Sylvia Plath

I love people. Everybody. I love them, I think, as a stamp collector loves his collection. Every story, every incident, every bit of conversation is raw material for me. My love's not impersonal yet not wholly subjective either. I would like to be everyone, a cripple, a dying man, a whore, and then come back to write about my thoughts, my emotions, as that person. But I am not omniscient. I have to live my life, and it is the only one I'll ever have. And you cannot regard your own life with objective curiosity all the time..."

— Sylvia Plath (The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath)

So why is this post only about Sylvia Plath? Because she is an amazing writer. I could have written about many different things today, for instance my odd style of clothing and the reason my nails are painted in weird colours, but I thought she deserved a whole post to herself.
If you haven't heard of Sylvia Plath before well I will tell you a bit about her. She was an American writer who was well known for her poems. Plath had her first poem published when she was only eight years old. I guess she is best known for how she died though. It is sad to me that an amazing writer would be remembered more for the way she died then for her work. I assume that is how Sylvia Plath had wanted it though.
She had attempted suicide twice before she had died, and had lived with depression most of her life. Her husband had left her for another woman; she was very depressed and had been prescribed anti-depressants. A nurse found Sylvia Plath lying with her head on a blanket in a gas oven with all the gas taps on full. This is just a really short summary, I couldn't be bothered writing all about her life, but you should read into it and also read some of her poems.

So a while ago I read "The Bell Jar" and I became very depressed after reading it. I will write what the summary on the back of the book says "'A girl lives in an out-of-the-way town for nineteen years, so poor she can't afford a magazine and then she gets a scholarship to college and wins a prize here and there and ends up steering New York like her own private car. Only I wasn't steering anything. Not even myself.' Working in New York one hot summer, Esther Greenwood is on the edge of a darkness that makes her world increasing unreal. In the vivid and unforgettable novel about the struggles of growing up, Esther's world shines through: the wide eyed country girls, her crazed men-friends, hot dinner dances and Nights in New York, and a slow slide into breakdown."

By reading "The Bell Jar" it was easy to see how depressed Sylvia Plath had been. The book is about depression and trying to get better. It is interesting and Sylvia Plath is a good writer, but honestly I am not sure I can recommend it. I don't think I could recommend a book that is so depressing that after reading it I didn't know how to react. Plath's poems are all brilliant, but "The Bell Jar" felt like a slap in the face.

Wanting to be a writer myself I feel like a book should give people hope. In my opinion Sylvia Plath writing makes the reader for a brief amount of time feel some of the pain she felt, she comes across in her work and by writing a book about her depression the reader feels some of it as well. I felt that depression was a scary thing after reading "The Bell Jar" even though I had been through it I never wanted to feel the same was Esther felt. It scared me to think that something like EST could be so painful, and that is could also be calming. If you have read "The Bell Jar" and didn't like it don't give up on Plath's poems because they are definitely worth reading.

To end on a happy note you should watch this (no it isn't to do with Sylvia Plath): It's Only Love the guy that made this music clip is really good.