes.… (more)

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sylvarum | 18 other reviews | May 21, 2024 |

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