*
Both Sylvia Plath and Dylan Thomas are towering figures in the world of 20th century poetry. Each are known for their distinct voices and both carry an emotional intensity to their work that is not always seen in poetry. Though there is no evidence that these poets ever met, Sylvia Plath’s admiration for Thomas’ work is well-documented. His influence seems especially visible in her earliest work, though in the end Plath went on to carve a poetic identity very distinct from Thomas’ notable style. With their shared upcoming birthday on the horizon (both were born on October the 27th, almost 20 years apart), we thought we’d look at how these two poets are connected, and honor their shared visions and experiences.
Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet known for his rich language and vivid imagery, wrote in a rather romantic style, and often explored themes of life, death and the natural world. His poetry frequently expresses a fairly passionate celebration of life, and admiration of life’s fleeting beauty. That being said, he counters this positivity with a deep awareness of mortality and death. His popular poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night is a perfect example of this style. The way he used sound, rhythm and imagery generalizes him as a romantic modernist, since he blends traditional poetic techniques with powerful emotional depth.
Sylvia Plath, an American poet from a very different background from Thomas, came of age in the 1950s and 1960s, and began writing poetry from a young age. She was admittedly profoundly affected by Thomas’ work, and you can see evidence of his (almost) visceral imagery and romantic lyricism echoed in Plath’s early writing – poems like The Colossus, one of her most famous early works. Yet, where Thomas’ work might evoke a life-affirming energy and a focus on beauty, Plath’s work eventually took on a darker, more introspective tone. Plath, struggling with depression and her mental health, often focused her work on the self, on alienation and the eventual peace of death (obviously dissimilar to Thomas’ wish for us to rage against it). Her work diverged from the romanticism of Dylan Thomas in favor of her explorations of psychological trauma, gender and even the grotesque – whereas Thomas’ work focused more on a questioning of the personal and the political. While Thomas provided Plath with a solid foundation of poetry, her work would eventually grow into a voice more singular and ferocious. That being said, they shared poetic interests in language, mortality and the human psyche – no matter how distinct their eventual work is.
While as I stated earlier, these two poets came from such different backgrounds, they shared some similar experiences throughout their lives that perhaps explains their universal connection to their readership around the world. Both lives were marked with personal turmoil and struggles with mental health – most likely why their work focuses so heavily on their mortality. Both poets drew from their own inner conflicts and existential questions to display raw emotion in their writing, and each struggled with pressures of their own artistic expectations. And tragically, both met untimely, young deaths – Thomas from alcoholism at 39 and Plath by suicide at 30. Nevertheless, their work cemented them as literary icons that have stood the test of time.
