Sylvia Plath Biography

Sylvia Plath Biography

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Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain Massachusetts. (Wagner-Martin) Plath’s mother Aurelia was originally from Winthrop, Massachusetts along with Plath’s grandparents, the Schobers, in Point Shirley. Point Shirley is significant because it is a place often referred to in Sylvia Plath’s poetry. Aurelia believed she shared a loving relationship with Sylvia and they were indeed very close, but Sylvia often comments about hatred towards her mother in her poetry. Sylvia’s father, Otto Plath, died when she was only eight. He is currently buried in the Winthrop Cemetery; his gravestone is a popular site because of interest in Plath’s poem “Daddy.” (Kirk) Upon hearing of his death Sylvia vowed to never speak to God again. After Otto’s death Aurelia moved with Sylvia and her younger brother Warren in with the Schobers. Otto’s death occurred because of undiagnosed and untreated diabetes. Otto had mistakenly self-diagnosed himself with cancer which led to his death.
As if Sylvia starting school two years earlier than most children was not tough enough, at the age of eight Sylvia Plath’s poem was published in the children’s section of the Boston Herald. It was called “Poem” and was about what she saw and heard on hot summer nights. (Mondragon) The following year was the start of World War II and Aurelia moved the family inland to Wellesley because of her new job at the Boston University. Sylvia was put in fifth grade again because her mother believed the familiar material and being around kids closer to her own age would help relieve some of the stress in her life. Still, Sylvia believed her father’s death was his own fault because it could have been prevented and blames him for his death. The strong conflicting emotions of love, hate, anger and desire for her father would stick with her and affect her until her death.
During junior high school Sylvia Plath continued publishing her poems...

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