Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) is perhaps the best-known female poet of the 20th Century. At times, the shock value of her poetry, as well as her tragic death, can overshadow her skill as a poet. Plath is especially known for her inventive metaphors. In "The Colossus," she refers to her father as an enormous, stone idol. She describes herself as "crawling like an ant in mourning/Over the weedy acres of our brow/To mend the immense skull-plates and clear/The bald, white tumuli of your eyes."

Plath moved from the highly-formal verse of the New Critics to the simpler and more open forms that characterize her later verse. She uses repeated rhymes and alliteration to give her later poetry the rhythm of nursery rhymes. This creates a sharp contrast between the form and content of her poetry. Plath often uses harsh-sounding, Anglo-Saxon words that create a jarring, curse-like effect. She also strings together accented, single-syllable words to add power to such closing lines as:

Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air. ("Lady Lazarus")

From her arrival on the poetry scene to this day, Plath has been raised up as a banner for feminists, angst-ridden teens, and amateur poets. Her personal struggle with depression, suicide, and feelings of victimization offer widespread appeal. However, in her poetry, Plath consistently isolates herself even from those who might commiserate with her. In "Lady Lazarus," she speaks disdainfully of the "peanut-crunching crowd" that is so interested in the sensation of her suicidal nature. It seems that even in bearing her soul, Plath cannot gain any level of community. Her poetry ends up as the equivalent of a "big strip tease" for the masses.

Young poets might take the content of Plath's poetry as a sign that pain is what creates great poetry. Personal suffering has been the subject of incredibly powerful poems; however, shock and psychosis aren't the only ingredients for memorable poetry. Sylvia Plath continues to be an important figure in American poetry because of her poetic skill. Her carefully-sculpted poems reveal her talent as a poet, which was exercised in spite of her daily battles with desperation and terror.

Sylvia Plath was a mother of two and the wife of Ted Hughes, a prestigious, English poet. Hughes left Plath in 1962. She attempted to commit suicide for the third time in 1963. Sadly, she succeeded. In 1982, The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath received the Pulitzer Prize. Plath was the first poet to receive the prize posthumously.

Biography and Photos
More Poems by Plath
A Wealth of Essays on Plath
The 2003 Film Sylvia

Photo Courtesy: Madison Public Library
Information: Academy of American Poets