The Life Of Sylvia Plath
...Heaven and Hell. Her seemingly perfect exterior hid a turbulent and
deeply troubled spirit. A closer look at her childhood and personal
experiences removes some element of mystery from her writings.
One central character to Sylvia Plath's poems is her father, Professor
Otto Emile Plath. Otto Plath was diabetic and refused to stay away from foods
restricted by his doctor. As a result , he developed a sore on his left foot.
Professor Plath ignored the sore, and eventually the foot was overcome with
gangrene. The foot and then the entire left leg were amputated in an effort to
save his life, but he died in November of 1940, when Sylvia was just eight
years old.
The fact that her father could have prevented his death left Sylvia
Plath with a feeling of deliberate betrayal. Instead of reaching out to other
people for comfort, she isolated herself with writing as her only expressive
outlet, and remarkably had a poem published when she was only eight.
Plath continued prolific writing through high school and won a
scholarship to Smith College in 1950 where she met her friend Anne Sexton.
Sexton often joined Plath for martinis at the Ritz where they shared poetry and
intellectualized discussions about death. Although they were friends, there was
also an element of competition between Sexton and Plath. Sylvia Plath's poem "
Daddy" was possibly a response to Anne Sexton's "My Friend, My Friend." It was
as if Plath was commenting that her writing skills were just a bit better than
Sexton's. Sexton frequently would express to Robert Lowell in his poetry class
her dissatisfaction with Plath's writing. She said that Plath "dodges the point
in her poetry and hadn't yet found the form that belonged to her." The
competitive nature of their relationship continued to the very end.
To all appearances
, Plath appeared normal, her social life similar to...
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