Sylvia Plath Confessional Poetry Analysis

October 27, 1932 is the exact date that the one and only Sylvia Plath was born on. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She kept a journal of her poetic work that she started at an early age. As she grew older and wiser, she worked at Mademoiselle magazine as a guest editor while she was attending college. She found her self in a rough obstacle during that time and tried to take her life by overdosing on sleeping pills. After getting the proper treatment at a mental health facility, she went back to school to finish her degree in 1955. “Plath herself had suffered a serious breakdown and attempted suicide between her junior and senior years in college”(Baym). She met Ted Hughes, who she married in 1956, at Cambridge University in England.

Her and her husband had an unpleasant relationship. She gave birth to her first child named Freida in 1960, and a second child named Nicholas two years later. Hughes, her husband, left Plath for another women in 1962. As a result, Plath entered into a deep depression. During that time she wrote her only novel, The Bell Jar. This novel was founded by her life and bargain with a female’s mental breakdown. She published the novel under Victoria Lucas because she wanted to keep her work anonymous, reason being of what the novel what about.
An American mid-nineteenth century poet, novelist, and short-story writer, Sylvia Plath not only influenced American poetry, but the European poetry as well (Pipos).

“Confessional poetry” was commenced in 1959. Confessional poetry is a style of poetry when a poet has become confessional in their writings. Plath had a very confessional tone in her poetry. In her confessional poetry she succeeded to create a strong understanding with her readers. “Confessional poetry has become so valuable, because it speaks from the heart”(Pipos). Sylvia Plath combined many of her personal life experiences and situations she was going through as foundations to her writing. Confessional poetry can be confessional in many ways, depending on the poets personality and preferences. Sylvia Plath used the intimacy of the poetry in her

writing.
Unfortunately Plath and her husband’s marriage was so unpleasant that it ended falling apart. Child is a poem that Plath wrote after her breakup with her husband, Ted Hughes. “What Plath does, is the exact mirroring of familiarity in poetry” (Pipos).

Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing.
I want to fill it with color and ducks,
The zoo of the new (Baym pg. 2607-2608)
In this poem she is describing that she wants to bring joy into her son, Nicholas’, life.

To her, the child’s eye is the storage of beauty, and he wish is to be at the same place as beauty. Beauty and happiness is compared to childhood mother’s inability to do much for her child. This gives us the aspect of how she lacked happiness in her life and also lacked to see any positive outcomes. This was one of the last poems that Plath wrote before her death.

In May 1958, Sylvia Plath wrote some words in her diary about her husband’s unfaithfulness. She wrote about how she made the biggest mistake in trusting Ted. “In 1958 she explicitly rejected suicide as an answer and soon regained her trust, later having two children with him”(Shulman). Plath did not retain her trust when she saw Ted having an affair. As a result, the marriage fell apart and within a few months she was dead. Many women are let down and betrayed by men every single day, especially nowadays. Not many women kill themselves over it. What motivated Plath’s vulnerability? Sadly, for some or may

reasons
Plath committed suicide on February 11, 1963. Was her husband the reason for this terrible tragedy? I would imagine so. Her husband cheated on her with another women. “Divorcees have a suicide rate several times higher than that of married women (Dublin, 1963); Sylvia was getting a divorce”(Shulman). Plath was far from places and people she was familiar with when living in England. As said before, she most likely felt alone when her husband did this to her. Her suicide could have been caused by these reasons along with many more. Another reason that could have caused it was her father’s death. At the age of eight, she was largely effectuated by her father’s death that could have lead to a chain of events leading her to her own death. Surprisingly, "Ted Hughes became her literary executor after her death”(Biography.com Editors). He is the one who edited what is known as her greatest work, Ariel. Ariel contained several of her most popular poems, including “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus”. Plath was not fortunate enough to live the glory of her winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for Collected Poems. According to the Biography.com Editors, “She is still a highly regarded and much studied poet to this day.”