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Thread: Sylvia Plath

  1. #1
    SistaSara Guest

    Sylvia Plath

    Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 â?? February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer.
    Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, detailing her struggle with depression. Along with Anne Sexton, Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry that Robert Lowell and W.D. Snodgrass initiated.

    College years

    During the summer after her third year of college, Plath received the position of guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine, during which she spent a month in New York City. The experience was not at all what she had hoped it would be, beginning within her a seemingly downward spiral in her outlook on herself and life in general. Many of the events that took place during that summer were later used as inspiration for her novel The Bell Jar. In her junior year at Smith College, Plath made her first medically documented suicide attempt by crawling under her house and taking an overdose of sleeping pills.[2] Details of her documented and possible undocumented attempts at suicide are chronicled in her book. After her suicide attempt, Plath was briefly committed to a mental institution where she received electroconvulsive therapy.[3] Her stay at McLean Hospital was paid for by Olive Higgins Prouty, who had also funded the scholarship awarded to Plath to attend Smith. Plath seemed to make an acceptable recovery and graduated from Smith with honors in 1955. She obtained a Fulbright scholarship to Cambridge University where she continued actively writing poetry, occasionally publishing her work in the student newspaper Varsity. It was at a party given in Cambridge that she met the English poet Ted Hughes. They were married on June 16, 1956 after a short courtship.[4]

    Wife, mother and poet

    Plath and Hughes spent from July 1957 to October 1959 living and working in the United States, where Plath taught at Smith. They then moved to Boston where Plath sat in on seminars given by Robert Lowell. Also attending Lowell's seminars was Anne Sexton. At this time, Plath and Hughes also met, for the first time, W. S. Merwin, who admired their work and was to remain a lifelong friend.[5]
    Upon learning that Plath was pregnant, the couple moved back to the United Kingdom. Plath and Hughes lived in London for a while on Chalcot Square near the Primrose Hill area of Regent's Park, and then settled in the small market town of North Tawton in Devon. While there, Plath published her first collection of poetry, The Colossus. In February 1961, she suffered a miscarriage, and a number of her poems address this event.[6]
    Soon, Plath's marriage to Hughes met with many difficulties, particularly from his affair with Assia Wevill, and they separated in late 1962.[7] She returned to London with their children, Frieda and Nicholas, and rented a flat at 23 Fitzroy Road (only a few blocks from the Chalcot Square apartment) in a house where W.B. Yeats once lived. Plath was pleased by this fact and considered it a good omen.[8]

    Death


    Plath's grave at Heptonstall church, West Yorkshire


    Plath took her own life on the morning of February 11, 1963. She left out bread and milk and completely sealed the rooms between herself and her sleeping children with "wet towels and cloths."[9] Plath then placed her head in the oven in her kitchen while the gas was turned on.
    It has been suggested that Plath's timing and planning of this suicide attempt was too precise, too coincidental, and that she had not meant to succeed in killing herself. Apparently, she had previously asked Mr. Thomas, her downstairs neighbor, what time he would be leaving; and a note had been placed that read "Call Dr. Horder" and listed his phone number.[10] Therefore it is argued that Plath must have turned the gas on at a time when Mr. Thomas should have been waking and beginning his day. This theory maintains that the gas, for several hours, seeped through the floor and reached Mr. Thomas and another resident of the floor below. Also, an au pair was to arrive at nine o'clock that morning to help Plath with the care of her children. Upon arrival, the au pair could not get into the flat, but was eventually let in by painters, who had a key to the front door.
    However, in the book Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath, Jillian Becker says that, "according to Mr. Goodchildâ??a police officer attached to the coroner's office . . . she had thrust her head far into the gas oven. 'She had really meant to die.'"
    Plath's gravestone bears the inscription "Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted." The gravestone has been repeatedly vandalized with supporters of Plath chiselling off the name "Hughes." This practice intensified following the suicide in 1969 of Assia Wevill, the woman for whom he left Plath, which led to claims that Hughes had been abusive toward Plath.

  2. #2
    Jaxxx Guest
    another good thread sista, when i was in high school the Bell Jar was banned, so naturally i had to read it.

  3. #3
    Noelle Page Guest
    Didn't Assia stick her head in the oven, too? And somehow kill her and Ted's child? WTF?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Noelle Page View Post
    Didn't Assia stick her head in the oven, too? And somehow kill her and Ted's child? WTF?
    Yeah, she took her daughter Shura into the kitchen, sealed the door and window, took sleeping pills and turned on the gas.

