The Life Of Sylvia Plath :: essays research papers fc

The Life of Sylvia PlathSylvia Plaths life, like her manic depression, constantly jumped in the midst of Heaven and Hell. Her seemingly perfect exterior hid a turbulent and deep troubled spirit. A closer look at her childhood and private pictures removes some element of mystery from her writings.One central character to Sylvia Plaths poems is her engender, profOtto Emile Plath. Otto Plath was diabetic and refused to stay away from foods oddmentricted by his doctor. As a result , he developed a sore on his left hand foot.Professor Plath ignored the sore, and eventually the foot was overcome withgangrene. The foot and thusly the entire left leg were amputated in an effort tosave his life, merely he died in November of 1940, when Sylvia was just eightyears old.     The fact that her father could have prevented his death left SylviaPlath with a feeling of deliberate betrayal. rather of reaching out to otherpeople for comfort, she isolated herself with writing a s her completely expressiveoutlet, and remarkably had a poem published when she was only eight.     Plath continued prolific writing through high school and win ascholarship to Smith College in 1950 where she met her friend Anne Sexton.Sexton oftentimes joined Plath for martinis at the Ritz where they shared poetry andintellectualized discussions about death. Although they were friends, there was overly an element of competition between Sexton and Plath. Sylvia Plaths poem "Daddy" was maybe a response to Anne Sextons "My Friend, My Friend." It wasas if Plath was commenting that her writing skills were just a routine better thanSextons. Sexton frequently would express to Robert Lowell in his poetry lineher dissatisfaction with Plaths writing. She said that Plath "dodges the pointin her poetry and hadnt yet found the family that belonged to her." Thecompetitive nature of their relationship continued to the very end.   &nbs p  To all appearences, Plath appeared normal, her societal life similar toother middle class coeds.Many were attracted to Plaths brilliant mind, that fewwere aware of the inner torment that drove her to write, alienating her fromthe rest of society.     Madamoiselle magazine awarded Plath a position as guest editor thesummertime following her junior year at Smith. Friends and family were stunned ather self-destruction attempt when she returned to college, most believing she hadsuffered a nervous breakdown imputable to the stress at the magazine. Her treatmentwas considered the best the medical world could exsert and included electro-shockand psychotherapies. Plath tells her side of the story in the poem LadyLazarus where she likens her experience to a victim of the Holocaust.