The Writing Habits That Helped Sylvia Plath Create Her Most Famous Work

There are few writers who have been able to evoke the intense, visceral emotions of life like Sylvia Plath. For her, writing was more than just a pastime or means of livelihood; it was a crucial part of her mind and soul. Her novels and poetry were cathartic, enabling her to keep going while struggling with depression, the end of her marriage, and being a single parent.Plath knew that she could not give up writing any more than she could give up eating food, so she created a routine that allowed her to continue her work while raising two small children. The habits she had built up before motherhood were essential but not practical as a parent, so she adapted them. Then, with these adjusted habits, she was able to write her most celebrated work, the poetry collection Ariel.Sylvia Plath Plaque | Boston Globe/GettyImagesWho Was Sylvia Plath?Born in Boston in 1932, Sylvia Plath was a diligent student who loved writing from a young age. She dealt with her tumultuous relationship with her father and the complex emotions after his death by writing poems. In college, Plath began to suffer from severe depression and possible bipolar disorder. Again, writing helped her process her struggles, and her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, reflected the experiences she faced as a young adult.Plath received a grant to study at Cambridge University in England, and while there, met fellow poet Ted Hughes. They married in 1956 and had two children, Frieda and Nicholas. But by the winter of 1962, the marriage dissolved, and Hughes left his wife and children in their small London apartment. It was during this time that Plath really delved wholeheartedly into making time to write, creating the habits that gave her hope for one more day. November 11, 2008; Bloomington, IN; The handwritten poem, Blackberries, by Sylvia Plath, along with a portion of the poet's hair. Frank Espich-The Indy Star-USA TODAY NETWORK | USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectChanges in Life and WritingBefore having children, Plath and Hughes had a rigorous schedule, devoting four hours in the morning and two hours in the evening solely to writing. Plath remained especially dedicated, working on poems the same way a master artisan fine-tunes their craft. Writer's block was not something she accepted, pushing herself to write something every day. By the end of each day, she might only have a stanza or a paragraph, but on others, she finished with a fully fleshed-out poem.After Frieda and Nicholas were born, Plath, like so many other mothers, found that her schedule and plans were thrown out the window. And when her marriage fell apart, she found herself alone, thousands of miles from her family in the U.S., and the sole provider for a three-year-old and an eight-month-old infant. She could no longer spend six hours a day writing, but she was determined not to give up such a large part of her identity.Wildlife at sunrise in London's Bushy Park | Anadolu/GettyImagesPlath's Writing HabitsBetween October 1 and November 12, 1962, Sylvia Plath wrote the majority of the poems that would become the book, Ariel. She did this by waking up before dawn each day and writing from 4 am to 8 am. Compartmentalizing her life was the key to her success. During her first four hours of the day, she could fully focus on writing, and for the rest of the day, she put all her energy toward her children.Writing was Plath's solace amid some of her darkest days, and her perseverance in developing a schedule and keeping to it gave her something to live for. The pre-dawn hours gave her clarity and inspiration, allowing her to write her most influential work. Sadly, after getting sick and not being able to write in the mornings, the depression finally caught up to Sylvia Plath, and she took her life on February 11, 1963.Plath's habits and writing schedule meant so much to her that they kept her alive for far longer than she probably would have been without them. Her poems showed her increasingly pervasive thoughts of death, but that was her way of processing her emotions. It was only when she no longer had that cathartic avenue that Plath lost her most cherished trait: her determination.Read More: