Author Song Dedication: Sylvia Plath

Over on Facebook, we started posting song dedications to our favorite authors. This is a continuation of that series, where we'll have the chance to explain our dedications, and provide access to more information about the artists and authors. If you'd like to submit a song dedication for inclusion on the blog and Facebook, feel free to send it to us using the form located here.

The American poet and novelist, Sylvia Plath, is best known for her two collections of poetry, The Collossus and Other Poems and Ariel. However, The Bell Jar, originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, gave readers a better look into the author's life with a semi-autobiographical account of a girl's feelings of isolation while suffering from a breakdown. By writing the novel, Plath said that she had intended to free herself from her past, but following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, she ultimately committed suicide shortly after the publication of the book (Wikipedia).

The song I would choose to dedicate to Sylvia is "That I Would Be Good" from Alanis Morissette's 1998 album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. After the huge success of Jagged Little Pill and an exhaustive world tour, Alanis struggled with where to go next, and even while recording her sophomore album, she experienced feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. In tears and approaching a breakdown while her house was full of guests, Alanis retreated to her closet and wrote the lyrics to this song, which intimately express those feelings.

Many famous artists have said they've received fan mail telling them they've saved lives through their lyrics. Though it's hard sometimes to fully understand depression, and even express or feel comfortable admitting to such dark emotions and feelings, I think Sylvia would have been able to relate to Alanis's lyrics. She may have even taken comfort in the fact that there was someone out there going through something similar. In sharing her story through poetry and novels, Sylvia also may have provided the world with one more personal story to relate to.

Click here to see other titles by Sylvia Plath available at LPL.

Click here to see other titles by Alanis Morissette available at LPL.

William - Reference