2012 First-Class Forever Stamp,20th Century American Poets: Sylvia Plath

U.S. #4658
2013 Sylvia Plath
20th Century American Poet
Issue Date: April 21, 2012
City: Los Angeles, CA
Quantity: 2,000,000
Printed By: Ashton Potter
Printing Method: Offset
Perforations: Die cut 10 ¾ x 11
Color: multicolored
 

Troubled from a young age, Sylvia Plath (1932-63) published only one book of poems during her life, yet she is considered one of the most prolific female poets of the 20th century.

Plath’s father died when she was just eight, beginning a trauma that would last throughout her life. It was at this time that she wrote her first poem. 

Despite her great success at Smith College, Plath’s depression was unavoidable, and she made her first suicide attempt. After six months of intensive electroshock therapy, she returned to school and eventually graduated magna cum laude. 

She met her husband, poet Ted Hughes, while on a Fulbright Scholarship in England. The marriage was happy at first, but when Hughes was unfaithful, Plath demanded he leave. 

Plath’s early writing focused on the moon, blood, hospitals, and skulls. Her later work explored Plath’s own damaged psyche. The final chapter of her writing, inspired by the split with Hughes, focused on rage, despair, love, and vengeance. These works were published after Plath’s 1963 suicide and are the works on which her fame largely rests. She has also been considered an early voice of the feminist movement.

Plath has the distinction of being the first poet to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize after her death.