  5. #5
    Kathyf Guest
    Interesting. I think the grave looks Unique. Never read that book is it hard to get?

  6. #6
    Reecy Guest
    I thought Gwyneth Paltrow did a wonderful job portraying Sylvia Plath in the movie.

  7. #7
    cachluv Guest
    I'm not a big Gwynny fan but Paltrow surely did a wonderful job in the movie.

  8. #8
    cherryghost Guest
    And so did Daniel Craig playing Ted Hughes!
    Ariel is a great book of poems and I loved "The Bell Jar"

  9. #9
    Jazbabee Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Kathyf View Post
    Interesting. I think the grave looks Unique. Never read that book is it hard to get?
    No, The Bell Jar is readily available in bookstores now. As a matter of fact, many high schools now have it on their reading lists.

  10. #10
    Lisamarie Guest
    Ted Hughes ...what an asshole...to me if you have two broads kill themselves on your clock..you have problems buddy....at least Slyvia did not take her children.....This Assis was a horrible person...if you ever read Slyvia journal she kept the parts Ted Hughes didint destroy...you read how Assia made her life hell when they all lived together....basiclly doing everything in her power to seduce him away...he must be hell to live with though.Two of his exes offed themselves.....he must be dreamy! Hes a dickhead.

  11. #11
    tngirl1967 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Lisamarie View Post
    Ted Hughes ...what an asshole...to me if you have two broads kill themselves on your clock..you have problems buddy....at least Slyvia did not take her children.....This Assis was a horrible person...if you ever read Slyvia journal she kept the parts Ted Hughes didint destroy...you read how Assia made her life hell when they all lived together....basiclly doing everything in her power to seduce him away...he must be hell to live with though.Two of his exes offed themselves.....he must be dreamy! Hes a dickhead.
    Amen to that Lisamarie!

  12. #12
    hoxharding Guest
    I had to read The Bell Jar in high school-it was banned in my town I guess.
    There is another poet-Anne Sexton-I think she took her life also.

  13. #13
    Lisamarie Guest
    amen sista!

  14. #14
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    Hughes finally became a dead d---head in 1998, 35 years after Plath, and 29 years after Weevil. He was married for 28 years to Carol Orchard, who, unlike the previous ladies, was NOT a writer, but a nurse. Perhaps this gave her the strength to stick with Hughes until his death, because in the interim, he also cheated on HER. I guess she wasn't too crazy about his children by Plath (though Hughes seems to have been an okay father) because after her husband's death, she refused to share ownership of his copyright with them and Hughes's sister.
    There was a bio of Plath some time ago, wherein it was suggested (as a theory) that Hughes, who allegedly was interested in witchcraft, etc., planted a post-hynoptic suggestion of suicide to his estranged wife at their last meeting. The fact that Assia Weevil chose to take herself and little Shura out the same way (while sitting on a trunk full of Sylvia's papers, IIRC) added fuel to this allegation.
    This is a bit much for me. I used to admire and symapthize with Plath when I was young and naive, but since then, have come to the conclusion that Sylvia was inevitably going to complete her suicide mission eventually, Hughes or no Hughes, and save that Assia killed her own child, the world was probably well rid of her peculiar self.
    Last edited by Linnie; 12-14-2007 at 11:23 PM.

  15. #15
    cherryghost Guest
    Women poets live a life full of risks!

  16. #16
    Mamma Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cherryghost View Post
    Women poets live a life full of risks!
    Another thread, but Virginia Wolfe was just as sad and tortured. Rent or watch "The Hours". Absolutely amazing.

  17. #17
    cherryghost Guest
    Exactly! Seen the film! kidman was not right for the part tho, all that crap about her prosthetic nose was distracting from her usual banal performance. All the other actresses were great! Australian actress Ruth Cracknell on stage doing Virginia was a great experience to view in the early 90's!

  18. #18
    Mamma Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cherryghost View Post
    Exactly! Seen the film! kidman was not right for the part tho, all that crap about her prosthetic nose was distracting from her usual banal performance. All the other actresses were great! Australian actress Ruth Cracknell on stage doing Virginia was a great experience to view in the early 90's!
    That is so weird you say that! I completely forgot that was Kidman until I saw her name in anothet thread! I mean, she looked like Wolfe with the nose and all ...and she even rolled her own to smoke, wow! But even Kidman playing Wolfe wasn't the best part ...I liked the characters of Julianne Moore as the perfect 1950's mom, and also Meryl Streep as a lesbian. That was intense!

