Sylvia Plath: Career

Sylvia Plath: Born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, US

During the 1950s, when she just attended Smith College, she regularly sent out poems and stories to famous women's magazines, facing rejection most of the time.

In 1953, her short story, “Sunday at the Mintons" won first prize in a Mademoiselle contest. From this story, she also won a Guest Editor position at "Mademoiselle" magazine during her month-long stay in New York City. The important events that took place in this month are thoroughly covered in her novel, "The Bell Jar."

In 1958, Plath took a job as a receptionist in the psychiatric unit of Massachusetts General Hospital and in the evening sat in on creative writing seminars given by poet Robert Lowell.

Starting in October 1962, Sylvia Plath wrote the most praised and well-known poems, published as the “Collected Poems”.

1981, she recieved the Pultzier prize for the Collected Poems.

Sylvia Plath was a star student, making straight A's throughout high school. She excelled in English, particularly creative writing. Even in her youth, she was driven to succeed as a poet.

After her marriage, Plath was offered a teaching position in Freshman English at Smith's College. She laboured day in and day out, while being a housewife and typing manuscripts of Ted Hughes's poems. She still did not stop writing her own poems.

This was when Plath began to conceive of herself as a more serious, focused poet and short-story writer. She also published many of her works and received prizes at this stage in her life.