1.) Author: Sylvia Plath Title: The Bell Jar
2.) I was first interested in Sylvia Plath simply because she based her books on her own personal experiences. As she struggled to get get through life day by day, she wrote the ‘The Bell Jar’ based on daily events, thoughts and feelings with some fiction to add some depth. Plath wanted the reader to portray how isolated a person can feel when they are constantly suffering from breakdown after breakdown. This novel was written to help Sylvia Plath try and free herself from her problems in the past, which in the end did not work out for her.
3.) Sylvia Plath was born in Boston in 1932 and took her own life in 1963. Plath published her first poem at the age of 8. She was a straight A student in school which helped her receive many prizes and a scholarship that took her to Smith college where she wrote over 400 poems. After the death of Sylvia’s father she had many breakdowns and could not control her feelings and emotions any more. She then attempted to commit suicide once by overdosing on sleeping pills. She later wrote the book ‘The Bell Jar’ an autobiographical novel which was published in 1963 and is based on her life experiences. After recovering from her suicidal attempt Plath went to school and graduated in 1955. A year later she married Ted Hughes an English poet, and continued her writing career publishing her first book ‘The Colossus’ in 1960. Sylvia had 2 children and 2 years later, her marriage started to fall apart, which lead to a divorce. Sylvia Plath then decided that taking her own life was the only way to over come her problems in her life. Sylvia Plath committed suicide and was pronounced dead on February 11th 1963.
4. Plath has over 130 poems published and has written over 55 short stories which are published in various magazines. Her first poem was published when she was 8 years old. Sylvia’s first book published when she was 28 years old in 1968, it is called ‘The Colossus’ and was published in England .
5.) I believe the first event that influenced Sylvia to keep writing was when she was 8 years old, when her very first poem was published. To give a child and/or student the confidence in their writing when they are young will have a huge impact on their future writing career. The next event I believe impacted her life greatly is when she got a scholarship and attended Newham College in Cambridge, England. Plath later met the poet of her dreams and soon to be husband Ted Hughes.
6.) A major theme after Sylvia tried to commit suicide would be growth through pain and rebirth. She based her book ‘The Bell Jar’ and all of her other poems she wrote after he attempt to commit suicide. Most of her poems and books have been based off of all of her experiences she had been through and was going through. This was a major theme because her thoughts were constantly on her mind and the only way she thought she could get rid of them was expressing her thoughts in poems, books or short stories. Plath’s early poems have a constant theme that exhibit her typical imagery, using her personal experiences to express her thoughts and feelings. After her husband left her, she produced poems that had the main themes of rage, despair, love, and vengeance.
7.) I would compare Sylvia Plath to Margret Atwood. Both of these authors have similar writing styles and have published many poems, short stories and books. Margret Atwood published a poem called ‘You Fit Into Me’
| | "You fit into me like a hook into an eye a fish hook an open eye" |
The first line is a metaphor of the companionship between two lovers. The second line is a completely opposite and uses the setup and letdown technique which Sylvia Plath uses in a lot of her poems, short stories and books. Both of these authors use their life experiences with some fiction to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions when they are doing any kind of writing.
Critical Articles
Source: Rosenberg, Ellen. "Sylvia Plath." DISCovering Authors. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.
Source: Johnson, Jeannine. "Overview of The Bell Jar." EXPLORING Novels. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.
Source: Smith, Caroline J. "'The Feeding of young women': Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar, Mademoiselle magazine, and the domestic ideal." College Literature 37.4 (2010): 1+. General OneFile. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.
