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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:

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“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.

Resources

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

The American Poetry Review, Vol. 10, No. 5 (SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1981), p. 8
American Poetry Review
Poetry, Vol. 121, No. 1, Sixtieth Anniversary Issue: 1912-1972 First Appearances (Oct., 1972), p. 25
Poetry Foundation
Poetry, Vol. 90, No. 4 (Jul., 1957), pp. 229-231
Poetry Foundation
Poetry, Vol. 89, No. 4 (Jan., 1957), p. 231
Poetry Foundation
Poetry, Vol. 102, No. 5 (Aug., 1963), pp. 292-294
Poetry Foundation
Poetry, Vol. 99, No. 6 (Mar., 1962), pp. 346-347
Poetry Foundation
Poetry, Vol. 90, No. 4 (Jul., 1957), pp. 235-236
Poetry Foundation