A part of an author's life that heavily influenced their writing Essay

A part of an author's life that heavily influenced their writing - Essay Example Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932(â€Å"Sylvia Plath Biography,† 2011). Her early life was marred with tragedy when, at just eight years old, her father died(â€Å"Sylvia Plath Biography,† 2011). Plath’s experience with her father’s death influenced many of the poems that she wrote as both a child and an adult. It was due to this realism that she incorporated into her written works that an eight year old Plath received a measure of success when she had her first poem published in The Boston Herald(â€Å"Sylvia Plath Biography,† 2011). Her poems and stories are said to be primarily autobiographical which illustrates that Plath lived by the motto of writing what she knew. Perhaps the best example of Sylvia Plath’s writing being influenced by her own life can be found in her most famous work The Bell Jar. This novella is about a severely depressed woman who seeks help from a psychiatric hospital. The main character ends up being able to conquer her mental illness by the end of book and appears to go on to live a happy life(â€Å"Plath, Sylvia : The Bell Jar†). The book is said to be largely autobiographical and many of the experiences that the main character has in the book are similar to those experienced by Plath who attempted suicide in 1953 and received treatment at a hospital in Massachusetts(â€Å"Plath, Sylvia : The Bell Jar†). The main character deals with common treatments of the time such as electroshock therapy and psychoanalytic therapy which mirrors Plath’s ordeal at the hospital(â€Å"Plath, Sylvia : The Bell Jar†). Plath dealt with chronic mental illness, and it was her own life experiences that influe nced this particular book as well as her poetry. The happiness that the main character in The Bell Jar displays at the end is likely wishful thinking on Plath’s part as she