  19. #19
    Noelle Page Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Lisamarie View Post
    Ted Hughes ...what an asshole...to me if you have two broads kill themselves on your clock..you have problems buddy....at least Slyvia did not take her children.....This Assis was a horrible person...if you ever read Slyvia journal she kept the parts Ted Hughes didint destroy...you read how Assia made her life hell when they all lived together....basiclly doing everything in her power to seduce him away...he must be hell to live with though.Two of his exes offed themselves.....he must be dreamy! Hes a dickhead.
    All true, but let's face it, he attracted women who were nutty and fragile to begin with.

  20. #20
    Noelle Page Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cherryghost View Post
    Exactly! Seen the film! kidman was not right for the part tho, all that crap about her prosthetic nose was distracting from her usual banal performance. All the other actresses were great! Australian actress Ruth Cracknell on stage doing Virginia was a great experience to view in the early 90's!
    Lots of Nicole bashing in the past few days. I'm lovin it!

  21. #21
    NOVSTORM Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Noelle Page View Post
    All true, but let's face it, he attracted women who were nutty and fragile to begin with.
    I think he looked for women like that because he knew he could run the into the ground and cheat on them and they were insecure so they would put up with his bulllshit.

    The other wife that killed her and the child wasn't to secure either. How many times was she married?
    I read a lot about Hughes and I just don't like the man. I feel for thoise women that killed themselves but why take a child with you?
    The last wife is probably what he deserved LOL Too bad his kids didn't sue the pants off of her.

  22. 01-12-2008, 11:45 PM
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    made mistake

  23. #22
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    There's a rare photo of Assia Wevill and poor little Shura, whom she murdered, here:

    http://www.sheilaomalley.com/archives/007126.html

    Also there is a new biography of Assia out now, A LOVER OF UNREASON ( title is from an epitaph she made up for herself) by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev.

  24. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Linnie View Post
    There's a rare photo of Assia Wevill and poor little Shura, whom she murdered, here:

    http://www.sheilaomalley.com/archives/007126.html

    Also there is a new biography of Assia out now, A LOVER OF UNREASON ( title is from an epitaph she made up for herself) by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev.
    A haunting picture, and thoughtful posts by all the people who responded at that page. I have to agree there are at least two sides to a given story. Like someone mentioned on the entry above, he seemed to gravitate towards fragile but unconventional women, and clearly these women had baggage to begin with. Not that his behavior didn't prod them over the edge, but I don't think he's the big villian of the story that Plath worshippers make him out to be. He also kept his own counsel until his death and at least didn't bad mouth the memory of his living children's mother.

    Thanks for posting that link!

    I have a friend who is a major Sylvia Plath fan, and she's done a lot of reading about Hughes as well. She cuts him a fair amount of slack, after having done the research.

    As someone mentioned earlier, Anne Sexton if often mentioned with Sylvia Plath. I had forgotten they were actually acquainted and friendly. Sexton committed suicide in her garage via carbon monoxide poisoning in 1974:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sexton

    Peter Gabriel's song "Mercy Street" off the "So" album is about Anne. She's buried in Jamaica Plain, MA. I should go photograph the grave!

  25. #24
    Vamp Guest

    Sylvia Plath

    Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 â?? February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer.
    Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The book's protagonist, Esther Greenwood, is a bright, ambitious student at Smith College who begins to experience a mental breakdown while interning for a fashion magazine in New York. The plot parallels Plath's experience interning at Mademoiselle magazine and subsequent mental breakdown and suicide attempt.
    Along with Anne Sexton, Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry initiated by Robert Lowell and W. D. Snodgrass.

