Plath, Sylvia (1932–1963)

US poet and novelist. Her powerful, highly personal poems, often expressing a sense of desolation, are distinguished by their intensity and sharp imagery. Her Collected Poems (1981) was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar (1961) deals with the events surrounding a young woman's emotional breakdown.

Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Smith College, and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study at Cambridge University, England. Here she met the English poet Ted Hughes, whom she married in 1956; they separated in 1962. She committed suicide while living in London. Collections of her poems include The Colossus (1960) and Ariel (1965), published after her death.