The tragic life of poet Sylvia Plath.

 

Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath

I can't comment on the poetry of Ted Hughes or Sylvia Plath. I only know that I like poetry that rhymes or is at least, thought provoking.

I know of Sylvia Plath because of the number of times articles about her have appeared in the Guardian newspaper. The articles were not really about her poetry but about her troubled life. In death she seems to have become a feminist icon and many blame Hughes for her death. I believe that Hughes walked out on Plath and the children and that she later gassed herself, while both her children, aged one and two, slept. The poor woman had opened the windows and used masking tape to seal the doors so that the gas wouldn't reach the children. She'd even left food for them.

This is very sad and tragic, but she herself acknowledged publicly that she had made several suicide attempts before this, the first being in 1953, before she met Ted Hughes. She swallowed sleeping pills. I believe this is referred to in her novel ‘The Bell Jar’. There have been reports that Sylvia Plath tried to cut her throat at 10 and disfigure her face at 14. The suicide attempts tended to coincide with traumatic events such as the death of her father or the breakdown of a relationship.

One can never be certain why people take their own lives and it often comes as a tremendous shock to friends and family who weren't expecting it. It isn't always the case that it's due to mental health issues, some people just want to stop living; they become weary of life.

We all take life for granted, but one of the greatest things, is to have been given a life and I think we ought to try and make the most of it in spite of its trials and tribulations. Life has a lot to offer but it's not a dress rehearsal, you get one shot at it. I'm approaching 69 years of age, and my 21st birthday, seems like yesterday.