Logan Curry
 Staff Writer

Sylvia Plath, well-known for her dark, wild and complex poetry, began to write at a young age, and eventually became a world-renowned poet.

She dealt with depression for the majority of her life, which readers can frequently identify in her work. Her self-destructiveness fueled her creativity, which is what made Plath unique.

In 1963, Plath committed suicide by inhaling gas from her kitchen oven.

She was influenced greatly by the contemporary poets: Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Ted Hughes, her husband and publisher.

In 1962 Hughes and Plath separated after Plath found out about Hughes’ affair with the Assia Wevill.

After Plath’s death, Hughes published her works in the “Collected Poems,” and in 1981, Plath was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

What is hailed as some of Plath’s most profound poetry was written in her poetry book, “Ariel.”

“Ariel” was published in 1965, two years after her death, and it is speculated that some poems in “Ariel” were written as recent as two weeks before her death. However, the majority of the poems in “Ariel” were found to be written in the last few months before her death.

Initially unknown outside of poetry circles, Plath became famous around the world during the late to mid twentieth century.

Some of her most popular and predominantly reproduced works are from “Ariel;” which features dark themes often argued to allude to Plath’s suicide.

“Ariel,” from an external approach, is about an experience of Plath’s in which she rode on the back of a horse. As the horse galloped, she lost control; this horse’s name was Ariel.

Metaphorically, the horse could be interpreted to represent Plath’s life, in that she felt unable to firmly grasp it.

“Ariel,” the poem, is a stylistically complex and potentially confusing in that it may take readers multiple read-throughs to comprehend. The poem itself doesn’t even utter the word horse in it, leaving readers little contextual clues in the poem.  It is written in tercets, a three-line stanza, and is dense in assonance, consonance and rhyme.

Of the traumatic events which affected Plath’s poetry, a frequently interpreted theme is that of her father’s death.

Plath’s father died when she was eight years old due to complications from diabetes.

These complications, however, were particularly grim, as her father was already dying from lung cancer when diabetic complications necessitated the amputation of his leg. After his amputation, Plath’s father gradually deteriorated and died in the hospital.

This tremendously impacted Plath’s life, poetry and mental health.

Her first published book of poems, “The Colossus and Other Poems,” was published in 1960, and features the prominently known poem, “The Colossus,” which is about a person who helplessly tries to put a statue that is in pieces back together.

In “The Colossus,” the speaker understands that her desire to put the statue back together is futile, but insists on trying anyways.

No one can say for certain, but scholars generally believe that Plath is referencing the her remorse about failing to fix the broken relationship she had with her father.

This theory is supported her poem, “Daddy,” in which Plath passionately details the hatred she felt towards her father.

A particularly stirring example of this is in the last stanza of “Daddy;” “There’s a stake in your fat black heart, and the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you.  They always knew it was you.  Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.”

“Daddy,” and many more of Plath’s works illustrate the complicated nature of the relationship she had with her father, and the ways in which his presence and death affected her life.

Unfortunately, much of Plath’s traumatic life and death are more widely recognized than her poetry.  However, Plath holds a legacy as one of the most influential poets of twentieth century.