It has been said by many of her followers that Sylvia Plath's life reads very much like a fairy tale taken out of a story book - one by Edgar Allen Poe that is. Destined to lead a successful life as a poet and marrying her Prince, what more could she ever want? However, that was not to be so for rising artist whose life came to such a tragic end over 35 years ago.

The interest in Sylvia and literary works has been sparked by the events she experienced throughout her life. Much of the interest is centered on the experiences that led her to taking her life so tragically and unexpectedly. By coming to understand her life and its tragic end, a reader of her work can come to better understanding of the intense imagery and emotions that she pours into both her poetry and fiction. (Kutztown 2)

Sylvia Plath was born on the 27^th of October in Boston, Massachusetts to parents of German and Austrian decent. Her father, Otto Emil Plath, an etymologist and author of a treatise on bumblebees, was a professor of biology and German at Boston University. He met Aurelia Schober (Plath) in 1929 while she was working on her masters degree in English and German. Sylvia had one younger brother named Warren who was born on the 27^th of April 1935. During much of her childhood, Sylvia spent time on the N.Atlantic coast near Boston. Her love for the sea, as well as, her parents backgrounds provides much if the imagery for her poetry. (Kutztown 4)

 Around 1936, the family moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts. Shortly after, her father's health began to fail; however, believing that he had lung cancer he refused to receive treatment. During her father's illness, his need for rest left time for Sylvia and her brother to explore and play on the ocean side. In 1940, Otto Plath died from complications of gangrene in his leg resulting from an untreated case of diabetes mellitus. (Norton 2607) The death of her father marked an important point in Sylvia's life; the family moved away from the sea to Wellesley, Massachusetts. Being left alone with two children, Aurelia Plath was faced with the dilemma of having to support her family; she moved in with her parents and accepted a position in designing and teaching a course in medical secretarial procedures at Boston University.

Once at Cambridge, the next several years marked a period of maturation and great achievements. She joined the university's Dramatic Society, modeled and wrote for the Cambridge newspaper, the Varsity, vacationed in France; over all maintaining an active life. It was in March of 1956 that she finally met her prince, Ted Hughes, now the Poet Laureate of England. After an intense whirlwind love affair, they married the following June and spent the summer honeymooning in Spain. From the start, their relationship was extremely wild and intense claim those who knew them. In a letter to her mother Sylvia tells her about their first meeting; "When he kissed my neck I bit him and hard on the cheek and when we came out of the room he had blood running down his face." (Sac.Bee 2)

To outsiders, her marriage must have appeared to be the perfect edition to the fairy tale; it combined romance and two poets starting out their lives and careers together. After returning to Cambridge in the fall, as Sylvia continued her studies, Ted secures a teaching position at a nearby boy's school. Dedicating herself to Ted, she became both his typist and agent, but still managing to find time to do her own writing. In March of 1957, Ted's "The Hawk in the Rain" wins the New York Poetry Center Award and it is published in both America and England; resulting in the couple returning to Massachusetts. While Ted lands a position teaching in Amherst at the University of Massachusetts, Sylvia begins teaching at Smith College. However, she soon discovered the frustrations that Ted suffered trying to teach and write at the same time. A year later, they both decide that to leave their positions and survive on the grants, prizes, and earnings from writing. However, to help make ends meet, Sylvia takes on part time positions at the nearby hospital and psychiatric ward.

Later on that summer after several attempts to become pregnant, Sylvia finally learns that she will become a mother. The couple then decides to move back to England after Ted receives the Guggenheim grant to write for the next year. It was in March of 1960, that Sylvia signs her first contract with William Heinemann to have her first volume, The Colossus and other Poems", published in November that same year.

It was on April 1, 1960 that their daughter Freida is born. However, even though Sylvia accepts motherhood with open arms, the next year becomes difficult for her. With the new responsibilities of caring for a new baby, she found little time for writing. With Ted spending most of his time at a nearby flat that he kept for seclusion as he wrote, she was pretty much left alone to carry the burden on her own. (Kutztown 7)

Once again Sylvia began to slip into a world of failures and depression unable to write like she wanted, she felt trapped with no outlet. As Ted continuously published more works and gave several readings, as well as , received several recognition awards, Sylvia, herself, felt the pangs of failure as the Colossus and other Poems failed to receive recognition and prizes. With her health being poor and the woes of depression, she miscarries their second child in February of 1961. Later that spring, Sylvia begins to write with new hope as she begins work on the Bell Jar after receiving the Eugene Saxton grant. She then signs a long term contract with the New Yorker in March for her poems, in addition to, having Alfred Knopf arrange for her volume Colossus to be published later that May in the States. (Hayman xvii) In September of 1961, pregnant with their third child, Ted and Sylvia return to Devon and move into a home that is an hours drive from the sea in hopes that it would help Sylvia's health. At their new home, they were able to establish new writing schedules allowing Sylvia to have time to work on her material in the morning while Ted spent time with Freida. It was on January of 1962 that their son Nicholas Farr was born.

Later that June, the BBC Third Programme accepted Sylvia's voice play "Three Women", in addition, to editing for the American Poetry Now a supplement to The Critical Quarterly.(Hayman chron.) However, the success and would not last long for Sylvia as she learns of Ted's infidelity with Assia Wevill. In her devestation, her mother comes to spend time with her as she tries to repair her marriage. Once again sunk into the arms of the depression she knew so well, she drives her car off a road bank following a long argument with Ted after she finds him with Assia. By the end of the summer their marriage had fallen apart and as Ted returned to London, Sylvia commences arrangements for a legal separation to be followed by a divorce.( Bernard 23) Alone in Devon, Sylvia finds herself in a position she was all to familiar with; with her separation, she was left alone to care for the children on her own much like her mother when her own father died.

With her health being poor and the walls of depression beginning to surround her once more, Sylvia battled to find herself and freedom once more. Inspired by her horse Ariel and the sea, she begins to furiously work on her new volume of poems Ariel. In addition, with the success of the Bell Jar, which was published anonymously, she looks forward to working on her new novel Double Exposure, which later disappears after her death and is never recovered for publishing.

Despite of her success with her writing, the odds apparently turned against her. Unable to deal with Ted's abandonment, Sylvia begins to slip into another of psychotic depressions. Now in a London flat, living under the what some critics believed to be a pretense of destitute, she puts the children to bed leaving milk and food by their beds. She secures the door by placing towels under it to protect them and then goes into the kitchen, turns the gas on and places her head in the oven. The nursemaid sent by friend and counselor Dr. Horder to help her with the children during her recovery found Sylvia Plath dead on February 10, 1963 after having a utility worker break the door down because she could not get in and the children where crying in their rooms as the hall reeked of methane gas.

 She was buried in small graveyard outside of Heptonstall. The inscription on her gravestone reads:

Sylvia Plath Hughes

1932 - 1963

Even among fierce flames

  The Golden lotus can be planted.