Sylvia Plath is one of the most important female literary figures in modern literature. She was a writer, a poet, and a woman who was a victim of her own mind. Her works are inspiring and a big breakthrough for woman during her time period and I can't say enough how important her writing is to not only modern literature, but to me and many other people today.
If you haven't heard of Sylvia Plath or heard of any of her works, let me direct you here to the only novel she has written (The Bell Jar) and to a compiled collection of her poetry. There's something about the way she writes that just hits you. The good kind that knocks the breath out of your lungs, the kind that makes your heart beat furiously as you can only look, but you're not really looking. Every sentence and stanza is so well-written and painfully beautiful, you just have to stop and take a moment to let it sink in.
Here's some of my favorite quotes:
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
- Mirror
"I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
- The Bell Jar
"Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be."
- Soliloquy Of The Solipsist
Her words are so beautiful and filled with striking imagery and metaphors, yet there's also this lingering sadness in them. A sad truth, a look into Plath's mind. Though she was not formally diagnosed, Plath is said to have suffered from depression. Depression wasn't treated as it is today and Plath had to go through multiple electric and insulin shock treatment sessions. She had a troubled relationship with her husband, Ted Hughes, and conflicts with her parents and within herself. She attempted suicide many times and sadly died with her final attempt.
Her works feel so raw and heart-breaking, almost like a cry for help. And though she is not here with us today, she still inspires many. The Bell Jar was revolutionary in how it gave us a first-hand look into the head of a woman who seems perfectly fine but suddenly spirals into the darkest thoughts of her mind. In a time where mental illness wasn't really talked about or seen as a real health problem, Plath wrote such raw and truthful words, feelings that reflect the turmoil inside her and perhaps some of the turmoil some of us feel inside, today.
Plath has inspired me in my own writing and I'm so happy that she wrote such beautiful poems and a beautiful novel. I only wish that I could tell her myself how important she and her works are today, in person.
