6 Most Popular Poems by Sylvia Plath

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  • Tulips

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    in Famous Sad Poems

    Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) wrote “Tulips” while she was in the hospital. It reveals the struggle she had with her mental state. Sylvia wants to die at that moment, but the bright red tulips make her think about life and living. She almost feels as though the flowers are taunting her. “Tulips” was written in 1961 but wasn’t published until 1965 - a couple of years after her death.

    The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
    Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in.
    I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly
    As the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands.

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  • Mad Girl's Love Song

    Famous Poem

    in Famous Sad Love Poems

    Many of Sylvia Plath's poems have a theme of unrequited love, and this one is no different. She wrote this poem while she was a twenty-year-old student at Smith College. It has that very natural and relatable element of someone that age looking for love. The speaker is addressing a former lover, wishing he would return to her. Plath writes with a lot of emotion, making it clear how it feels to be rejected while still longing for someone to return feelings of love. She uses personification to give the stars and darkness human characteristics. This poem also utilizes the poetic technique of repetition.

    "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
    I lift my lids and all is born again.
    (I think I made you up inside my head.)

    The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
    And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
    I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

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  • Circus In Three Rings

    Famous Poem

    in Famous Sad Poems

    Sylvia Plath was an American poet who lived from 1932-1963. Sylvia’s dad died during her childhood, and her husband left her for another woman. She experienced heartbreak and depression that ultimately led to her commit suicide at the age of 30. Her poetry was raw and honest, which can be seen in the chaos she captures in this poem. First published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1955, the hurricane mentioned in the poem could be compared to the personal struggles that swirled inside of her.

    In the circus tent of a hurricane
    designed by a drunken god
    my extravagant heart blows up again
    in a rampage of champagne-colored rain

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  • Mirror

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    in Famous Sad Poems

    Sylvia Plath was an American author and poet who lived from 1932-1963. She was a driven person, and she graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1955. Despite her success, Plath struggled with depression, and committed suicide in 1963. This poem shows the struggle a woman has with her identity as she grows older and begins to lose her youthfulness. It also uses personification by giving human characteristics to the mirror.

    I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
    Whatever I see I swallow immediately
    Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
    I am not cruel, only truthful,

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    A mirror never lies. It shows what is what exactly. Just as Plath writes: "I am silver and exact". The truth of our mortality is what we keep on negating and the speaker too finds it hard to...

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  • Daddy

    Famous Poem

    in Famous Family Poems

    In Sylvia Plath's "Daddy," the poet uses powerful and provocative language to explore complex emotions and relationships. Through vivid imagery and metaphor, Plath delves into her feelings of oppression and resentment, particularly towards her father. The poem is marked by its emotional intensity, with the speaker addressing her deceased father in a confrontational and accusatory manner. The use of metaphor, such as comparing her father to a Nazi and herself to a Jew, adds layers of meaning to the poem, while the repetition of "Daddy" underscores the speaker's struggle to come to terms with her father's memory. Plath's choice of words and imagery creates a vivid and emotionally charged narrative that delves into themes of identity, trauma, and catharsis.

    You do not do, you do not do
    Any more, black shoe
    In which I have lived like a foot
    For thirty years, poor and white,

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  • Aerialist

    Famous Poem

    in Famous Poems

    Sylvia Plath lived in both the United States and England during her life. Most of the poems written by Plath were crafted in the last months of her life. This poem was written on her 30th birthday, just a few months before her death in 1963.

    Each night, this adroit young lady
    Lies among sheets
    Shredded fine as snowflakes
    Until dream takes her body

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