Sylvia Plath was one of the most dynamic and admired poets and authors of the 20th century. By the time she took her life at the age of 30 on 11 February 1963, Plath already had a following in the literary community. In the ensuing years her work attracted the attention of a multitude of readers. The searing use of language and shocking honesty in her works helped make her a major figure in both the confessional poetry movement and the literature of the women’s movement beginning in the 1960s. Sylvia Plath continues to be an influence on writers around the world. In a letter that she wrote to her mother in the fall of 1962 Plath recognized the potency of these poems, remarking, “I am a genius of a writer; I have it in me. I am writing the best poems of my life; they will make my name.” In February 1963, after this burst of productivity, she took her own life.