--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People who think that Sylvia Plath was a…" description: "\"People who think that Sylvia Plath was a poor, sensitive poet are not getting that she had great amounts of ambition and anger that moved her along, or..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaf/elizabeth-wurtzel-1275_able_people-who-think-that-sylvia-plath-was-a_3220446.jpg" --- # People who think that Sylvia Plath was a poor, sensitive… ![“People who think that Sylvia Plath was a poor, sensitive poet are not getting that she had great amounts of ambition and anger that moved her along, or she wouldn't have been able to fight against that depression to produce such an incredible body of work by the age of thirty.” quote by Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaf/elizabeth-wurtzel-1275_able_people-who-think-that-sylvia-plath-was-a_3220446.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaf/elizabeth-wurtzel-1275_able_people-who-think-that-sylvia-plath-was-a_3220446.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaf/elizabeth-wurtzel-1275_able_people-who-think-that-sylvia-plath-was-a_3220446.jpg) > “People who think that Sylvia Plath was a poor, sensitive poet are not getting that she had great amounts of ambition and anger that moved her along, or she wouldn't have been able to fight against that depression to produce such an incredible body of work by the age of thirty.” [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Plath combined fierce ambition and anger with sensitivity, enabling her to overcome depression and create a powerful oeuvre by thirty. **In simple terms:** Plath’s drive and emotion produced great work despite depression. Key Takeaway Channel ambition into creative output. Themes ambition emotion creativity Mood intense reflective Type literary motivational When to use this quote - writing - mental health advocacy - studying poetry Key Concepts psychology literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can we honor both struggle and strength in artists? - What role does anger play in artistic breakthroughs? A Different Perspective Her anger could also alienate readers who expect only vulnerability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Amount](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amount/) [Anger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anger/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Depression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depression/) [Fighting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting/) [Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great/) [Incredibles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incredibles/) [Moved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moved/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plath/) [Plath Poor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plath-poor-6052096/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poet Getting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet-getting-5407967/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poor/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Sensitive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensitive/) [Sensitive Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensitive-poet-4917356/) [Sylvia plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sylvia-plath/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thirty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirty/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) ## Related quotes > [“Sylvia Plath and I met a long time ago. A really long time ago. Was it a summer day? No! It was a wintry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avijeet-das/sylvia-plath-and-i-met-a-long-time-ago-a-really-long-time-ago-was-it/) [Avijeet Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avijeet-das/) > [“We have conversations with each other most nights - Sylvia Plath and me!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avijeet-das/we-have-conversations-with-each-other-most-nights-sylvia-plath-and-me/) [Avijeet Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avijeet-das/) > [“If too much has been made of the symptoms of Plath’s mental illness, so too little attention has been paid to its possible causes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-wilson/if-too-much-has-been-made-of-the-symptoms-of-plath-s-mental-illness/) [Andrew Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-wilson/) > [It would be amazing to play Sylvia Plath. She was so dark, and what came out of her writing was troubled and fierce. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evangeline-lilly/it-would-be-amazing-to-play-sylvia-plath-she-was-so-dark-and-what/) [Evangeline Lilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evangeline-lilly/) > [Like all twenty-one-year-old poets, I thought I would be dead by thirty, and Sylvia Plath had not set a helpful example. For a while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/like-all-twenty-one-year-old-poets-i-thought-i-would-be-dead-by/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Sylvia Plath. Interesting poetess whose tragic suicide was misinterpreted as romantic by the college-girl mentality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/sylvia-plath-interesting-poetess-whose-tragic-suicide-was/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [Like Sylvia Plath, Natalie Jeanne Champagne invites you so close to the pain and agony of her life of mental illness and addiction, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-behrman/like-sylvia-plath-natalie-jeanne-champagne-invites-you-so-close-to/) [Andy Behrman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-behrman/) > [I love Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. I also love more cerebral poets like H.D. and Emily Dickinson. My parents subscribed to a monthly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/i-love-sylvia-plath-and-anne-sexton-i-also-love-more-cerebral-poets/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [Sylvia Plath wasn't scared of exploring the darker side of her psyche.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-bledel/sylvia-plath-wasn-t-scared-of-exploring-the-darker-side-of-her-psyche/) [Alexis Bledel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-bledel/) > [Sylvia Plath was just a month and a half older than I, and when she committed suicide I was only 30 - and very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-stevenson/sylvia-plath-was-just-a-month-and-a-half-older-than-i-and-when-she/) [Anne Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-stevenson/) > [“The blood jet is poetry, There is no stopping it. 'Kindness' by Sylvia Plath”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/the-blood-jet-is-poetry-there-is-no-stopping-it-kindness-by-sylvia/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“I began to realize, with some little horror, that she was nothing more than a lowbrow, pop-psychology version of Sylvia Plath. It lasted forever,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-began-to-realize-with-some-little-horror-that-she-was-nothing-more/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“And besides, I'm not a writer. I don't go to coffeehouses and smoke, wear black, and analyze Sylvia Plath to the point of depression.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-mccafferty/and-besides-i-m-not-a-writer-i-don-t-go-to-coffeehouses-and-smoke/) [Megan McCafferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-mccafferty/) > [“Sylvia Plath is there for me when actual living people upon who I have depended upon my whole life, are not. What I mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlaina-tibensky/sylvia-plath-is-there-for-me-when-actual-living-people-upon-who-i/) [Arlaina Tibensky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlaina-tibensky/) > [ \[Short Talk on Sylvia Plath\] Did you see her mother on television? She said plain, burned things. She said I thought it an excellent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-carson/short-talk-on-sylvia-plath-did-you-see-her-mother-on-television-she/) [Anne Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-carson/) ## More by Elizabeth Wurtzel > [Belief is a good thing in principle, but an annoying thing in human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/belief-is-a-good-thing-in-principle-but-an-annoying-thing-in-human/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [I myself am hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-myself-am-hell/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [I can see that I imagine all kinds of rejection that never happens. I can see that I beg and plead for love that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-can-see-that-i-imagine-all-kinds-of-rejection-that-never-happens-i/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [“...if you ask anyone in the throes of depression how he got there, to pin down the turning point, he'll never know. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/if-you-ask-anyone-in-the-throes-of-depression-how-he-got-there-to-pin/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [I want to explain how exhausted I am. Even in my dreams. How I wake up tired. 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Even though not one of those cries was ever a false alarm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-am-sick-of-the-girl-who-cries-wolf-all-the-time-even-though-not-one/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [I'm lost in a loneliness that feels like forever ... like a solitude that never goes away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-m-lost-in-a-loneliness-that-feels-like-forever-like-a-solitude-that/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [It's the people you are close to, the ones who love you, theo nes who have seen your heart, who have touched your soul-…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/it-s-the-people-you-are-close-to-the-ones-who-love-you-theo-nes-who/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [“When you do drugs, you count like a chemist: The numbers are wild, the formulas are easy. Then, when you try to get clean,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/when-you-do-drugs-you-count-like-a-chemist-the-numbers-are-wild-the/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [Everything's plastic, we're all going to die sooner or later, so what does it matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/everything-s-plastic-we-re-all-going-to-die-sooner-or-later-so-what/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) [Explore all 261 Elizabeth Wurtzel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. 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