The Life Of Sylvia Plath :: essays research papers fc

The Life of Sylvia PlathSylvia Plaths life, like her manic depression, constantly jumpedbetween Heaven and Hell. Her seemingly perfect exterior hid a turbulent anddeeply troubled spirit. A closer look at her childhood and personalexperiences removes some element of mystery from her writings.One central character to Sylvia Plaths poems is her father, ProfessorOtto Emile Plath. Otto Plath was diabetic and refused to stay away from foodsrestricted by his doctor. As a result , he developed a sore on his left foot.Professor Plath handle the sore, and eventually the foot was overcome withgangrene. The foot and then the entire left leg were amputated in an effort tosave his life, but he died in November of 1940, when Sylvia was effective eight categorys old.     The fact that her father could have prevented his death left SylviaPlath with a feeling of deliberate betrayal. Instead of reaching out to other heap for comfort, she isolated herself with writing as her only expressiveoutlet, and remarkably had a poem published when she was only eight.     Plath continued prolific writing through high-pitched school and won ascholarship 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 andintellectualized discussions about death. Although they were friends, in that location wasalso an element of competition between Sexton and Plath. Sylvia Plaths poem "Daddy" was possibly a response to Anne Sextons "My Friend, My Friend." It wasas if Plath was commenting that her writing skills were just a flake better thanSextons. Sexton frequently would express to Robert Lowell in his poetry classher dissatisfaction with Plaths writing. She said that Plath "dodges the pointin her poetry and hadnt yet found the form that belonged to her." Themilitant nature of their relationship continued to the very end.      To all appearences, Plath appeared normal, her social life similar toother middle class coeds.Many were attracted to Plaths brilliant mind, but 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 thesummer following her junior year at Smith. Friends and family were stunned ather suicide attempt when she returned to college, most believing she hadsuffered a nervous breakdown due to the stress at the magazine. Her treatmentwas considered the beaver the medical world could offer 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.