“When I say I must write, I don't mean I must publish. There is a great difference. the important thing is the chaotic form given to my chaotic experience, which is, as it was for James Joyce, my kind of religion, and necessary for me...as the confession and absolution for a Catholic in church.”

American poet and author

Sylvia Plath was an American poet and author. She helped shape confessional poetry and is best known for work that brought private experience into sharp literary focus. Her books include The Colossus and Other Poems, Ariel, and The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. Her Collected Poems appeared in 1981 with previously unpublished work, and that collection won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1982, awarded to her posthumously.