‘Morning Song,’ ‘Poppies in July,’ ‘Black Rook in Rainy Weather,’ ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box.’ I’d wager a good bet that most of you reading this studied at least one of these poems in the run up to your Leaving Cert.
Most of us came to know Sylvia Plath and her captivating poetry as sixteen and seventeen-year-olds, frantically preparing for English Paper Two. The majority of us banked on a question about her coming up to get us successfully through the exam.
Today, October 27th, would have been Sylvia Plath’s 83rd birthday. We all know about her tragic and untimely end in 1963, but her writing legacy lives on around the world.
She became the first poet to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982. Her commemorative US postal stamp went into circulation in 2012. The Bell Jar is a cert on every modern list of ‘Best Novels Ever Written.’
And if there remains any doubt about her relevance in the digital age, her fan-run Twitter account has a following of over 170,000. That’s a big deal.
All of us can draw inspiration from Plath and her work. Her words are timeless.
In honour of her birthday, here’s a selection of her most famous quotes for you to enjoy this evening.
