Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 and in her short life became one of the most influential poets of the era. Plath published two poetry collections, The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel, and a novel called The Bell Jar. In 1982, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Poems. Many of her poems live on JSTOR. We’ve selected ten of our favorites; you can download the PDFs and read them for free here:

“Incommunicado,” “Morning in the Hospital Solarium,” “Black Pine Tree in an Orange Light,” and “Rhyme,” in the American Poetry Review

“Metamorphosis,” in Poetry

“The Snowman on the Moor,” in Poetry

“Wreath for a Bridal,” in Poetry

“Fever 103°,” in Poetry

“Stars over the Dordogne,” in Poetry 

“On the Difficulty of Conjuring up a Dryad,” in Poetry

Want more poetry? Check out Seven Favorite Flower Poems.