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| Photo taken by: Clive and Chris |
Location: Heptonstall Church, West Yorkshire, England
Cause of death: Suicide – Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Buy books by Sylvia Plath
American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before becoming a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956, with whom she had two children. Following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963.
Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two published collections: The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel. In 1982, she became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry posthumously, for Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death.
Plath's gravestone in Heptonstall churchyard bears the inscription that Hughes chose for her:
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| Photo taken by: Milky |
"Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted."
The quote has been attributed to both the 16th century Buddhist novel Journey to the West written by Wu Ch'eng-En or to the Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita.
The gravestone has been repeatedly vandalized by those aggrieved that "Hughes" is written on the stone; they have attempted to chisel it off, leaving only the name "Sylvia Plath."
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