Sylvia Plath Death: How did Sylvia Plath end her life?

Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer.

Sylvia Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960) and Ariel (1965), as well as The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death in 1963.

The Collected Poems were published in 1981, which included previously unpublished works and for this collection, Sylvia Plath was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982, making her the fourth to receive this honour posthumously.

Sylvia Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life, and was treated multiple times with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Sadly, Sylvia Plath killed herself on February 11, 1963.

John Horder, Sylvia Plath’s general practitioner prescribed her an anti-depressant, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, a few days before her suicide.

However, he claimed that he visited her daily and made strenuous efforts to have her admitted to a hospital and when that failed, he arranged for a live-in nurse.

The nurse was due to arrive at nine on the morning of February 11, 1963, to help Sylvia Plath with the care of her children.

However, upon arrival, the nurse could not get into the flat but eventually gained access with the help of a workman, Charles Langridge.

The nurse and the woman found Sylvia Plath dead with her head in the oven, having sealed the rooms between her and her sleeping children with tape, towels and cloths

It should be noted that Sylvia Plath had previously tried taking her own life on several occasions.

On August 24, 1953, Sylvia Plath overdosed on sleeping pills, then, in June 1962, she drove her car off the side of the road into a river, which she later said was an attempt to take her own life.