I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like the colored arrows from a Fourth of July rocket.

Plath took a job as a receptionist in the psychiatric unit of Massachusetts General Hospital and in the evening took creative writing seminars given by poet Robert Lowell (also attended by the writers Anne Sexton and George Starbuck). " She edited The Smith Review and during the summer after her third year of college Plath was awarded a coveted position as guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine during which Sylvia Plath spent a month in New York City. Plath's father was an entomologist and was professor of biology and German at Boston University; he also authored a book about bumblebees.

She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England having two children together Frieda and Nicholas. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death as well as her writing and legacy.