    During the summer after her third year of college, Plath received the position of guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine, during which she spent a month in New York City. The experience was not at all what she had hoped it would be, beginning within her a seemingly downward spiral in her outlook on herself and life in general. Many of the events that took place during that summer were later used as inspiration for her novel The Bell Jar. In her junior year at Smith College, Plath made her first medically documented suicide attempt by crawling under her house and taking an overdose of sleeping pills.[3] Details of her documented and possibly undocumented attempts at suicide are chronicled in her book. After her suicide attempt, Plath was briefly committed to a mental institution where she received electroconvulsive therapy.[2] Her stay at McLean Hospital was paid for by Olive Higgins Prouty, who had also funded the scholarship awarded to Plath to attend Smith. Plath seemed to make an acceptable recovery and graduated from Smith with honors in 1955. She obtained a Fulbright scholarship to Cambridge University where she continued actively writing poetry, occasionally publishing her work in the student newspaper Varsity. It was at a party given in Cambridge that she met the English poet Ted Hughes. They were married on June 16, 1956 (Bloomsday) at St George the Martyr Holborn after a short courtship.[4]

    [edit] Wife, mother and poet

    Plath and Hughes spent from July 1957 to October 1959 living and working in the United States, where Plath taught at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The couple then moved to Boston where Plath audited seminars by Robert Lowell that were also attended by Anne Sexton. At this time, Plath and Hughes also met, for the first time, W. S. Merwin, who admired their work and was to remain a lifelong friend.[5]
    Upon learning that Plath was pregnant, the couple moved back to the United Kingdom. Plath and Hughes lived in London for a while on Chalcot Square near the Primrose Hill area of Regent's Park, and then settled in the small market town of North Tawton in Devon. While there, Plath published her first collection of poetry, The Colossus. In February 1961, she suffered a miscarriage, and a number of her poems address this event.[6]
    Plath's marriage to Hughes was wrought with difficulties, particularly surrounding his affair with Assia Wevill, and the couple separated in late 1962.[7] She returned to London with their children, Frieda and Nicholas, and rented a flat at 23 Fitzroy Road (only a few blocks from the Chalcot Square apartment) in a house where W. B. Yeats once lived. Plath was pleased by this fact and considered it a good omen.[8]

    [edit] Death


    Plath's grave at Heptonstall church, West Yorkshire


    Plath took her own life on the morning of February 11, 1963. Leaving out bread and milk, she completely sealed the rooms between herself and her sleeping children with "wet towels and cloths."[9] Plath then placed her head in the oven while the gas was turned on.
    It has been suggested that Plath's suicide attempt was too precise and coincidental, and that she had not intended to succeed in killing herself. Apparently, she had previously asked Mr. Thomas, her downstairs neighbor, what time he would be leaving; and a note had been placed that read "Call Dr. Horder" and listed his phone number.[10] Therefore it is argued that Plath must have turned the gas on at a time when Mr. Thomas should have been waking and beginning his day. This theory maintains that the gas, for several hours, seeped through the floor and reached Mr. Thomas and another resident of the floor below. Also, an au pair was to arrive at nine o'clock that morning to help Plath with the care of her children. Upon arrival, the au pair could not get into the flat, but was eventually let in by painters, who had a key to the front door.
    However, in the book Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath, Jillian Becker says that, "according to Mr. Goodchildâ??a police officer attached to the coroner's office . . . she had thrust her head far into the gas oven. 'She had really meant to die.'"
    Plath's gravestone in Heptonstall churchyard bears the inscription "Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted." The gravestone has been repeatedly vandalized with supporters of Plath chiselling off the name "Hughes." This practice intensified following the suicide in 1969 of Assia Wevill, the woman for whom Ted Hughes had left Plath, which led to claims that Hughes had been abusive toward Plath.[11]


  26. #25
    endsleigh03 Guest
    Bump

  27. #26
    Ms. Black Guest
    Sylvia Plath is one of my favorite authors. The Bell Jar is absolutely amazing. It's a shame she killed herself because she was so talented. Her poems were among the best of that era.

  28. #27
    Mach2 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Ms. Black View Post
    Sylvia Plath is one of my favorite authors. The Bell Jar is absolutely amazing. It's a shame she killed herself because she was so talented. Her poems were among the best of that era.
    There is an episode of Seinfeld where George inadvertantly learns his parents are divorcing so he pulls a Sylvia Path: he turns on the gas and sticks his head in the oven in Jerry's kitchen.
    Last edited by Mach2; 06-14-2008 at 01:18 AM.

  29. #28
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    I've read the Bell Jar a thousand times. One of my most prized books is thin volume of her poetry that my mom got me. It's nothing special, just a paperback, but mom wrote a note to me in it because she knew I loved Plath. Good thread!
    The most dangerous woman of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her because she carries her own.

