Sylvia Plath :: essays papers

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath is a writer whose life has generated much interest. This may be because of her tragic, untimely death and her highly personal writings. Studying Sylvia^s life lets her readers understand her works better. Many of the imagery and attitudes in her poetry are based on her life experiences. Throughout her short life, Sylvia Plath loved the sea. She spent her childhood years on the Atlantic coast just north of Boston. This setting provides a source for a lot of her poetic ideas. Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1932. Her parents were Aurelia Schober and Otto Emil Plath. Her father was a professor of biology and German at Boston University. He was of German descent and had emigrated from Grabow when he was fifteen. Her mother was a first generation American, she was born in Boston of Austrian parents. Both of them being German indirectly lead to their meeting in 1929. Aurelia Schober took a German class taught by Otto Plath. She was working on a master's degree in English and German at Boston University at the time. Otto Plath was guided by discipline. As his young family grew, Otto Plath's career flourished. He published the book Bumblebees and Their Ways not long after Sylvia's birth. During this time, his writing occupied most of his time. This excluded any chance for a social life. In 1936, the Plath's moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts. Otto's health had began to fail. He diagnosed his own illness as lung cancer and refused to see a doctor. Sylvia spent much of her time by the ocean. She would go exploring by herself or she would play with her younger brother, Warren because her father needed quite. She would also visit her grandparents who lived nearby on the ocean at Point Shirley. Four years later Otto Plath died of diabetes mellitus. In 1942, the family moved away from the sea. Aurelia Plath decided she must return to work in order to support her family. Despite her own health problems, she began teaching nearby. In the summer of 1942, Aurelia was offered the job of designing and teaching a course at Boston University. She accepeted and the whole family moved. Sylvia Plath's eight years in Wellesley helped her grow and develop her writing skills. Sensitive, intelligent, compelled toward perfection in everything she attempted, she was, on the surface, a model daughter, popular in school, earning straight A's, winning the best prizes. Yet her success only bred problems. When she moved to Wellesley, she was