Sylvia Plath, the life and death of a poet

Sylvia Plath was a daughter, a poet, a lover and then wife, a mother, a tormented friend, and finally, falling victim to her own demons, she ended her life by committing suicide. In the years that past, her collected works were acclaimed as among the best writings in the 20th Century, winning for her a rare posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982. In the film, Sylvia, carefully researched and written by John Brownlow, sensitively directed by Christine Jeffs and portrayed beautifully and hauntingly by Gwyneth Paltrow, we enter the fateful arc of her life and subsequent death. The story begins in the winter of 1956, at Cambridge University, where she met, fell in love with, and quickly married the man of her dreams, but with whom she would remain second fiddle to, artistically, for the remainder of her life. Ted Hughes was already gaining recognition in the English poetry world. Twenty-eight years later, in 1984, he would be named English Poet Laureate, but twenty-one years before that, following his refusal to end an affair and after a longstanding, intense, on and off again relationship with his wife and literary soul mate, Sylvia carefully sealed her two children in their room, turned on the gas stove, and ended her life. Readers may know Hughes by his book and the 1999 film, The Iron Giant, written for his children, shortly after their mother’s death. When she was nine years old, the death of her father Otto Plath from complications of diabetes was the singular event of her life. Long suffering from depression, she first attempted suicide 1953, when she was twenty-one. In her journals, from the February 1956 entry, she writes of visiting a psychiatrist whom she liked. She writes, “…Father, why not? Wanted to burst out in tears and say Father, Father, comfort me.” In “Lady Lazarus,” a poem from the collection, Ariel, published posthumously, Plath writes and the film begins with, “Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it extremely well…I guess you could say I’ve a call.” In “Daddy,” from the same collection, she writes, “I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die and get back, back, back to you.” The film, while criticized for its lack of reference to her poetry (the permissions to include Plath’s poems were denied by her estate) follows an emotional arc of intensity and tragic beauty. The story unfolds with textures of intense passion and vulnerable innocence, of unrealized hope for recognition and validation, and the despair of mistrust, betrayal and abandonment, ending with a loving tenderness and surrender that seems to capture the poetry of the lives and the tragedy that has become a part of our literary and mental health landscape. When we suffer the death of our heroes, of those who are the pioneers of our culture and our intellect, whose words have eloquently spoken our innermost, not yet speakable thoughts and feelings, we must pause and sometimes grieve them as if they were our kin. We recognize these writers, musicians, artists, humanitarians and other leaders as embodying a special connection to the sources of inspiration, creativity and positive change in this world that we very much want to share together. There is little doubt that Sylvia Plath suffered throughout her life with a largely untreated mental illness. Her bouts with severe depression, her suicide attempts, her frenzied periods of creativity and productivity, leading to her death, all point to a diagnosis of Bipolar Affective Disorder, as Dr. Mark Frye, director of the UCLA Mood Disorders Program suggested at a recent Mental Health Media Partnership screening that I attended. Actress Mariette Hartley, spoke candidly of her own bipolar condition and the loss of her father and other family members to suicide. She said that during the early period of her illness, “I was kept silent,” then added, “It wasn’t until I met other survivors…(that she could) see the light,” and the possibility of overcoming her condition and getting on with her life. Sylvia Plath suffered and died as a consequence of an illness and a human condition that probably could not have been treated effectively at the time (only sedatives and a crude form of electroshock treatments were then offered). Today, with the availability of improved diagnostic and assessment methods, a variety of mood-regulating medications, symptom management, and family support approaches, and with increased public awareness of and access to care, those whose lives are threatened by cycles of manic highs or deep despairs can find some cause for hope and a renewed promise of help. To those who will see this film: go with a friend or several friends (Sylvia has an “R” rating, so no kids). Take some time to talk together, sharing your reactions to the story and the insightful performances of Gwyneth Paltrow, along with Daniel Craig, who plays a fatefully doomed Ted Hughes with intensity. Pick up a copy of Ariel or any of Plath’s poems and read them aloud to each other – not to wallow in the tragedy, but to inform and expand yourselves, if only for a momentary appreciation of Plath’s life and her work. Then, if you dare, take pen in hand and put some of your own life on the page. Share your thoughts and feelings with the people you love. Keep the dialog and the creativity flowing. We’ll all be better for the efforts that we make to express ourselves to one another.

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