The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Sexton, Anne. “Sylvia’s Death.” Poetry Foundation. www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=103&issue=4&page=10.

Note that all parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

“Sylvia’s Death” is given the subtitle dedication “For Sylvia Plath,” verifying the autobiographical nature of the poem. This poem explores the relationship between Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, two women struggling to nurture a creative life in mid-20th-century America. Together they shared a fascination with death and suicide, with Plath ultimately taking her own life in the winter of 1963. This poem was written as a response to her suicide. Sexton would follow by taking her own life ten years later. The poem addresses themes of mortality and the limitations of women during this time.