Sylvia Plath, the poet, has become embedded in the culture as a mythic figure of tragedy and talent, using her words as a confessional to speak directly to the reader.
A new mammoth edition of 542 of her poems has the editors waxing eloquent about her ability to “combine raw emotional depth with humour and an uncompromising, unapologetic sense of vulnerability and strength.” In contrast Philip Larkin said her themes were “neurosis, insanity, disease, death, horror, terror”. Her focus on annihilation obviously strikes a chord through the generations.
She did suffer a lifelong battle with severe depression, a bipolar-type illness, with multiple traumatic treatments with early electroconvulsive therapy. She attempted suicide at 20 and succeeded at 30 when her marriage to fellow poet Ted Hughes, whom she alleged to her therapist had been abusive, had disintegrated.
Born 27 October 1932 2.10pm Boston, Massachusetts, with an Austrian-immigrant, academic father who died when she was 8. She had a doubly-intense 8th house Scorpio Sun in a depressive square to Saturn in Capricorn in her 12th which would weigh her down with a sense of the absent father who was nonetheless critical and guilt-inducing in her imagination. Her Saturn was in an opposition to Pluto which can be inclined to melancholy as well; and that was square an innovative but disruptive Uranus.
A creative Water Grand Trine of Pluto trine Mercury in Scorpio in her much-travelled and published 9th house was trine her North Node in Pisces in her 1st. Her tendency to disappear into a bubble of her own reality would help her avoid facing up to need to build her sense of identity and her faith (North Node Pisces in 1st).
Her Mercury trine Pluto, square Mars in Leo and inconjunct Uranus would give her a sharp tongue and a highly strung nervous system.
An unaspected Libra Moon in her 7th would bring a constant sense of disconnection even as she craved the reassurance of a close relationship. Such an unintegrated Moon is thought to be the most personally traumatic of any planet. A solitary Moon lacks stability and would be exceedingly vulnerable.
Her marriage significator, her Sun/Moon midpoint was opposition her Uranus and square her Pluto, which would do nothing to bring her the security she craved. She both wanted closeness and pushed it away.
Her Chiron in Taurus close to Algol points to a constant sense of never being safe or secure; and in the 3rd house as if her mind was constantly at risk of disintegrating, with recurring self-defeating and destructive thought patterns.
It is a talented, creative but desolate chart.
The post Sylvia Plath – lives on as a cultural icon first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