    - R.H. Sin

  30. #29
    Vamp Guest
    I read the Bell Jar for the first time in my early teens. It is an amazing book.

  31. #30
    Lisamarie Guest
    I still think he was a heartless dick.....so did two of his wives....and to think he still profits with Slyvias writing gets me too.....after he edited them himself to make himself look better.....yeah great guy! I think he chose weak woman to make himself feel stronger. Thats pic must have been taken not too long befroe the murder suicide because thats about the age the little girl was.....one of my friends attended his poetry readings and she said he was a total jerk and openly flirted with the pretty girls.......not to jude ( allthough I alreay have) I just have never cared for him.....too suicides.....two too many if you ask me..you must be hell to live with.

  32. #31
    LadyDay Guest
    When Sylvia discovered Ted was having an affair she said to me: 'I have given my heart away and I can't take it back - it is like living without a heart.' "

    This quote really gets to me.

  33. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reecy View Post
    I thought Gwyneth Paltrow did a wonderful job portraying Sylvia Plath in the movie.
    much to my dismay, i have to agree. she did have that "tragic" aura about her...well, she has that anyways even when she's not in a movie.

    i find ted hughs the most interesting character in this lot. i'm wondering what he had or what he did that made his ex-wive(s) kill themselves. this guy's mojo levels must be "to-die-for"...

  34. #33
    Maruz83 Guest
    I just read the "the bell jar".. it was wonderful...

  35. #34
    John Connor Guest
    Because of her suicide she has taken on an almost mythical quality especially for young female writers. The Bell Jar is such a great book, I have read it many times. I love her plain yet descriptive English. She was also very funny.

  36. #35
    Lisamarie Guest
    if youtube her name they have allot of her poety reading with her eading them herself...she is amazing ..and Ted was so awful to her...within two weeks of her death her had his misstress moved into Slyvias suicide home and sleeping in her bed ..no shit....thats cold and what kind of women would be cool with that!!! Like oh yeah let me sleep in this pooor womand bed....with her husband .

  37. #36
    John Connor Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Lisamarie View Post
    if youtube her name they have allot of her poety reading with her eading them herself...she is amazing ..and Ted was so awful to her...within two weeks of her death her had his misstress moved into Slyvias suicide home and sleeping in her bed ..no shit....thats cold and what kind of women would be cool with that!!! Like oh yeah let me sleep in this pooor womand bed....with her husband .
    Ted Hughes was a bastard but wasn't that the attraction for these gals? Daddy would make you suffer and ultimately go away. Her voice is much different than I thought it would be, I expected breathless and girlish. Gwyneth Paltrow had it done.

  38. 11-14-2010, 03:58 PM

  39. 11-14-2010, 04:02 PM

  40. 11-14-2010, 04:04 PM

  41. #37
    pvezz Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by John Connor View Post
    Because of her suicide she has taken on an almost mythical quality especially for young female writers. The Bell Jar is such a great book, I have read it many times. I love her plain yet descriptive English. She was also very funny.

    I agree. I just finished The Bell Jar last night. She was really incredibly funny; there were times that I literally laughed out loud at some of it. I hadn't realized that her mother did not want the book published here in the States.

  42. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Linnie View Post
    I used to admire and symapthize with Plath when I was young and naive, but since then, have come to the conclusion that Sylvia was inevitably going to complete her suicide mission eventually, Hughes or no Hughes, and save that Assia killed her own child, the world was probably well rid of her peculiar self.
    Florence King wrote the best skewering of Sylvia's inflated reputation ever in an essay called "The Other Plath".
    Last edited by StudioJoe; 03-18-2011 at 05:17 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mach2 View Post
    There is an episode of Seinfeld where George inadvertantly learns his parents are divorcing so he pulls a Sylvia Path: he turns on the gas and sticks his head in the oven in Jerry's kitchen.
    True, and it's an electric oven!

  44. #40
    NewYorkDoll Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by StudioJoe View Post
    Florence King wrote the best skewering of Sylvia's inflated reputation ever in an essay called "The Other Plath".

    florence king doesn't like other women very much. especially other female writers.

  45. #41
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    Ick

    I detest Sylvia Plath

  46. #42
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    On another thread we are deploring a woman who molested her child for the gratification of an Internet perv-buddy.

    I have read that Plath's pal and fellow suicide sister Anne Sexton molested HER daughter. But oh, she wrote poetry, that one is made to read in college, whoop-tee-doo. Killed my interest when I heard that.

    Maybe the other twit should have gotten a college degree and wrote some poems. That would have justified EVERYTHING, no doubt.

    While Plath, so far as it is known, did not molest or abuse HER kids (nor apparently. did her husband) she still had a negative influence (post-mortem.) Her son Nicholas committed suicide not so long ago (there's a thread for him somewhere) and her daughter Freida has had her share of problems (and she has no further descendants. Plath's brother, nieces, and their offspring, however, seem to have gotten by okay, so far.)

    I am so tired of glorifying these people, just because they can cobble some nifty phrases in iambic pentameter or whatever you call it.

  47. #43
    diddlybuds Guest
    Sorry to bump this up after so long, but I came across a picture of Sylvia Plath included in a commemorative post on Tumblr. I wondered if anyone could verify its authenticity? I'm unsure as to whether it's a recreation or an actual picture, and can't find anything to prove either theory.

    Link is here - warning, death pic! - http://tea-and-skeletons.tumblr.com/...g-else-i-do-it

    Thanks in advance for any response.

    Sam.

  48. #44
    jhpeters2 Guest
    I got a chuckle out of that!! Please don't feel sorry for me. But, yeah, dress or not, body or not, tis what I always thought of Sylvia Plath. OK kill me...

  49. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by diddlybuds View Post
    Sorry to bump this up after so long, but I came across a picture of Sylvia Plath included in a commemorative post on Tumblr. I wondered if anyone could verify its authenticity? I'm unsure as to whether it's a recreation or an actual picture, and can't find anything to prove either theory.

    Link is here - warning, death pic! - http://tea-and-skeletons.tumblr.com/...g-else-i-do-it

    Thanks in advance for any response.

    Sam.
    No, that's not Sylvia--for starters, this looks like an older woman than Sylvia was when she died. Also, the winter she died was brutally cold, and most homes in the UK didn't have central heating, so I don't think she would have been wearing open-toe strappy shoes somehow. My guess is that it's not a picture of an actual suicide, but a recreation; at the very least, though, I'm 99.99% sure that's not Sylvia.

  50. #46
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    That's a pretty undignified angle from which to photograph such a death/crime scene. Why would it have been necessary to practically look up her dress? So maybe it's not a real suicide photo.

    I also doubt it's Sylvia. She killed herself in February 1963 during the worst, coldest winter London had seen in many years. The water pipes even froze and burst in the old apartment building she and her kids were living in. (She was so thrilled to get that flat as it was a building where Yeats had lived.... like 50 years before. I doubt even Yeats enjoyed it that much.)

    I don't know what she was wearing at the time, but I imagine it was warmer clothing than this lady wore, regardless of whether she was going to need a sweater after death. This one looks dressed for a summer's day, with a short dress, high-heeled sandals, and even gloves. Sylvia spent some time preparing her children's room and locking them in. Dressing up may not have been a priority, and she apparently wanted to get the party started before the au pair showed up.

    Not Assia Wevill, either. According to Wikipedia, she and daughter Shura were found dead on a mattress in their kitchen. She did not stick HER head into the oven. She sealed the room and used sleeping pills on herself and the child. Plus, it was March, again in London, when one assumes it would have been kind of a cold day.
    Last edited by Linnie; 11-14-2012 at 07:08 PM.

  51. #47
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    When I first saw this post, I thought it was about a former newscaster, shows you how involved I am in the literary world. I just find this information fascinating, everything that's been said about Mr Hughes is spot on, he preyed upon the vulnerable. I just hate that these talented women felt the need to cash in their chips while still on top, and for one to include such an innocent life with her demise sickens me.
    By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once; we owe God a death.... He that dies this year is quit for the next.
    --William Shakespeare!

  52. #48
    diddlybuds Guest
    Thank you very much for all your replies, and for the fabulous information. I suspected as much, that it was a dodgy recreation at best, but I just wanted another opinion on it.

    Thanks again!

    Sam.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NewYorkDoll View Post
    florence king doesn't like other women very much. especially other female writers.
    That's because King was a better writer. Plath is best remembered for the soap opera of her married life. Her writings only survive in classrooms where students mortgaging their futures for overpriced college degrees are force-fed her poesy.
    Last edited by StudioJoe; 04-13-2017 at 03:57 PM.

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