Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was a poet from an early age. Sylvia published her first poem in the Boston Herald at the tender age of 8. As a teenager, she was publishing poems in national magazines. She attended Smith College. When she was 19 (1953) she attempted suicide and was treated at McLean Hospital. Her experiences there inspired her only novel The Bell Jar (published 1963). She led a tumultuous life which was cut short at just age 30. The Bell Jar was published posthumously.
Her family lived here at 29 Prince Street when she was born until she was about four years old. Her father, a professor of botany at Boston University was doing research at the Arnold Arboretum.
After graduating from Smith, Sylvia received a Fulbright scholarship to attend Cambridge University. There she met and married fellow poet, Ted Hughes in 1956. Their marriage was a tumultuous one and ended in 1962. This break-up led to an intense period in her life when she produced a volume of poems called Ariel (it was also published posthumously). Largely on the strength of Ariel, Plath became one of the best-known female American poets of the 20th century. Ariel - was the best-selling poetry collection of the 20th century.